Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has signed a revised version of the citizenship law that significantly tightens naturalization requirements for foreigners. The law will take effect upon publication in the Diário da República.
The main change concerns the length of residence required to apply for citizenship. For most foreigners, it increases from 5 to 10 years, and for citizens of EU countries and Portuguese-speaking Commonwealth states, to 7 years. Additionally, the period will be calculated not from the date of application for a residence permit, but from the date the first residence card is issued.
The reform also introduces additional integration requirements. Applicants for citizenship will need to demonstrate proficiency in Portuguese at the A2 level, pass a test on culture, history, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens, confirm their commitment to democratic principles, prove sufficient means of support, and demonstrate no serious criminal convictions.
A separate part of the reform, concerning the possibility of losing citizenship in the event of serious crimes, remains under review by the Constitutional Court. Previously, the court had already ruled unconstitutional a number of provisions related to automatic denial of citizenship and vague grounds for its revocation.
For foreigners who viewed Portugal as one of the fastest EU jurisdictions for obtaining citizenship through legal residence, the reform means a significant lengthening of the planning horizon. This could have a particularly noticeable impact on residence permit holders and investors under the Golden Visa program: the residency program itself, according to available data, remains unchanged, but the path from residency to citizenship is becoming longer.
The tightening of rules comes amid rapid growth in the number of foreigners in Portugal. According to AIMA, as of the end of 2024, more than 1.5 million foreign citizens resided in the country, which is roughly double the number from three years earlier. The largest group consists of Brazilians—more than 450,000 legal residents.
According to available estimates, the largest groups of foreigners in Portugal also include citizens of India, Angola, Ukraine, Cape Verde, Nepal, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Guinea-Bissau, and Pakistan. According to data cited from preliminary AIMA statistics for 2024, the number of Ukrainians in Portugal was estimated at approximately 79,200 people. Separately, regarding temporary protection, according to the Prague Process, as of February 2025, approximately 56,700 Ukrainians with temporary protection status were residing in Portugal. According to some estimates, the number of Ukrainians in Portugal could reach 300,000.
According to Serbian Economist, the Serbian government revoked the citizenship of Jakov Salmanovich Zakriev, the nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, five days after granting it. This was reported with reference to a decision published in the “Official Gazette.”
The decision to revoke citizenship was signed on April 28 by Serbian Prime Minister Džuro Matsu. Zakriev initially received a Serbian passport under Article 19 of the Citizenship Law—as a foreigner whose admission to citizenship “is in the interest of the Republic of Serbia.”
The authorities later revised this decision. The government cited Article 184 of the General Administrative Procedure Act, which allows for the revocation of a decision that has already been implemented if necessary to eliminate a serious and immediate threat to human life and health, public safety, public order, or to prevent serious disruptions to the economy.
The story became public after Serbian media reported that citizenship had been granted to Zakriyev as a person of interest to the country. Less than a day later, the authorities revoked their decision.
Zakriyev is the son of Kadyrov’s older sister; he previously served as mayor of Grozny and later worked in the Chechen government.
Argentina has suspended the practical launch of its citizenship-by-investment program following the cancellation of an international tender to select a consultant tasked with developing and implementing its operational model. The country’s Ministry of Economy has canceled the tender for consulting and technical services for the Citizenship by Investment program, according to official tender documents.
This does not involve the repeal of the program’s legal framework, but rather a suspension of its launch. The basis for the mechanism was previously established by Argentine President Javier Milei’s Decree No. 524/2025. The document allowed foreigners who had made a “significant investment” to apply for Argentine citizenship through a special agency under the Ministry of Economy.
To prepare for the practical launch, the authorities announced an international tender in December 2025 for “consulting and technical services” for the Citizenship by Investment program. It is this tender that has now been canceled.
Sources familiar with investment migration note that following the cancellation of the tender, the program’s parameters—including final investment requirements and launch dates—have once again become uncertain.
It was previously expected that Argentina would become one of the first countries in Latin America with a distinct citizenship-by-investment model. However, the launch will now likely be postponed at least until the organizational structure is revised and a new operational model for the program is selected.
The Finnish government has submitted a bill to parliament that would introduce a mandatory citizenship test for applicants for a Finnish passport. The test is intended to assess knowledge of Finnish society, its structure, and key principles, and if approved by parliament, the new rules are scheduled to take effect in early 2027.
As clarified by the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, the exam will be part of a broader reform of the citizenship law, aimed at tightening naturalization requirements and placing greater emphasis on integration, employment, and adherence to the norms of Finnish society. The test will be available in Finnish or Swedish.
The reform continues the current government’s phased approach to tightening migration policy. Finland had previously increased requirements regarding length of residence, income, and compliance with the law for citizenship applicants, and has now decided to add a separate test of civic knowledge.
This discussion is of particular importance for Finland’s labor market and migration environment, as the country remains significantly more dependent on external population inflows than it was just a few years ago. According to Statistics Finland, the country’s population stood at 5,652,881 by the end of 2025, and population growth in recent years has been largely driven by migration. In 2025, 50,060 people arrived in Finland, and net migration stood at 34,852 people, fully offsetting the natural population decline.
Authorities are also noting an increase in the number of new citizens. According to the Finnish Immigration Service, 14,689 people received Finnish citizenship in 2025—a record high. Of these, 13,483 received citizenship upon application, and 1,206 through the notification procedure.
According to official data from Statistics Finland, 5.65 million people resided in Finland at the end of 2025, and the number of residents of foreign origin and foreign citizens continued to grow; specific databases from Statistics Finland provide a breakdown by citizenship and country of origin, and also show that the growth in recent years was largely due to the influx from Ukraine. Official releases from Statistics Finland explicitly noted that in 2023, the largest numbers of people arrived in Finland from Ukraine, Russia, Sri Lanka, and India.
According to Open4business, the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia has seen a sharp increase in interest in its citizenship by investment program. In the 2023/2024 fiscal year, 5,642 applications were submitted under the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP), which is 424% more than the previous year, when there were 1,076. This is stated in the program’s official statistics and annual report.
According to the report, the number of approved applications rose to 1,171 compared to 544 the previous year, while the number of rejections was 77 compared to 8 in the prior period. At the same time, the volume of applications in a single fiscal year exceeded the cumulative total of all previous years of the program’s operation, which was estimated at 2,768 applications over seven years.
The financial impact on the country was also significant. Program revenues reached 240.3 million East Caribbean dollars, or approximately $89 million, which is nearly four times higher than the previous year’s level. The bulk of the revenue came from due diligence fees and administrative charges, primarily related to real estate investments.
Thus, Saint Lucia has become one of the most dynamic players in the investment citizenship market in the Caribbean. At the same time, such a sharp surge may heighten scrutiny of the quality of due diligence, application processing times, and the sustainability of the model itself, especially given that certain Western countries have been taking a tougher stance on “passport-for-investment” programs in recent years. This conclusion is based on official program statistics and the market context described by industry publications.
Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean and a member of the British Commonwealth. The country uses the East Caribbean dollar, and its economy relies primarily on tourism, real estate, and external services. The citizenship-by-investment program has been in effect here since 2015 and has become one of the tools for attracting capital to state funds and approved development projects.
The Portuguese Parliament has once again approved a revision of the citizenship law, which tightens naturalization rules; however, the new provisions have not yet taken effect and must still undergo further procedural steps. This was reported by Portuguese media and international publications covering the repeat vote following previous remarks by the Constitutional Court.
According to published reports, the new text of the law was approved on April 1, 2026. It is a revised version of the reform that Parliament had already approved in October 2025, but some of its provisions were subsequently challenged through constitutional proceedings. As a result, lawmakers revisited the document and voted in favor of the amended version.
According to specialized legal reviews and publications on the reform, the key idea behind the changes is to increase the residency period required to obtain citizenship from five to ten years for most foreigners. For citizens of CPLP countries—the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries—a more lenient requirement of seven years was discussed. The reform also includes stricter integration requirements and changes to the rules governing the loss of citizenship in certain cases.
It is important to note, however, that even after this new parliamentary approval, the law is not yet in effect. As before, the bill must go through the remaining formal stages, including presidential review and publication in the Diário da República. Until then, the current rules remain in effect in Portugal, under which the standard path to naturalization for most applicants remains five years.
Thus, the information that the Portuguese Parliament has approved a new citizenship law is generally confirmed. However, it is more accurate to speak not of the new rules coming into force, but of the re-approval by Parliament of a reform that remains in the final stages of formalization.
