Portuguese Nationality For Goans

A: Portugal ensured citizenship for all individuals born before 19.12.1961 in the old Portuguese State of India, As per the Portuguese Nationality Law 37/81 and additional legislation. The information presented here is a summary of the basic rules determining who is entitled to citizenship by the Portuguese Nationality Law 37/81.

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As mentioned above, individuals born before 19.12.1961 in the former Portuguese territories of Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli are de facto Portuguese Citizens. These individuals can reclaim their citizenship even after death if a living direct descendant applies. This ensures that up to the third generation of descendant can apply for Portuguese citizenship.

A: No, You will not be able to apply through this normal route as the person born after 1961 which in this case is father/mother needs to ask for the nationality by first registering one of his/her parents who was born in Goa before 1961. Followed by his/her own registration. Since the person born after 1961 i.e father/mother in not alive he/she cannot ask for the nationality. That said there is another process to follow called naturalisation. In this case the grandchild could register the grandparent and submit the birth document of the father/mother and marriage document as well But must prove that they speak and write the Portuguese language. A test will be conducted to prove this. There are other requirements as well. Which we could discuss should you have a situation like this and would like to pursue it. Please get in touch with Us. 

A: No the person born before 1961 but outside of Goa cannot directly apply. But one can apply if one of his/her parents were born in Goa before 1961 or born outside of Goa but registered in Goa before 1961. In this case we will need to register the birth of either parent followed by their marriage and then the applicant's birth. If neither of the parents were born in Goa before 1961 or were not registered in Goa before 1961 then No. There is no eligibility in this case. 

A: Yes. In this case the child of the parents mention above becomes the applicant. He/she must register the birth of either one of his/her parents followed by their marriage followed by his/her birth and so on. 

A: Yes you can provided you are married for over three years and have children that are Portuguese nationals or if you do not have children then you need to be married for over five years.

A: Yes your children can get their Portuguese passport without you having to get yours. In this case you will have to register your birth and marriage followed by your children birth. Once their births are registered they may go ahead and apply for their Portuguese passports 

 A: Yes you can. It does not matter where in the world you were born as long as your birth was registered in Goa before 19 December 1961.

A: No Portugal does not have a record of your birth registration and nor would they have of your parents and ancestors if they were born in Goa. The reason being that Goa was not a colony of Portugal as such. Goa was declared a part of Portugal. Basically part of main land Portugal. Which meant that all Goans born in Goa were citizens of Portugal at birth. Which was not the case with other colonies of Portugal. So since Goa was part of Portugal it was not required to register the birth in Lisbon, Goa had its own Conservatoria / Registrar. Simply put it was like another district of Portugal. All records were maintained in Goa just like in Lisbon. Goans were issued Portuguese passports and ID cards just like in mainland Portugal. 

But when India invaded Goa and annexed it they did not allow the Portuguese administrators to take the record books while leaving, hence anyone born in Goa or have their birth registered in Goa before 1961 has to take that record from the record books in Goa which is available at the civil registrar or archives and submit it in Lisbon to record the birth in Portugal and reclaim their Portuguese Nationality which of course is their birth right. Please note MOST Goans did not renounce their Portuguese nationality after India invaded hence they never lost it. All that is being done now is proving that they were born in Goa before 1961 by submitting the birth record which is known as a birth teor from the original book along with other documents. Once the Portuguese authorities in Lisbon have verified the document and are satisfied that the applicant is indeed born in Goa before 1961 and is by birth a Portuguese Citizen they transcribe the birth in the Conservatoria in Lisbon and declare the applicant to be a Portuguese Citizen. Once the birth is transcribed the applicant can then go ahead and apply for his citizen card followed by his/her Portuguese Passport.

A: Fees depends on the amount of registrations and documents involved. Please get in touch with us for further information.

A: Time frames depends on the amount of registrations and documents involved. Please get in touch with us for further information.

A: No you do not have to be present in Portugal to make your application. Consultants such as Us will do the needful on your behalf. The only time you may need to be present in Portugal is one your birth has been registered and you are then free to apply for your citizen card and passport. Please note that you could also apply for the citizen card and passport at any Embassy of Portugal.

 A: This answer is for someone born in India or rather an Indian citizen. Once you have your Portuguese passport in hand you need to visit the Indian Embassy or the FRRO in India to surrender your Indian passport as India does not allow dual nationality. Once you have completed the surrender process you may go ahead and apply for an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card. For all information you need to contact the Indian Embassy if you live outside of India or the FRRO if you live in India. For citizens of other countries you need to check the laws of your country if they allow dual nationality and follow their guidance. We cannot advise on this. 

 A: Yes you could provided you apply for an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card. For all information you need to contact the Indian Embassy if you live outside of India or the FRRO if you live in India.

A: Yes you could provided you apply for an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card. You could also buy property in India with an OCI card but the type of property that can be bought is limited. For all information you need to contact the Indian Embassy if you live outside of India or the FRRO if you live in India.

A: PNFG CONSULTANCY has rich experience in processing the Portuguese Nationality For Goans, Golden Visa Program & D7 Visa Portugal, Purchase of Property in Portugal. There are many consultant players shuttling in a fragmented market for Portugal and depending on mere website data and statistics and it may be difficult to distinguish.
 

Our team of professionals along with support staff have considerable amount of experience in dealing with the complexities of immigration processes. We help to identify all possible immigration options with the assistance of Lawyers / Consultants / Professionals / who are authorised to represent clients before the authorities. Our approach in dealing with each case in a professional, timely and customer service oriented manner to make the immigration process as smooth as possible for our clients. 

PNFG CONSULTANCY has experience of 14+ years and have clients of Goan origin from different parts of the world and have successfully worked with them and have concluded their cases. Most clients have never met us face to face. We appreciate the trust and strive to maintain integrity and hard work. We have a strong presence on Google and social media such as Facebook. You could access our Facebook group or page by clicking on the link on our website. You could check our reviews from our clients.
 

PNFG CONSULTANCY offered a considerable percentage of applications in recent years, a milestone which many of our competitors find difficult to match. 

A: No, This does not mean your birth is registered in Portugal. It simply means the passport was issued prior to 1961 and had a validity till 1965. This document is no longer valid for obvious reasons and cannot be renewed but is a very good document to support your the process of transcribing your birth in Portugal. Yes in this case your birth has to be transcribed in Portugal. 

A: No this does not mean that your parents births were registered in Portugal. There are few cases like this. What is understood is that the Portuguese Embassy did issue Portuguese passports to people of Goans origin. Basically they continued to renew the passport that the person originally traveled on to Karachi. These documents normally had a validity but it actuality they were not valid and it seemed that they would not have been able to travel using those passport and eventually had to either give them up or it lost its validity. That said there is also a chance that your parents would have registered their birth in Portugal as soon as India annexed Goa. As they would have desired to maintain their Portuguese nationality and in some cases with out having to move back to Goa. In cases like these it is always good to conduct a search in the archives in Portugal to check if the birth was transcribed. This of course involves a cost and time. 

Many Goans who had moved to Karachi and married in Karachi and had children born there went ahead and registered their marriage and the children births at the Portuguese Embassy in Pakistan but never applied for their Portuguese passport and could only hold a Pakistani passport. In most cases these records stayed with the Embassy and were never sent to Lisbon to be transcribed hence the record does not exist in Portugal and is no longer traceable at the Embassy. In some case people even have a copy of the assento de nascimento or casamneto but this does not help. In this one has to go through the process of transcribing the marriage and birth in Lisbon. That said there is a chance that the Embassy did send the record to Lisbon and it was transcribed. So in cases like this it is best to conduct a search in the archives in Portugal. This of course involves a cost and time.
 

A lot of Goans in Karachi at the time would travel back to Goa to transcribe their marriage and children’s birth as soon or around the time child was born. This of course for births before 1961. Please note that Goa was Portugal so they did not have to travel to Lisbon to transcribe the marriage or birth.

A: No you are not eligible. Even if your parents now have their birth and marriage transcribed in Portugal. The reason being is that when the war broke out the Portuguese authorities asked all Portuguese citizens that includes Goans which at that time had a huge community in Mozambique and Angola to return to Portugal and many did. They also asked people who did not want to leave and continue living in Mozambique to visit the Portuguese Embassy and make a declaration that they want to be Portuguese and their children too. This was mainly for people born there. Many people did not do that and hence lost their nationality or the chance to keep their Portuguese nationality. Many Goans returned to Goa with their children being born there and many transcribed the birth of their children Goa but this does not change anything. So you cannot apply for nationality if you were born there and do not have the original declaration from the Embassy in Mozambique. Even if there was a declaration made and the copy was destroyed or lost the Embassy would not have that record. Based on experience and information those who have tried to contact the Embassy and try and request to search for the record has turned out to be unfruitful. 

A: Portuguese Nationality for Goans also known as PCFG Portuguese Citizenship for Goans also known as Portuguese passport for Goans also known as Goa Portuguese Citizenship.