AQUISIÇÃO DA NACIONALIDADE PORTUGUESA | NATURALIZAÇÃO | PRINCÍPIO DA IGUALDADE | DISCRIMINAÇÃO EM RAZÃO DA SITUAÇÃO ECONÓMICA
Constitutional Court, judgment no. 599/2005, 02.11.2005
JURISDICTION: Constitutional
CASE: 1087/04
SUBJECT: Constitutional appeal
RAPPORTEUR: Benjamim Rodrigues
RULING: Rejects the appeal, deciding not to hold unconstitutional the norm in Article 6(1)(f), second segment, of Law no. 37/81, of 3 October 1981, as amended by Law no. 25/94, of 19 August 1994, to the extent that it is interpreted as requiring foreigners applying for Portuguese citizenship to have means of subsistence.
DOMESTIC LAW:
Portuguese Constitution [Articles 4, 8(2), 13(2), 16, 18, 19(6), 26, 33, 36, 59, 67, 68, 164(f), 168, 278]
Law no. 28/82, of 15 November 1982 [Article 70(1)(b)]
Law no. 37/81, of 3 October 1981, as amended by Law no. 25/94, of 19 August 1994 (Article 6)
INTERNATIONAL LAW:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 15)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [Article 24(3)]
FOREIGN LAW: n.a.
KEYWORDS: Acquisition of Portuguese nationality; naturalization; principle of equality; discrimination based on economic situation; stable income; national minimum wage; means of subsistence; prohibition of discrimination; right to Portuguese nationality; foreign citizens residing in Portugal; Portuguese citizens; applicant’s economic situation; actual and stable integration in the national community; ability to govern oneself and to ensure one’s subsistence; Angolan citizen; Angolan nationality; definition of nationality; principle of human dignity; expulsion; extradition; right to asylum; national citizenship; foreign citizenship; principles of international law; effective ties between the individual and the Portuguese state and the national community; legally based expectation to acquire Portuguese nationality; social or political obstacle to the integration of the foreign citizen in the Portuguese community and to his acceptance by this community; sociological, cultural, economic, legal, political and other values that make up the heritage of the national community; economic, financial and social sacrifices; affective and intense sociological ties; “marriage of convenience”
COMMENTS: Coming soon.
REFERENCES IN THE LITERATURE:
MIRANDA, Jorge, and MEDEIROS, Rui, Constituição Portuguesa Anotada [Annotation to the Portuguese Constitution], vol. I, 2nd ed., Coimbra, Wolters Kluwer/Coimbra Editora, 2010.
SILVA, Jorge Pereira da, “«Culturas da cidadania» – Em torno de um acórdão do TC e a nova Lei da Nacionalidade. Anotação ao acórdão do Tribunal Constitucional n.º 599/05” [Annotation to Constitutional Court judgment no. 599/05], Jurisprudência Constitucional, no. 11, 2006, pp. 72-87.
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