April 2026 Global Mobility News: Portugal Kills Five-Year Citizenship Path, Italy Opens 74 New Flat Tax Towns, Paraguay Launches $150K Residency (+ 3 More Updates)
Global mobility updates you should not miss this month
Each month I track new visas, residency changes, and travel rules so you don’t miss anything.
Visa launches
Rule and fee changes
Travel access changes
Citizenship & investment news
Here is what changed in the last four weeks.
Portugal Killed The 5 Year Citizenship Path
On April 1, Portugal’s parliament voted 152 to 64 to double the naturalization requirement from five years of residence to ten. EU citizens and nationals from Portuguese-speaking countries get a slightly shorter timeline at seven years.
The vote passed with support from PSD, Chega, CDS-PP, and IL.
Two things make this worse than a simple timeline extension.
First, the clock now starts when your residence card is issued, not when you applied. If you spent 18 months waiting in AIMA’s processing backlog (and thousands did), that time no longer counts.
Second, there are no transitional protections. The Socialist Party proposed grandfathering, graduated phase-ins, and application-date counting. All three were rejected.
One thing that did not change:
Permanent residency after five years and the Golden Visa program itself are both unaffected.
President António José Seguro now has 20 days to promulgate, veto, or refer the law to the Constitutional Court. Legal experts expect he may push back, given his Socialist Party affiliation. But a veto only delays; parliament can override it.
What this means for you:
If you hold a Golden Visa or any Portuguese residence permit and you have not yet filed for citizenship, the five-year path is effectively over once the President signs.
Whether pending applications will be judged under old or new rules is genuinely contested. The Constitutional Court’s December ruling said they should be protected. Parliament’s April version says they won’t be.
That conflict remains unsolved.
If you are earlier in your residency, plan for permanent residency at year five (unchanged) and a ten-year citizenship timeline.
I wrote about Portugal’s pattern of pulling the rug on its own visa holders back in December. This is the latest chapter of the same story.
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Italy Expands 7% Retiree Regime To 74 New Towns
Italy just made its best tax deal for foreign retirees a lot more practical.