Closed doors: as Europe tightens migration policy in 2025the Portuguese AD Coalition proposes to tighten the physical stay requirements for holders of "golden visas"

Closed doors: as Europe tightens migration policy in 2025, the Portuguese AD Coalition proposes to tighten physical stay requirements for holders of "golden visas"

The Coalition of the Democratic Alliance (AD), representing the center-right political spectrum of Portugal, has put forward an initiative to reform the rules for obtaining citizenship, which can significantly affect foreign investors participating in the Golden visa program.

According to the party's statement, in preparation for the 2025 elections, they intend to amend the legislation on naturalization. The focus is on tightening the requirements for the length of stay in the country. The innovations include not only an increase in the minimum period of stay, but also the establishment of stricter criteria for physical presence in Portugal.

In particular, it is proposed to:

To extend the required period of legal residence in order to obtain the right to citizenship; To tighten the interpretation of the concept of "effective presence", assuming that applicants must actually reside in Portugal for a significant amount of time annually; To exclude the possibility of counting periods of illegal stay in the country in the calculation of the required period of residence.

Currently, current legislation allows holders of "golden visas" to apply for citizenship after five years, while their presence in the country is limited to only seven days a year. The AD initiative can completely change this approach, making the path to citizenship more demanding and focused on real involvement in the life of the country.

It is worth noting that at this stage the proposals do not have a legally approved status and reflect only the intentions of the party, voiced in preparation for the elections. The implementation of these initiatives will depend on future parliamentary debates and legislative procedures.