Report on Citizenship Law: Portugal naturalisation. Acquisition of citizenship after birth does not occur automatically in any of these cases. It depends on non-opposition from the state (for acquisition after birth through adoption or personal wish) or a government act (for acquisition through naturalisation). Acquisition by adoption ‘The adopted by Portuguese national acquires the Portuguese nationality’ (art. 5 of the Nationality Act). This is an ex lege acquisition, with no need for an expression of intent: all that is required is that the registration of the birth of the child in question clearly states that he or she was adopted by a Portuguese national (art. 17 of the Nationality Regulation). Filial transfer of citizenship Minors or disabled children with a mother or father who acquires Portuguese citizenship (for example, by naturalisation) can acquire Portuguese citizenship by declaration (art. 2 of the Nationality Act).54 Spousal transfer of citizenship A foreigner who has been married for more than three years to a Portuguese national can acquire Portuguese citizenship by declaration made by virtue of marriage (art. 3(1) of the Nationality Act).55 Partner transfer of citizenship A new mode for acquiring citizenship, added by the 2006 reform,56 allows for the acquisition of Portuguese citizenship by an unmarried partner who has lived with a Portuguese citizen for more than three years (art. 3(3) of the Nationality Act). This is a voluntary type of acquisition of citizenship, but it requires more than a simple expression of intent. The partnership must be recognised by a civil court of law through a special procedure. Such a requirement aims to avoid the possibility of fraud. This arrangement was proposed during the legislative process of Organic Law 1/2004, but was not adopted. The 2006 reform took into consideration the general Portuguese movement towards the recognition of partnerships of unmarried couples (Ramos 2007: 204). This mode of acquisition of citizenship is applied to both heterosexual and homosexual partnerships. 54 This declaration is made by the child through the legal guardian (art. 13 of the Nationality Regulation). The 2006 reform has maintained the three years requirement despite the fact of some parties, as the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) claimed to exclude it (Parliamentary Debates, Diary of the Assembly of the Republic 54, 2005: 2467). Silva also argued that the law should not give prevalence to the principle of effective citizenship over the principle of the family unity (2004: 126). 56 This was inspired by proposals of Left Block (BE), Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Greens. 55 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/1 - © 2020 Author 17