The craze of Portuguese Nationality is growing amongst Goans day by day, looking at the lucrative picture of the entry into the UK via Portugal, there are 300 people waiting outside the Portuguese Consulate every day to apply for the Portuguese Passport, said the Portuguese Counsel in Goa.
Goa being under the Portuguese rule till it was liberated in 1961 has always enjoyed the best of both worlds. Anyone who is born before 1961 or their children can apply for Portuguese nationality. Thanks to this facility, there are around 300 people every day, waiting for in the queue outside the Portuguese Consulate in Goa.
After getting Portuguese nationality one ceases to be an Indian citizen and many moves off to the United Kingdom or Canada in search of greener pastures.
Portuguese Consul in Goa, António Chrystêllo Tavares, while speaking at a Faculty of Law conference, at the University of Coimbra said “There are a large number of individuals who apply and continue to apply every day for Portuguese nationality. We have around 200 to 300 people waiting in the queues outside the consulate every day”.
He pointed out that people applied for Portuguese Nationality mostly with a view of moving to the United Kingdom, Canada, The United States Of America, Australia, New Zealand even the Persian Gulf.
He also said it’s important to note that Goans have now begun going to Germany, Austria, and even the Scandinavian countries.
Tavares said that the Portuguese Citizenship Law applies to everyone born until 1961 as well as their descendants, in the former Portuguese territories of India. He also pointed out that although these people have Portuguese passports, they don’t have knowledge of the language in the countries that they want to work in.
Tavares is also of the opinion that there are a marginal few who know Portuguese as a language and people who have very little knowledge of the language have rewritten Goa’s history using only Anglo Saxon sources.
The diplomat during his speech mentioned that there are around 344 Portuguese speaking people in the state of Goa and fewer students learning it than those learning Spanish or French.
He further added that a very small community maintained relations with Portugal like the Indo Portuguese Friendship Society which has no more than three hundred members and most of them do not speak Portuguese. The situation is similar with Clube Vasco da Gama.
The conference in which the diplomat participated was part of the 150th Anniversary of the Application of the Viscount of Seabra’s Civil Code in Goa, Damão and Diu territory.
One has to see whether this trend of applying for Portuguese nationality continues, especially with Brexit looming over the horizon.
Source: NEWS Founded
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