Lawyers and solicitors can now apply for Portuguese citizenship “online” for foreigners of legal age who have resided legally in Portugal for at least five years or are married to Portuguese citizens, the justice ministry said on Monday.
“The service, launched on February 17 exclusively for professionals, allows, in a completely dematerialized form, to deliver citizenship requests along with mandatory documentation, make payments, track the status of processes, fill in and correct information without having to go to the registration desk,” the Ministry of Justice said ( MJ), sent this Monday.
The application, available to legal representatives registered with the Bar Association or the Association of Solicitors and Bailiffs, can be submitted through the Justice Portal.
“At the initial stage, the service applies to requests from citizens over 18 who want to acquire Portuguese citizenship by legally residing in Portugal for at least five years and having married a person of Portuguese citizenship. Until March 17, the service will be extended. to all types of citizenship requests,” MJ explained in a statement.
The functionality, available since February 17, is meant to make the process more flexible, according to the government.
Nationality inquiries “will also benefit from an automatic AI document authentication tool”, which “will help to increase the responsiveness of services, speed up one of the most time-consuming steps in these processes”, reduce personal presence and reduce paperwork “while maintaining security and rigor process.”
Lawyers and solicitors must authenticate themselves on the digital platform with a professional association certificate and digital signature.
“Citizens who do not have a representative must, at this stage, submit a request for Portuguese citizenship and the necessary documentation to the registration office with a citizenship counter. Alternatively, they can send documents by post,” the Ministry of Justice explained.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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