Portugal court rejects automatic nationality refusal

Portugal's Constitutional Court has ruled that nationality cannot be refused automatically just because an applicant was convicted of a crime carrying a maximum prison sentence of three years or more, ECO reported on 2 November 2026. Ruling 840/2026, issued by the court's first section on 2 October and now published, confirmed a decision of a Lisbon administrative court of 30 June 2024.

The court found that refusing nationality on the basis of the abstract maximum penalty alone, regardless of the sentence actually imposed, breaches the Constitution, citing Articles 26(1), 18 and 30(4). The case concerned a foreign woman married for more than three years to a Portuguese citizen, who had received a 120-day fine for false testimony. The ruling does not itself grant her nationality; it means her case must be weighed on its own facts.

The decision concerns the old wording of the rules, not the revised Nationality Law in force since 19 May 2026, and it does not remove the criminal-record bars in the current law. Its direct practical effect is therefore limited, but it confirms that the authorities must look at the real circumstances of a conviction.