# Applying for a Portuguese citizenship - declare on being a Canadian?



## GiladYAvne (Aug 16, 2016)

Hi there,

I'm a Canadian citizen living outside Canada. I have two citizenships. I am now applying for a third - a *Portuguese* citizenship.

According to the local Portuguese embassy where I live (my first citizenship), I was advised NOT to declare on being a Canadian citizen (my second citizenship) to avoid any complications. According to them, the Portuguese government cannot find out that I am a Canadian so why bother, and I should just declare being a citizen of the country where I live and apply at (my first citizenship, where I also was born, so all my documents are from this country).

The question is, to declare or not? I wasn't born in Canada and I don't have residential ties to Canada and nothing in my life can suggest to the Portuguese authorities that I am a Canadian, unless they somehow investigate. 
However, I am scared that if they learn after I'm approved that I didn't provide all the needed documents (Canadian passport, Canadian Police Record) my Portuguese citizenship will be taken away from me and I'll be deported from Portugal.

I was hoping you guys can help. Maybe you know what to do in these cases when dealing with multiple citizneships.

Thanks.

Regards,
Gilad


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## azoreseuropa (Nov 10, 2013)

I do not know about Portugal. I have dual citizenships - I currently have Portugal Citizenship since I born there and moved to America when I was kid then became a citizen when I was young adult.

I always want to have a third citizenship: Australia or UK in the near future. Is it possible ? Curiosity.

I do not know if Portugal allow you to have third citizenship. I know that most countries either allow dual (and multiple) citizenships. I do not know for sure. What is the second citizenship do you have if you don't mind my asking ?

I don't know.. Take a look at:

USA, Canada and Portugal didn't say anything about multiple citizenships: 

http://www.multiplecitizenship.com/countrylist.html

Found other one: USA allows you to have multiple citizenships.. Here:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-11-02/community/0310300697_1_citizenship-legalization-amnesty

What about Portugal ? They allow you to have multiple citizenships

Other one: Its possible to have multiple citizenships according to this:

https://www.henleyglobal.com/dual-citizenship/


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## GiladYAvne (Aug 16, 2016)

azoreseuropa said:


> I do not know about Portugal. I have dual citizenships - I currently have Portugal Citizenship since I born there and moved to America when I was kid then became a citizen when I was young adult.
> 
> I always want to have a third citizenship: Australia or UK in the near future. Is it possible ? Curiosity.
> 
> ...


Hi azoreseuropa, thanks for your relpy.

I Was born in Turkey. Turkey allows multiple citizenships, same with Portugal and Canada. I think some countries, like the US, technically don't allow, but unless you renounce either nationality you can keep it, so technically they allow. As an American you're probably more familiar with the process than me. I don't know about the UK or Australia, though. I think in Germany, for example, you can keep (subject to approval) only one other citizenship, usually of the country where you were born.

It's important to say, because I live outside Canada, to issue a criminal record check I would have to contact a private comapny who can digitize my fingerprints and issue it on my behalf (120CAD), then authentication and legalization at the Portuguese embassy *in Canada *(the law ask at the country of origin of the document in question) would cost 225CAD, shipping excluded. That's alot of money. According to the Portuguese law, criminal record of any country of nationality (Turkey and Canada), of birth (Turkey) and where I lived for more than 3 months or so (never lived outside Turkey).

It only makes sense that I must provide my Canadian Police Record as well as my Turkish, but what if I don't, how can they find out that I am a Canadian?


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## oronero (Aug 24, 2012)

GiladYAvne said:


> I think in Germany, for example, you can keep (subject to approval) only one other citizenship, usually of the country where you were born.


I have a friend who has German citizenship through his mother, UK citizenship through his father and Australian citizenship as that was where he was born, he spent his first few years growing up there.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

If quote _"country of nationality (Turkey and Canada), of birth (Turkey) and where I lived for more than 3 months or so (never lived outside Turkey). """"_

Why not just give up your Canadian nationality and stop causing yourself problems?


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## azoreseuropa (Nov 10, 2013)

I do not know if america don't allowed multiply citizens. Can anybody tell me if its true or not.


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## GiladYAvne (Aug 16, 2016)

oronero said:


> I have a friend who has German citizenship through his mother, UK citizenship through his father and Australian citizenship as that was where he was born, he spent his first few years growing up there.



Hi oronero. Yes, I think your'e right but only if the government accept it, it's not automatically approved. But it's good to know it's possible, so thanks for sharing the information, maybe it could help others. A friend of mine was born in Turkey to German parents who were forced to leave Germany during WW2, so he was eligible to apply under this circumstances and keep his Turkish citizenship. Later, he got married and planned to move back to her country to be with her family (I can't remember, but I think she was Argentinian) and he was asked to renounce his German citizenship in order to acquire his spouses nationality, which he did. But the law might have changed since so I don't know. 

Regards,
Gilad


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## GiladYAvne (Aug 16, 2016)

Strontium said:


> If quote _"country of nationality (Turkey and Canada), of birth (Turkey) and where I lived for more than 3 months or so (never lived outside Turkey). """"_
> 
> Why not just give up your Canadian nationality and stop causing yourself problems?


Hi Strontium. It's complicated. My fiancee is a Canadian born who recently naturalized in Portugal under a new law. We chose Portugal for different reasons, but her entire family is in Canada, and they have a family business there, so at some point we would like to have the option of returning to Canada, which will be easier for us as Canadians. 

I should think about giving up my Turkish citizenship, but ironically, as mentioned, my Turkish documents are already in hand, apostilled and so the issuing the Canadian documents is the holdup.

I tried reaching out to the Portuguese IRN. IP (instituto dos registos e notariado), but it seems like they only answer enquiries in Portuguese and my Portuguese is still not good enough to understand and ask questions. They should know what to do, to include my Canadian passport in my application or not.


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