What Nationality Law Review Means for Residency, Citizenship & Golden Visa Applicants
On Thursday, 13th November, 2025, the final text of Portugal’s proposed Nationality Law was delivered to the President of the Republic. In an unexpected twist, the Socialist Party (PS) has now requested a preventive review by the Constitutional Court before the President can act.
This changes the expected timeline—and opens new possibilities for when and how the law may come into force.
The President must wait for the Constitutional Court’s ruling before approving or vetoing the law, and while a veto becomes mandatory if the Court identifies constitutional issues, the President may still apply a political veto even if no issues are found.
This preventive review—an exceptionally rare move by a parliamentary group—triggers a 25-day deadline for the Court to issue its decision once the request is accepted.
These developments create uncertainty around when the new law will take effect, whether any transitional protections or safeguard clauses will be introduced, and how current and future residency, Golden Visa, and nationality applications will be assessed.
At the same time, the delay may create a critical window of opportunity, giving nationality applicants close to submission extra time under current rules and allowing pending or planned residency cases to benefit from any protective clauses introduced during the review—making early action essential.
Our legal, residency, and cross-border specialists are closely tracking the Court proceedings, and this webinar will show you exactly how these developments may affect your pathway and what actions to take now.
What to expect at this webinar:
Understand the Preventive Review and What It Means: What the Constitutional Court review is, why it was triggered, and how it affects the Nationality Law process.
Anticipate Timeline Shifts and Their Impact: How the review may alter approval, veto, or implementation dates—and what this means for your planning window.
Assess Your Residency or Citizenship Pathway: How current and future Golden Visa, D visa, and nationality applications may be evaluated during this period.
Next Steps: How to protect your residency or citizenship plan during legal uncertainty, options to pivot if rules change, the importance for current nationality applicants to act early, and how you’ll receive updates once the Court issues its ruling.
Register now to secure your place at this important webinar:
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