Obtaining Portuguese Citizenship through descent

[browntwice]

My grandfather from my mother's side is portuguese, My grandmother from my mother's side is nigerian. Though I have been living in the Uk for some years now and wondering what is the possibility of applying for portuguese nationality on the grounds that my grandfather is from portuguese. Any good advice will be appreciated. thanks

[Sonho]

It is possible but there are a lot of hoops to jump through...and just when you think you have done everything necessary, they change the game on you.
I am going through the process now.
Go speak to the PT embassy about it. You will need:
1)official copies of your Grandfather's birth certificate
2) official copies of your mother's birth certificate
3) Official copies of your birth certificate
4)criminal records from every single country you have lived in
5) proof that you speak Portuguese --ie take the official state approved test

I think that is it.
Good luck.

[browntwice]

Alright thnx Sonho
sounds like a real long process though no lie.

Am not sure how possible it will be to locate my grandfather's B-C because he was born in 1940 and my mum was born in nigeria in the 60's. Still need to get my round this. So u implying I have to be able to speak portuguese language too pal.

[MarcoCarrico]

Originally Posted by browntwice

So u implying I have to be able to speak portuguese language too pal.

If you want to be portuguese then you are supposed to speak portuguese, makes sense or am I missing something here?

[Catx]

Originally Posted by arq.MarcoCarrico

If you want to be portuguese then you are supposed to speak portuguese, makes sense or am I missing something here?

Marco, I could not have put it better, myself

Good luck to the original poster and, while I have residencia here, I would not dream of applying for citizenship without being fluent in Portuguese.

It is possible to acquire all birth cerificates, once you have enough information about the details of the person born, i.e. name, date and place of birth, parentage etcetera.

[browntwice]

thanks to y'all

impossible is nothing!

[LemmingOverlord]

You can acquire Portuguese citizenship up to the 3rd generation removed (children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren), so you should be ok.

It is common sense that when you acquire nationality you actually know the language, but I think that this is a bit of a blurry area. There wasn't an actual test until very recently and you can find instructions (in portuguese of course) on the Ministry of Education's site, but the dang site won't let me paste URLs as this is my first post... lol.

Anyway, you'll need to talk to the consulate about this and acquire a long list of documents such as birth (and death, if the case) certificates of your grandfather AND the direct line of descendants that ends in you (ie: your bloodline).

Documents (or authenticated copies thereof) must have been issued within the last 6 months of the application for citizenship.

You also cannot have a prior conviction of a crime punishable by a prison sentence of 3 years or more, under Portuguese law. That's a big no-no, I hear.

I'm also sure there's a fee to pay. So really, don't do anything until talking to the nearest Portuguese consulate. At the rate things are changing it could be dead simple or just full of red tape and hoops to jump through.

Just a side note: there's a slight difference between the UK and Portugal. For Britons living abroad there's "citizenship" and "nationality", two slightly different concepts. In Portugal people talk about obtaining "citizenship" but actually mean "dual nationality", if they are originally of foreign stock.

The portuguese citizenship will add to your current one. It won't replace it, afaik.

When I got mine they took a bit of a snob attitude at me not having a single portuguese name... they actually required that you have at least a single Portuguese christian or surname. I had to explain to the clerk that "David" was Portuguese enough (although if you ask a native to define "Portuguese", they'll start laughing at you).

That's all I've got.

I think your real problem will be the Nigerian BC. Talk to the Foreign Office, they should be able to help as there are surely thousands of Nigerian emigrees who moved to the UK in the 60s and 70s.

[browntwice]

Thnx lemmingoverload

Advice taken on board, thnx and appretiate it.

[-mia-]

Originally Posted by LemmingOverlord

Just a side note: there's a slight difference between the UK and Portugal. For Britons living abroad there's "citizenship" and "nationality", two slightly different concepts. In Portugal people talk about obtaining "citizenship" but actually mean "dual nationality", if they are originally of foreign stock.

In the case of Portugal (and most other countries) citizenship & nationality are the same thing. You have "dual citizenaship" or "dual nationality", same thing. Check with your country if they accept dual nationality/citizenship. There are countries that don't' allow it.

Originally Posted by LemmingOverlord

When I got mine they took a bit of a snob attitude at me not having a single portuguese name... they actually required that you have at least a single Portuguese christian or surname. I had to explain to the clerk that "David" was Portuguese enough (although if you ask a native to define "Portuguese", they'll start laughing at you).

That's just silly really I have cousins born & breed in Portugal who are named David.
It's not super common but it's not unheard of. Even back in 1600s we had David Melgueiro. David Mourão-Ferreira was born in the '20s. Go back & tell them they don't know what they are talking about!
ETA: & the economist from the 1800s David Ricardo.

Never mind the fact that kids are now being called Brittany & Stephanie in Portugal.

Originally Posted by LemmingOverlord

I think your real problem will be the Nigerian BC. Talk to the Foreign Office, they should be able to help as there are surely thousands of Nigerian emigrees who moved to the UK in the 60s and 70s.

It's possible (and let's hope this is true) that the OP's mother was registered with the Portuguese authorities in Nigeria. What year was she born? If so, it should be in the national registry.

[browntwice]

Mia Thnx 4 the inputs

She was born in 1965, in eastern nigeria.