Vocabulary

Portuguese nationality process glossary

Plain-language explanations of the terms used in registry-office emails and in this site.

Registry office

A Portuguese public service that receives and analyses nationality applications. Each office has its own queues and pace.

The Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notaries. It is the official channel for checking an individual application.

A group of applications handled by the same office, legal basis, route, age group and stage.

The month stated by the office as the period represented by its published date.

The first half or second half of a month. This is the smallest time unit commonly published by registry offices.

The stage in which the office says the relevant sector is analysing applications.

A route such as transcription, registration or consular processing. The source may publish them as separate queues.

A source status meaning that the office reported no new applications for analysis in that queue.

A comparison based on the distance between two public dates and, when possible, the recent pace of the same queue. It is not a deadline.