More than 32,000 foreigners applied for Portuguese nationality in 2014, an increase of 7.4% compared to 2013, according to today's report, ‘Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum,’ but the overall foreign population is down.
The document issued by the Foreigners and Borders Service said the agency had received 32,349 applications with the majority from Brazilian nationals.
Of the total received, 20,521 applications were considered and 20,115 were granted citizenship.
The reasons for denying 406 applications were internal security concerns, the existence of national and international criminal records and abuse of current residence permits.
The report noted that "many of the requests were from foreign nationals who are not resident in the country and who applied at the embassies and consulates of Portugal in their country of residence."
Brazilians led the way with 6,269 applications followed by Cape Verde with 2,970, Ukraine with 2,529, Angola with 1,683 and Guinea-Bissau with 1,473.
Overall the number of foreigners resident in Portugal decreased by 1.5% in 2014 to 395,195 immigrants despite the Golden Visa effect.
"The downward trend in the foreign population in Portugal that has been seen in recent years shows that, since 2002, for the first time the number of foreign residents is less than 400,000 at 395,195 citizens."
The document reported that there was a reduction in the foreign population originating from Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Brazil, Cape Verde and Angola.
The Brazilian community in Portugal, a total of 87,493 citizens, is still the largest resident foreign community, but this decreased in the year with the number down to 4,627 representing 75.5% of the total decrease of foreign residents in Portugal.
Citizens from Ukraine also decreased 7.9% last year compared to 2013, and the Romanians were down 7.9%.
There are now 40,912 Cape Verdeans, 37,852 Romanians and 31,505 Ukrainians living in Portugal.
The SEF justifies the decrease in the foreign population in Portugal with the fact that many immigrants have acquired Portuguese nationality, there are 'changing migration flows' and the current economic crisis has put pressure on the labour market.
The Chinese showed the biggest increase, up 14.8% or 21,402 in total.
In addition to Chinese, the communities that grew significantly last year were the Spanish, British and those from Guinea-Bissau.
With regard to Golden Visa applications, the SEF said that in 2014 favourable decisions were given in 1,526 cases with a further 2,395 people coming in as family members. Just two requests were rejected.
The report notes that the successful Golden Visa applications had resulted in €840.4 million of property being purchased, with a further €80.8 million coming in as qualifying capital transfers.
