Portugal's naturalisation wait went from 5 to 10 years of legal residence for most non-EU nationals, and only time spent holding a valid residence title now counts. Enter your residence permits to see how many years you have, which window applies to you, and the first date you can file. No login.
What this calculator decides
Naturalisation under art. 6.º n.º 1 of the Nationality Law (Lei n.º 37/81, as republished by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026) needs 10 years of legal residence for nationals of most countries and 7 years for EU citizens and nationals of Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) countries. Stateless people need 4 years (art. 6.º n.º 3). The years may be split across several permits with gaps, but every counted period must fall inside a window of 12, 9 or 6 years respectively (art. 15.º n.º 3). The calculator below applies those two tests to your dates.
Your residence
Legal residence counted0 / 10 years
Planning aid only, not legal advice. Years are counted as 365.25 days, and the Conservatória (IRN) counts from the dates on your titles. Check your own file with the IRN or a Portuguese lawyer before relying on a date.
Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 was approved by Parliament on 1 April 2026, promulgated on 3 May 2026 and published in Diário da República, 1.ª série n.º 95, on 18 May 2026. It entered into force the next day, 19 May 2026 (art. 8.º). Three changes decide most people's date.
1. The required years went up
Before the reform, naturalisation needed 5 years of legal residence for everyone. Now the republished art. 6.º n.º 1 al. b) asks for at least 7 years for nationals of CPLP countries and EU Member States, and 10 years for nationals of other countries. Stateless applicants qualify after 4 years (art. 6.º n.º 3).
2. Only time with a valid title counts
Legal residence means being in Portugal with your situation regularised under one of the titles, visas or permits of the foreigners' law or the asylum law (art. 15.º n.º 1). The 2024 rule that let the clock start on the date you applied for your residence permit (former art. 15.º n.º 4) is revoked (art. 5.º of Lei Orgânica 1/2026). Waiting months for an AIMA appointment no longer counts; the clock starts with the title itself.
3. Interrupted periods add up, inside a window
All periods of legal residence are summed, continuous or not, as long as they fall within a maximum interval of 12 years (other nationals), 9 years (EU and CPLP) or 6 years (stateless) (art. 15.º n.º 3). A non-EU national with a one-year gap can still reach 10 years, but every counted day must sit inside one 12-year span. Time older than that drops out as the window moves forward.
Worked example
A US citizen received a first residence permit on 1 March 2020, let it lapse from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2024, and has held a valid permit since 1 March 2024. Counted residence: 3 years (2020 to 2023) plus the time since March 2024. Ten years in total arrives around 1 March 2031, and the whole span from March 2020 is 11 years, inside the 12-year window, so that is the first filing date. Under the old 5-year rule the same person could have filed in 2025.
Applications filed before 19 May 2026
Procedures already pending when the law took effect are decided under the previous wording of Lei 37/81 (art. 7.º n.º 2 of Lei Orgânica 1/2026). If you filed in time, the 5-year rule still governs your application. A new application filed from 19 May 2026 falls under the new rules even if you met the old 5 years earlier.
The other requirements
Be of age under Portuguese law (art. 6.º n.º 1 al. a)).
Prove sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols, by test or certificate (al. c)).
Know the fundamental rights and duties of citizenship and how the Portuguese State is organised (al. d)).
Solemnly declare adherence to the principles of the democratic rule of law (al. e)).
Have no final sentence of effective imprisonment of more than 3 years for terrorism, violent or highly organised crime, crimes against State security or aiding illegal immigration (al. f)), pose no security threat (al. g)) and not be subject to UN or EU restrictive measures (al. h)).
Be able to support yourself (al. i)).
The law gave the Government 90 days from publication to amend the Nationality Regulation (Decreto-Lei n.º 237-A/2006) for the new tests (art. 4.º). We have not yet confirmed that the amended regulation has been published, so the test format is not described here.
Does Golden Visa (ARI) time count?
Art. 15.º n.º 1 counts any title, visa or permit under the foreigners' law, and the Golden Visa is a residence permit under that law (Lei 23/2007). So years holding a valid ARI count toward the 10. Our reading is that the low minimum-stay rule of the ARI does not change this, but the law does not say so in words. The investment routes themselves are unchanged by the nationality reform.
Is there still a shorter route through marriage?
Yes. A foreigner married to a Portuguese national for more than 3 years can acquire nationality by declaration (art. 3.º n.º 1 of the republished law). That route is not based on residence years, so this calculator does not apply to it.
I met the old 5 years before May 2026 but never filed. Am I protected?
Not by the transition rule. Art. 7.º n.º 2 protects only procedures pending on 19 May 2026. Without a filed application, the new 10-year (or 7-year) requirement applies.
Do days abroad break the count?
The law counts periods of legal residence, meaning time holding a valid title (art. 15.º n.º 1). A lapse in your permit is what creates a gap. Each permit type still has its own stay rules, and breaking them can cost the permit itself, which then stops the clock.
Where do I file?
Naturalisation applications go to the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN), through a registry office or online with a lawyer or solicitor. Bring proof of every residence title you are counting, since the count runs on the title dates.
Sources
Primary text: Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, de 18 de maio (Diário da República, 1.ª série n.º 95), read on 20 October 2026. It contains the amending articles (arts. 4.º, 5.º, 7.º and 8.º) and, as an annex, the full republished Lei n.º 37/81 (arts. 3.º, 6.º and 15.º cited above). Residence permits: Lei n.º 23/2007 (consolidated).
