Report on Citizenship Law: Portugal Some categories of foreigners are exempted from fulfilling some naturalisation requirements. First, those who have held Portuguese citizenship and have never acquired any other citizenship are exempted from fulfilling the requirements regarding the period of residence and the knowledge of Portuguese language (art. 6(4)). The 2006 reform has retained discretionary naturalisation in some circumstances. In these situations, even if the individuals concerned meet the requirements, the government may still deny their naturalisation. The former version favoured the discretionary naturalisation of Portuguese descendants. Art. 6(6) allows other possibilities for discretionary naturalisation, regarding foreigners who have held Portuguese citizenship, who are descendants of Portuguese citizens, members of communities of Portuguese origin, or who have provided or will provide notable services for the Portuguese state or to the Portuguese community.74 These individuals are exempted from fulfilling the requirements regarding the period of residence and knowledge of the Portuguese language. The Government may also grant nationality by naturalization, exempting the requirements on legal residence and Portuguese knowledge to descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews. Applicants must prove the belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, namely through surnames, family language, direct or collateral descent (art. 6(7)). In all these latter cases, it is notorious that the Law’s aim was to strengthen and reinforce the ties with the Portuguese communities and descendants, which is a Constitutional goal. As for the 2018 reform, it introduced a new ground for discretionary naturalisation, this time for the purpose of respecting the principle of unity of nationality in the family. According to art. 6(8), naturalization may be awarded to individuals who are ascendants of Portugueseborn citizens, and who have resided in Portugal, regardless of holding a legal title, for at least five years before the request, provided that the ancestry was established at the time of the birth of the Portuguese citizen. Legal residence as a requirement for acquisition of the Portuguese citizenship Art. 15 of the Nationality Act establishes the concept of legal residence, which must be applied to all the norms using this expression. The individuals who have regular residence as recognised by the Portuguese authorities, through any title foreseen by the Immigration or Asylum Act or by international convention (visas, permits, and others) are considered to be legally resident in Portugal.75 Asylum applicants may remain in Portuguese territory until their asylum procedure is decided. The ABS issues a declaration stating that the individual has applied for asylum. This is enough to prove that such individuals may remain in Portuguese territory (arts. 11 and 14 of the Asylum Act).76 74 The 2006 reform reinforced the possibility of granting naturalisation in some situations known by the general public, as the naturalisation of the athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen, whose services could not be considered to be relevant services to the state, but can be considered to be relevant services to the national community (Canas 2007: 524). The Administrative Courts have already confirmed that the Government enjoys a margin of appreciation when evaluating whether an individual had provided notable services for the Portuguese state or to the Portuguese community, for the purposes of granting naturalisation under Article 6, n.6. See decison of 21 January 2010 of the South Central Administrative Court. 75 The 2006 reform version kept a link with the Immigration Law, as it was not desirable to create a rigid concept of residence, completely divorced from that law (Canas 2007: 526). Ramos argues that this dependence upon the immigration law weakens the character of fundamental right to the citizenship (2007: 217). 76 Law 27/2008 of 30 July. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/1 - © 2020 Author 23