When presenting a package of measures on migration policy after the Council of Ministers, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, said that the government will "change the path of naturalisation by Portuguese ancestry".

The aim is for "naturalisation to occur even for great-grandchildren", said the minister.

Currently, the legislation allows the granting of naturalisation to individuals born abroad with at least one second-degree ascendant (up to the grandchild) in the direct line of Portuguese nationality.

"The grandchildren of Portuguese nationals who lost their nationality during the decolonisation process, as well as the grandchildren of those who became naturalised foreigners, are excluded from this regime.

A government source told Lusa that extending this right to great-grandchildren seeks to respond to the "configuration of the Portuguese diaspora", particularly in places where there has been long-standing emigration, such as Venezuela or the United States.

"We could never cut this bond and diplomatic capacity that our diaspora has", and "in several cases, there is an effective connection to the national territory", added the same source.

At the conference, the minister also said that he would propose the "termination of the extraordinary naturalisation regime for Portuguese Sephardic Jews".

The current law "was intended to provide historical reparation", it was a regime that "had its time" and therefore no longer exists, added Leitão Amaro.