Constitutional Court rules that proposed change to the Nationality Law is unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court of Portugal has ruled that significant parts of the proposed amendment to the Nationality Law violate fundamental constitutional principles. As a result, the text previously approved by Parliament cannot come into effect as it stands and must be revised before a new vote. The decision clearly defines which constitutional limits must be respected.

In practice, the Court understood that some changes created legal uncertainty and disproportionate restrictions on the right to Portuguese nationality. Among the points considered unconstitutional, the following stand out: rules that automatically removed rights or lacked clearly defined objective criteria in law.

Among others, the following predictions were ruled out:

• The automatic denial of nationality to individuals sentenced to terms of two years or more, without a concrete analysis of their ties to the Portuguese community;

• the possibility of having nationality revoked due to "manifest fraud" or certain "behaviors," without a clear definition of what these expressions mean;

• The retroactive application of new rules to processes already underway violates the legitimate trust of those who filed the request under the previous law.

With this decision, the legislative process returns to Parliament, which will have to adjust the text in accordance with the Constitution. Until that happens—and while there is no formal closure— The rules currently in force remain valid.including via Sephardicwhich remains legally active. For those considering initiating or continuing their nationality application, this is a time that demands qualified information and attention to current regulations.

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