In the debate on the nationality law in parliament, the minister explained that "last year, naturalization applications from foreigners based on residence increased fivefold compared to 2015 and tripled compared to 2021".

"We currently have 512,000 pending nationality applications, of which only 15% are of Portuguese nationality and all of them were born abroad", said the minister, in his speech presenting the Government's bill.

“Access to and ownership of Portuguese citizenship cannot be made easier, it cannot be commercialised”, because “nationality cannot be a transaction or transition, to obtain a passport and then move to other European countries”, stated the minister.

In recent years, he considered, “the required connection with the national community has weakened and this has had consequences, the number of applications for nationality has soared, but not those from children of Portuguese parents”.

“In 2015, 194,000 applications for nationality were received, almost all from children of Portuguese parents. But in 2022, 362,000 applications were received, of which only 160,000 were children of Portuguese parents”, he exemplified.

Since 2015, “applications for nationality have increased significantly, especially through naturalisation”.

“This increase would be much greater if we did not tighten the nationality rules now, given that in the last seven years the number of resident foreigners has quadrupled, increasing by one million. Naturally, the number of potential candidates would increase much more if we did not tighten the rules,” said the Minister of the Presidency. And “all of this would happen without ensuring integration and emotional connection,” he added.

The aim of the nationality law is to “correct the recent mistakes of the left,” which, for the Government, has made it easier to access Portuguese nationality, which “presupposes a solid connection with our political community.”

“Being a citizen is a title of belonging to the Portuguese people” and implies a “range of rights and duties, including the right to vote and be elected,” and to “participate in the self-government of our country.” He said that there was a “facilitating nationality regime that created a pull effect that needed to be corrected.”