After three failed attempts, Renato Stenio Torres, 74, from Ceará, finally got the right to the long-awaited Portuguese nationality. The positive verdict was given by the Administrative Court of Círculo de Lisboa, which guaranteed an urgent analysis of the case.
Before going to court, Renato tried to obtain nationality from the Lisbon Central Registry Office, which was denied three times. Now, the Administrative Court has recognized the right of Ceará, taking into account his age and health status – he has cancer.
The native of Ceará had been fighting against time to gain recognition for his Lusitanian descent. He is the maternal grandson of a Portuguese woman born in 1897, in the municipality of Arcos Valdevez, in the northern region of Portugal.
Renato applied for Portuguese nationality in March 2021. In December of the same year, he requested the first urgent analysis, which was rejected by the Conservatory. Subsequently, two other requests were filed and denied.
strangeness of the negative
According to the Portuguese lawyer João Roseira, responsible for the lawsuit, the Conservatory's refusal caused strangeness, since citizenship is a fundamental right, according to article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Portugal.
He explains that, with the decision of the Administrative Court, which is of first instance and awaits a final and unappealable decision, the Central Registry Office will have to respond, with agility, to the applicant's request in view of the reasons of urgency evidenced during the process.
The text of the court decision says that “the situation (of Ceará) needs urgent and swift protection, otherwise the timely exercise of inherent rights could be predictably and irremediably compromised”.
In the opinion of Roseira, who is part of Martins Castro's banking, the court decision has a social character, as it will allow Brazilians to have their rights assured. "We are confident that the decision will be fulfilled in an agile way".
For Thiago Huver, Master in Private International Law from the University of Lisbon and a partner at Martins Castro, the lawsuit is a legal mechanism to safeguard compliance with deadlines provided for by law.
He states that, in this specific case, the position of the Administrative Court is important and necessary so that Portuguese nationality is not granted in a few years, at a time and age when the applicant is no longer able or unable to exercise and enjoy the rights rights associated with it.
By Vicente Nunes
original link