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The primary requirement for citizenship in Portugal is to have maintained your right of residency for six years.
In its simplest form, to become a Portugese national--to obtain a second passport--you must have owned a house (or apart- ment) in Portugal for a period of six years.
Before we go through the precise procedures, let's first con-
sider--
The advantages of Portuguese citizenship
First, under Roman law a wife and children were considered as chattels (that is, property). From a human rights point of view, this is an unfortunate "hang-over" from antiquity. For our purposes, it's exceedingly beneficial. This means that if the head of the household qualifies for Portuguese residency, all his (or her) dependants automatically (and without additional cost or expenditure) also qualify.
In practice, this means a man may also acquire the right of residency for his wife, his unmarried daughters of any age (under Roman law, unmarried daughters are considered dependents even if they are 50 years old) and sons under the age of 18. A woman who is the head of her household may also petition for her children to receive residency under the same criteria.
Second, Portugal and Britain have long been allies. Under this long-standing alliance, which dates back to 1492, Portuguese nationals have preferential entry into the United Kingdom. If you are starting this process of seeking residency/citizenship now, by the time you receive Portuguese citizenship (in 1990 or 1991), another factor may have superceded this British-Portuguese relationship....
Third, Portugal is scheduled to become a member of the EEC on 1 January 1986. When Portugal becomes a member of the EEC, every Portuguese national will enjoy increased travel and work oppor- tunities. One of the aims of the EEC is the unrestricted move- ment of labor--meaning that a national of any member country can live and work anywhere else in the EEC without having to go through any immigration procedures whatsoever. In practice, this has not yet been fully implemented, but as a national of an EEC member country, you'll enjoy preferential access to other EEC countries. (Note that for the first 10 years, Portugal will be in a transition stage of membership, so not until 1996 will Portugal become a full member of the EEC.)
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