Portugal had 690,480 nationality applications waiting for a decision at the end of June 2026, according to Ministry of Justice data published by Portuguese media on Oct. 21. That’s up 34% from 515,334 a year earlier.
The backlog is growing as a stricter nationality law makes Portuguese citizenship a much longer project for Americans.
Who’s in the queue
Immigrants applying on the basis of legal residence make up the largest share, at 26% of pending cases. Descendants of Sephardic Jews account for 23%, spouses and partners of Portuguese citizens 13%, grandchildren of Portuguese nationals 11% and children born abroad about 10%.
The Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN), which processes the applications, doesn’t publish a breakdown by nationality. So there’s no official count of how many of the 690,480 are American.
The 10-year rule
Portugal’s new nationality law, Organic Law 1/2026, took effect May 19. It raised the residency requirement for naturalization from five years to 10 for most foreigners, Americans included. Citizens of EU countries and Portuguese-speaking nations qualify after seven years.
Applicants must also show knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture and of citizens’ rights and duties. Cases filed before May 19 stay under the old rules, while everyone else falls under the new ones. Portugal is one of several European countries that have lengthened the road to citizenship for Americans this year.
The law survived a challenge in the Constitutional Court. On Dec. 15, 2025, the court struck down four provisions of the first draft, including retroactive effects on pending applications. It left the 10-year timeline intact.
How long processing takes
Even eligible applicants face long waits. IRN figures from September put residence-based applications at about 27 months in Lisbon and 34 months in Porto. Applications through marriage were taking about 58 months in Lisbon, and those from grandchildren of Portuguese nationals about 55 months.
That ancestry route matters for Portuguese Americans, a sizable community in Massachusetts, California and Rhode Island. It doesn’t depend on residence in Portugal, but those applicants sit in the same queue.
Americans in Portugal by the numbers
Portugal counted 12,443 US citizens living in the country in 2024, AE’s Portugal dashboard shows. About 4,448 Americans arrived in 2025, up from 4,345 in 2024. Long-term residence permits for Americans reached 1,079 in 2025, up from 788.
Naturalization remains rare. Only 68 Americans became Portuguese citizens in 2024, under the old five-year rule.
What this means for Americans in Portugal
An American who moved to Portugal in 2025 can’t apply for citizenship until 2035 at the earliest. At current residence-based processing times, a decision would take another two to three years. Americans arriving now are looking at roughly 12 to 13 years from arrival to passport, more than double the timeline under the old law.
