The Portuguese Nationality Law provides for various forms of obtaining citizenship, either by attribution when the nationality is by origin or by acquisition when the nationality is derived.
As forms of original nationality, there are the attributions for children and grandchildren of Portuguese, who have facilitated means of obtaining citizenship, especially for citizens from Portuguese-speaking countries, who no longer need to demonstrate the existence of ties with the Portuguese community.
In this case, when obtaining Portuguese citizenship by attribution, the right to it is extended to other descendants in a straight line, and to request it, it is only allowed to skip a generation so that the right is not lost. In other words, in order for a Portuguese great-grandchild to apply for the attribution of their Portuguese citizenship, it is necessary that, first, their father/mother or grandfather/grandmother perform the procedure.
There is, however, an exception provided for in the Law, in art. 6º, 6, which although it is not a possibility of direct attribution of Portuguese nationality, allows a great-grandson of original Portuguese to apply for Portuguese citizenship, even if he has no living ascendants and these ascendants have never requested it.
Although more complex than citizenship by attribution, this possibility, which is very little used in practice, allows the acquisition of Portuguese nationality by naturalization, by proving the existence of a connection with the Portuguese community and the descendants of original Portuguese.
The granting of citizenship will depend on the discretion of the Portuguese Government, which will subjectively analyze the existence of ties with Portugal, so it is a process that needs to be very well substantiated through documentation proving the connection with the Portuguese community.
In addition, as it is a form of derived nationality, the right is not passed on to children of legal age, but it is possible to pass it on to minors and their spouses.
In this sense, although more complex than the application for citizenship by attribution, the request for the acquisition of Portuguese nationality by naturalization extends the scope of the right to nationality to whom, by direct attribution, would no longer have the right.