Updated monthly · IRN data of September 2026
Portuguese citizenship applications currently wait anywhere from about 1 month to more than 5 years before they are analysed. The wait depends on two things: the legal route you applied under, and which IRN office is handling your file. Below is the month each office is working on right now, updated every month from the status tables the IRN itself issues, followed by what the wait means for your case and what a lawyer can do when a file stops moving.
1–63
Months of wait for analysis
2
IRN offices, two speeds
12
Case types tracked
19.05.26
New Nationality Law in force
Live queue · IRN status tables
The IRN works through applications in order of filing date, separately for each legal route. The date below is the filing date of the applications that office is analysing now: if you filed after that date, your application has not yet been analysed. “1st half” and “2nd half” are the IRN's own fortnight labels (quinzena).
Data: IRN status tables of September 2026 · Page updated: 21 October 2026 · Next update: when the IRN issues its next table
| Case type (Nationality Law) | IRN office | Adults: filings now analysed | Adults: wait | Minors: filings now analysed | Minors: wait |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child of a Portuguese citizen, birth transcription art. 1(1)(c) | Arquivo Central do Porto | 2nd half Jun 2025 | ~15 mo | 2nd half Nov 2025 | ~10 mo |
| Child of a Portuguese citizen, birth transcription art. 1(1)(c) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 1st half Apr 2022 | ~53 mo | 1st half Oct 2025 | ~11 mo |
| Child of a Portuguese citizen, declaration art. 1(1)(c) | Arquivo Central do Porto | 1st half Mar 2026 | ~6 mo | 2nd half Jun 2026 | ~3 mo |
| Child of a Portuguese citizen, declaration art. 1(1)(c) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 2nd half Nov 2023 | ~34 mo | 2nd half Mar 2026 last reported in June table | ~3 mo |
| Grandchild of a Portuguese citizen art. 1(1)(d) | Arquivo Central do Porto | 2nd half Sep 2023 | ~36 mo | 1st half Apr 2026 | ~5 mo |
| Grandchild of a Portuguese citizen art. 1(1)(d) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 1st half Feb 2022 | ~55 mo | 1st half Apr 2026 | ~5 mo |
| Marriage to a Portuguese citizen art. 3(1) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 2nd half Nov 2021 | ~58 mo | – | – |
| De facto union with a Portuguese citizen art. 3(3) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 2nd half May 2026 | ~4 mo | – | – |
| Naturalisation by residence art. 6(1) | Arquivo Central do Porto | 1st half Nov 2023 | ~34 mo | – | – |
| Naturalisation by residence art. 6(1) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 1st half Jun 2024 | ~27 mo | – | – |
| Minor born in Portugal art. 6(2)–(3) | Arquivo Central do Porto | – | – | 2nd half Mar 2026 | ~6 mo |
| Minor born in Portugal art. 6(2)–(3) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | – | – | 2nd half May 2026 | ~4 mo |
| Minor child of a naturalised parent art. 2 | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | – | – | 2nd half Nov 2022 | ~46 mo |
| Adoption by a Portuguese citizen art. 5 | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 2nd half May 2026 | ~4 mo | 2nd half May 2026 | ~4 mo |
| Great-grandchild of a Portuguese citizen | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 1st half Feb 2024 | ~31 mo | – | – |
| Descendant of Sephardic Jews former art. 6(7) | Arquivo Central do Porto | 1st half Jun 2022 | ~51 mo | – | – |
| Descendant of Sephardic Jews former art. 6(7) | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 2nd half Jun 2021 | ~63 mo | – | – |
| Woman married to a Portuguese man before Oct 1981 | Conservatória dos Registos Centrais | 2nd half Aug 2026 | ~1 mo | – | – |
This office publishes no line for that case type. Choose “Both offices” to see where it is handled.
For a grandchild's application, the Porto archive is about 19 months ahead of the Lisbon central registry.
Both offices publish separate, far more recent dates for applicants under 18.
Marriage, Sephardic descent and adult grandchildren at the central registry, all at four to five years.
Reading the table
Applications move by filing date within their own article of the Nationality Law. Someone who filed after you under a different route can finish first.
The Arquivo Central do Porto and the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais (Lisbon) each keep their own files and pace. The same route can be years apart in the two offices; nothing in the law requires this.
The table shows when a registrar starts analysing your file. Requests for documents, opinions from other bodies and the decision itself follow, each with its own wait.
Both offices run separate, faster lines for applicants under 18.
From filing to passport
The queue is only one part of the journey from filing to holding a Portuguese passport.
Birth, marriage and criminal record certificates, apostilles and certified translations, depending on the country.
Lawyers file online through the IRN's nationality platform; you receive a 12-digit access code.
Your place in the queue, shown in the table above.
The registrar checks the file and may ask for documents or for opinions from AIMA, the police or other bodies.
By the registrar or, for naturalisation, on behalf of the Minister of Justice.
Your Portuguese birth record is created after a favourable decision.
Appointment at a registry office in Portugal or a consulate abroad, depending on availability. See our Citizen Card and passport service.
If the IRN asks for a document (an exigência) and it is not supplied within the deadline it sets, the file can stall or be refused. Replying quickly and completely is one of the few things that genuinely shortens the total time.
IRN nationality portal
You can follow your file on the IRN's nationality portal with the 12-digit access code given at filing. If a lawyer filed for you, the code is sent to the lawyer. The portal shows four stages:
01
Submitted
Received and waiting in the queue. Most of the waiting happens here.
02
Under analysis
A registrar is examining the file; this is when document requests usually arrive.
03
For decision
Analysis is finished and the file awaits the formal decision.
04
Concluded
A decision has been issued.
The portal does not show the queue date for your route; that is what the table on this page is for. We cannot see your individual file unless we are your lawyers on it.
Delays
When the date in the table has passed yours and your file still shows no progress, the cause is usually not the queue.
An opinion or information from AIMA, the courts' administration (DGAJ), the Polícia Judiciária or the IRN's document-fraud unit.
A request may have gone to an old address, email or lawyer.
“Para decisão” can last months, especially in naturalisation files.
Certificates that lapse during a long wait may have to be replaced.
These are the options, roughly from the lightest to the strongest. A lawyer can tell you which fit your file and when.
| Option | When it fits | What it achieves |
|---|---|---|
| Status enquiry to the office | Queue date has passed, no news | Often reveals a pending request or opinion |
| Lawyers' channel with the IRN | Your lawyer is a member of the Portuguese Bar | Since February 2026 the Bar (Ordem dos Advogados) and the IRN run a dedicated contact channel for lawyers |
| Urgency request (pedido de urgência) | Serious, imminent and hard-to-repair harm if the file waits | Moves the file up the queue; it does not change the outcome |
| Complaint | Clear inaction or lack of reply | A written complaint to the IRN, or to the Ombudsman (Provedor de Justiça) |
| Court action to compel a decision | The legal deadline for a decision has passed | An administrative court can order the IRN to decide |
| Urgent court action to protect rights | A fundamental right is concretely at risk, and other remedies are too slow | Fast-track proceedings in the administrative courts |
On 20 May 2026 the IRN's Board adopted uniform criteria for urgency requests. They are still exceptional and must be made in writing with proof, by the applicant or their representative. Grounds the IRN accepts include, for example:
Minors born abroad to a Portuguese parent who have no other nationality and no documents already have automatic priority.
When the IRN fails to decide within the legal deadline, you can bring an action asking the administrative court to order it to decide (ação de condenação à prática de ato devido). The right to sue for an omission expires one year after the legal deadline for the decision ends, so timing matters.
A court can order a decision; it cannot guarantee a positive one.
Administrative litigationLei Orgânica n.º 1/2026
The amended Nationality Law (Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, published on 18 May 2026) has applied since 19 May 2026. The date your application was filed decides which version governs it.
Filed before 19 May 2026
Your application is assessed under the previous wording of the law, including the five-year residence rule. The new law does not change your requirements, though your file still waits in the same queue.
Filed on or after 19 May 2026
The new requirements apply. The Government was also given 90 days to amend the Nationality Regulation to put the new rules into practice.
| Route | Main requirements for new applications | Changed in 2026? |
|---|---|---|
| Child of a Portuguese citizen born abroad art. 1(1)(c) | Registration of the birth or a declaration; no residence in Portugal required | No |
| Grandchild of a Portuguese citizen art. 1(1)(d) | Now also requires the conditions in art. 6(1)(c) to (h): knowledge of Portuguese language and culture, criminal-record conditions and the other naturalisation conditions | Yes |
| Naturalisation by residence art. 6(1) | Adult; 7 years of legal residence for EU and CPLP nationals (including Brazilians), 10 years for other nationals; knowledge of the language, culture, history, fundamental rights and duties and political organisation of Portugal; declaration of adherence to the democratic rule of law; criminal-record conditions | Yes was 5 years |
| Marriage or de facto union with a Portuguese citizen art. 3 | Marriage or union of more than 3 years (a de facto union must first be recognised by a court). The State may not oppose when the relationship has lasted more than 6 years or there are common children with Portuguese nationality, except on criminal-record grounds | Partly |
| Child born in Portugal to foreign parents | One parent must have lived legally in Portugal for 5 years | Yes was 1 year |
| Descendants of Sephardic Jews | Route abolished for new applications; files already pending continue | Yes |
How the residence period is now counted. Time counts from the issue of a valid residence title, not from the date you first applied for residence. For many people this adds the months or years spent waiting for AIMA to the seven or ten years. Residence periods may still be added up even if they were interrupted.
For the full requirements of each route, see our pages on Portuguese citizenship, citizenship by descent, citizenship by marriage, naturalisation by residence and citizenship for minors.
Before you file
The queue is the same for everyone on your route. What adds time on top of it usually starts with the documents, before filing.
File complete. A missing certificate, apostille or translation leads to a document request that sends the file back.
Check names and dates across every certificate. Spelling differences between generations are a common cause of requests in descent cases.
Use current certificates and plan for replacements if the wait is long.
Keep your contact details current with the IRN and your lawyer, so no request goes unanswered.
File minors' applications separately and early. Their queues are much shorter.
Ask where your file will be handled. The two offices' queues for the same route can be years apart.
Glossary
Portuguese nationality lawyers
We represent applicants before the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais and the Arquivo Central do Porto: preparing complete files, answering document requests, urgency requests and court action over delays. We usually respond in less than a workday.
Data source: status tables issued by the IRN (Arquivo Central do Porto and Conservatória dos Registos Centrais). This page is general information, not legal advice for your case.
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