Your result
Portugal — Naturalization
Possible
Your position is real but your clock may not be running, and that changed recently enough that a lot of advice online is wrong about it.
Until May 2026 the nationality law expressly counted the time between applying for a residence permit and being issued one, provided the permit was eventually granted. Given how long AIMA has been taking, that was worth years to a great many people. The 2026 law repealed that provision. What the registry now counts is time you actually held a title.
Whether a long delay caused by the administration itself can still be counted on general legal principles is argued by practitioners and has not been settled by a court. It is a point to raise, not a period to rely on.
What to do meanwhile: get AIMA to certify your residence history from its own records, so that the dates are theirs rather than yours. Keep every receipt and every appointment record — if the delay question is ever litigated in your case, the paper trail is the case. And if your renewal is what is outstanding, keep the receipt for the renewal application safe: it has legal effect as a title while it is being processed, which matters for your right to stay even where the nationality clock is disputed.