Obtaining Portuguese Citizenship through descent

[JOKERSTAR212]

Originally Posted by canoeman

For Portugal 50K€ is not enough to realistically buy anything you could afford to build on, rebuild or renovate, it would be enough to rent and cover expenses in the short term but employment is near enough impossible to find unless you have a specific reguired skill and the language, which is one of the harder European ones to learn.

Thanks for getting bk on that and i share it what you say i was just hoping some1 would come up an say yes theirs a place i.e somewher in Europe where you can maybe fullfill what i could afford right now, because Ireland right now is a no go 4 me and my family.. Do you think i could do it anywhere on your knowledge anywher at all besides home [Ireland] 50K euro is all we have if even, and both me and my wife only have half of our qual me 2 yrs electrician and my wife 2 yrs hairdressing, i know it dont help but your advice i know and any1 eles will and greatly apprecat...

Many Thanks

[lucastamatea]

Hi there,
My mother will apply for citizenship through her grandfather who was a Portuguese citizen. I've read through all the requirements on-line and don't see anything about proving a link to the Portuguese community. Is that written down somewhere? Seems like an extremely vague and frustrating requirement.
Thanks very much

[brownindian]

Originally Posted by acorey

You are welcome.

It seems expensive but it was all just the fees for filing each document.

It was around US$90each. So to register My Grandparents (Birth, Death, Marriage), My Parents (Birth, Marriage), and myself it added up quickly. Just to get to this point That's at least 10 documents/forms/etc..

The $200-$400 estimate is for both the ID and the Passport. Estimates only. I will post the actual cost after I'm through.

I am planning to visit as soon as possible. I would love to move there in the future if My girlfriend is willing.

I am fond of the expression that- Success is when preparation meets opportunity. Getting My ID and Passport is just that. If I travel to Portugal and like what I find, I will be all ready to take action. If I want to stay, I can just stay..

Thanks,

AC

Dear Acorey
My parents were Portuguese citizens born in Goa, Estada da India and I was born in East Africa. I am now living in Hong Kong and would like your help as i am planning to apply at the embassy here.
1. When you say have all your stuff together - does it mean i have to go the consulate with my parents, mine and child's birth certificates all together?
2. Does the consulate register all the births, deaths, marriage in the embassy or do you have to do it personally in crc,lisbon.
3. do you know anyone in portugal who can register for me ? or does the consulate do it?
4. did you need a police clearance certificate and did you need to translate your birth certificates to portuguese?
5. did you need to attest any of your documents? and if so does the embassy do it for you?

I would really apprecaite your help and advise in this matter.

Thanks and Regards
BI

[acorey]

Hi brownindian,

1. When you say have all your stuff together - does it mean i have to go the consulate with my parents, mine and child's birth certificates all together?

If you could do this, it would be ideal. Register everybody at once. Bring your BC and theirs. If your parents already have proof of Portuguese citizenship you are golden.
If not bring your Grandparents info. Register your parents first, then their marriage, then you.

2. Does the consulate register all the births, deaths, marriage in the embassy or do you have to do it personally in crc,lisbon.

I did mine at the consulate here in the states no problem. Don't know about the consulate in Hong Kong, I would imagine that they do though..

3. do you know anyone in portugal who can register for me ? or does the consulate do it?

I do not know anyone in Portugal, but you shouldn't need that anyway.

4. did you need a police clearance certificate and did you need to translate your birth certificates to portuguese?

No and No. But I do not know if the rules are any different in Hong Kong. The forms are in Portuguese but the people at the consulate were happy to help fill them out.

Note: This is personal opinion, but I feel that this is what I meant about having your stuff together. The folks at the consulate are there to help Portuguese citizens. If your Parents are citizens, then so are you. If you have your documentation together and they can see this, they will know you are not trying to be dishonest and trick them. It is their job to help you. And they will.

5. did you need to attest any of your documents? and if so does the embassy do it for you?

No. All of my documentation was officially released by my state and federal government. (Birth Certificate and Social Security ID) Or corroborated by such. It was really no trouble. In fact, I got a call from the consulate from the lady looking over my info. She didn't see a way to prove that the man on the birth record from the Azores was the same man as my grandfather. But then I asked her to look at the death certificate I had also provided and all of the names were there. That was enough for her and we were done.

Note: Here in the stated a lot of consulates want an official release of a birth certificate with some official stamp on it that costs an extra sixty bucks. The Portuguese consulate did not require this. In fact, I was told that if there was any question about any documentation, or there was documentation missing, We could just sign an affidavit swearing to the fact. (An affidavit is a legal document here in the states that basically means that you really, really promise something is true. In case you don't know.) So all in all, I would say that the Portuguese consulate is pretty easy to deal with.

Remember, If your situation is legit, then there is nothing to worry about. If your parent, or parents is/are a Portuguese citizen, then you are too. It is your right to register and have an ID, and a passport if you want. The only problem will be if you don't have the documentation to prove you are a citizen. Which is understandable. Proving that is not the consulates job.

All the best and I wish you the best of luck!

acorey

[brownindian]

Hi Acorey
I just to-day found my father's certificate of naturalisation as British citizen wherein his nationality is given as portuguese. Also my grandmother and grandfather's names and nationality are there in that document.
Since he was in East Africa, and I was born there, I was a British citizen till Idi Amin came and we went back to India as refugees. Hence I now have Indian citizenship and am a HK PR and in Hong Kong (HK) for last 20 odd years.
I have some documents here and some must be with my brother in India, I hope it works for me. I have my father's and mother's original birth certificate, but it was registered in the CRC at Goa. So I too have go through the whole process of registering my father and mother's birth, marriage and death certificates and then mine and then my marriage and then my daughter.

Also since my birth certificate is from Uganda, and I have no contact there, I caanot give them a recent one. IS there a way out for this issue? Also did your Dad have to collect all recent certificates? LAos please can you give me the geneology website so I can look up if my Dad's BC is there.

We need to go the Macau consulate, so I shall be emailing them first . Just wondering whether I collect everything first or ask them first as too much money and time to go to India and then return .After reading in this forum (which is very helpful and I am very grateful to one and all). I think different consulates deal with it differently.

Please I am addressing it to AC, but please respond to this if you can give me any advise.
Muit obrigado (going to learn now, my Dad used to speak fluent portuguese)

[brownindian]

Hi Smorg
Did everythiing go snoothly at the ambassy or did you have to translation too? How long did the whole process take?
Thanks & Regards.

[acorey]

Hi again brownindian,

I found a guy in the Azores, where my grandfather is from to get a copy of his birth record from the parish of his town. It would be best to locate a genealogist close to where your parents record is likely to be. But depending on how long ago it was, there may not be a birth certificate for your parents. You could check with the consulate to see of PT has any record of him already. Probably not though.. So you would need a genealogist or someone near the town to get a birth record from the church that baptized them.. But you probably don't need this if you have an official immigration document stating that they were from Portugal. It is also good that both of their names are on it. And their marital status.

It's really tough to say what you need. My grand father came over in 1914 so there wasn't a lot of paperwork. The consulate wasn't expecting a lot either it seemed. It is common for names to change (as in our case) and there was no good record keeping system until recently.

If you read my original posts on the matter all of the info is there. In short, you need birth certificates. If your father didn't have one, it's not the end of the world. You just have to prove who he was and get one made for him. I used my grand father's naturalization papers, his death certificate,and his birth record. To be honest, I think the birth record may not have been needed. Plus, in my case, the naturalization papers had both versions of our name on it so that helped a lot.

So- again- if there are no birth certificates for your parents, then you need to get them made. An immigration document will probably be good enough to get started with... Then you need their marriage certificates (or what ever proof they use from the country they were married in). Their marriage is added as an event that happened as an addendum onto the birth certificate. (don't ask me why- that's just how they do it...) If your parents have passed, then you will need to submit death certificates too..Then you add yourself on to your parents bc as a child they had. Then you get a bc of your own. That's the order it goes in..

Stay focused on just providing reasonable proof of your claim. You are just proving lineage really. That you dad is who you say he is and from where you say he is. And then creating an official paper trail of that.. Keep in mind that the consulate deals with confused, complicated cases all the time. Things were messed up in PT for a long time and people went all over the place. I was really worried about the name change in my family but the folks at the consulate said they saw it all the time. Worst case, they said, is we'd have to sign an affidavit that the names had been changed..

Regarding Birth Certificates; I don't know about other countries, but in the US a BC records your birth. That's it... In Portugal, it's a life document that records all of the big events that happen to you.. Being born, getting married, having children, getting divorced, It's all on there.. Or it is supposed to be. So it is used in a different way than it is in some other countries.

You may find it helpful to think of it this way brownindian, you are just getting your paperwork in order. They are not giving you anything you don't already have.
If you have to go back a few times or dig for another piece of info- no big deal. Just get you father's paper work caught up and take it one step at a time.

acorey

[brownindian]

Thanks a lot AC, and have a good weekend.