09/10/2026
ARTICLE 41 OF THE PORTUGUESE NATIONALITY REGULATION
Article 41(1) of the Portuguese Nationality Regulation provides that the Central Registry Office must, within 30 days from receipt of the declarations, carry out a summary analysis of the file, verify whether it is properly instructed and, where deficiencies exist, notify the interested person to remedy them within the legal period.
The same provision further requires the Administration to promote the necessary steps for the case to proceed toward a decision.
Under Article 41(2), once the evidentiary/instruction phase is completed, the registrar must issue a decision within 60 days.
Accordingly, the applicable legal regime does not establish a general 29-month period, or any other merely administrative or estimated timeframe, as a substitute for the procedural duties set out in Article 41 of the Nationality Regulation.
Any internal estimate of average processing time based on workload, backlog, or administrative capacity does not alter the deadlines and duties established by law, nor does it relieve the Administration from identifying the specific procedural stage of this individual case and the concrete steps that remain pending.
ARTICLE 41 OF THE PORTUGUESE NATIONALITY REGULATIONArticle 41(1) o...
