A new report revealed on 17 September 2025 that resident foreigners in Portugal obtain Portuguese citizenship at significantly lower rates than the European Union average. The findings point to barriers such as long legal residency requirements, integration tests, bureaucratic delays, and perhaps limited awareness of the naturalisation path. These obstacles often disproportionately affect immigrants who are already contributing socially and economically.
The comparison underscores not just the scale of these challenges, but the urgency of reform. If Portugal wishes to live up to its values of inclusion and belonging, it must ensure that immigrants who have made roots here have fair access to nationality — one that recognises contribution, not just paperwork. Part of the fix involves streamlining bureaucratic procedures, clarifying rules, and reducing retroactive effects for those applying under older legal standards.