The D7 visa
What is the D7 visa?
The D7 is one of the easiest residency visas in Europe to qualify for, and one of the more annoying ones to actually get.
It’s Portugal’s visa for people who live on passive income: pensions, US Social Security, rent and dividends. One person needs €920 a month (about $1,027) and €11,040 in savings. A couple needs €1,380 a month. Most retirees clear that easily.
The hard part is everything around the money. There are 20 requirements below, and most are paperwork you tick off. Four things are where applications actually stall: the lease, the apostilles, the bank statements and a criminal record check with a 90-day shelf life.
I’d still apply for the D7 tomorrow. I’d just rather you found out about those four from this page than from your consulate. If you earn a salary or freelance, skip ahead to the D8.
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What’s changed
Last checked: November 2026
2026: The D7 follows the minimum wage, which rises every January. This year that’s €920 a month and €11,040 in savings for one person (Decreto-Lei 139/2025).
2027 (expected, unconfirmed): The 2027 budget assumes a €970 minimum wage. That would mean about €970 a month and €11,640 in savings for one person, or €1,455 and €17,460 for a couple.
If you’re applying in early 2027, I’d plan around €970 now. Being €50 short in January is an avoidable way to get refused.
Citizenship: Since May 19, 2026, it takes 10 years of residence for most nationalities, or 7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking countries. The clock starts when your first residence card is issued, and a civics test is on the way (Lei Orgânica 1/2026). More ↓
Family who join later: Since October 23, 2025, you generally need to hold your permit for two years before sponsoring them. Minor children are exempt (Lei 61/2025). More ↓
2-minute check
Do you qualify for the D7?
Answer a few questions about your income, savings, and situation, and get an answer straight away.
The short version
- Income: €920 a month (about $1,027) for one person, or €1,380 for a couple, from pensions, Social Security, rent, dividends, interest or royalties. A salary or freelance income doesn’t count. More ↓
- Savings: €11,040 for one person, or €16,560 for a couple, in a Portuguese bank account. Family figures ↓
- Other essentials: a NIF, a Portuguese bank account, a 12-month lease, travel insurance and a clean criminal record. Full checklist ↓
- Where you apply: at the Portuguese consulate or VFS center covering the country where you live. You can’t apply from inside Portugal.
- Time and cost: plan on about a year from signing a lease to holding a residence card, and about €7,100 for a single American doing their own paperwork. Most of that is rent. Costs ↓
- The catch: you have to live here, about eight months a year for the first five years, and Portugal becomes your tax home. Downsides ↓
Where do you want to start?
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The full checklist
All 20 requirements, numbered and grouped, so you can tick them off.
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Just the four that trip people up
The four places where D7 applications actually get delayed or refused.
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Just the income figures
What you need to show for yourself, a couple, children and dependent parents.
Read this first
Start with the apartment, not the paperwork
The warning
The most expensive surprise on the D7 is that you need a Portuguese address before you can apply. For most people that means signing a 12-month lease and paying rent on an empty apartment while they wait for appointments.
If your consulate appointment is three months out and the decision takes another two, that’s five months of rent on a place you’ve never slept in, on top of wherever you live now. I wouldn’t want to be a landlord from abroad, and I’m not sure I’d want to be a tenant from abroad either.
You can usually only leave a 12-month contract once a third of the term has passed, with 120 days’ notice, so you’re committed for about eight months.
Finding a place from abroad
Finding a place from abroad is its own job. Many landlords won’t answer overseas tenants on Idealista, and most want a fiador (a guarantor with Portuguese income) that you won’t have.
The bigger agencies, such as Remax and Century 21, know what a D7 tenant needs. A property finder will view places for you for one to two months’ rent. I’d rather pay that than fly from California for a scouting trip, unless you were coming anyway.
Who it’s for
Who is the D7 visa for?
Short answer
The D7 visa is for non-EU citizens with passive income who want to live in Portugal full-time: retirees on pensions or Social Security, landlords, people living off dividends and authors on royalties. It’s nicknamed the retirement visa, but there’s no age limit. Officially it’s the residence visa for pensioners and people living on their own income, but everyone, consulates included, still calls it the D7.
The income type decides the visa, not how much money you have. That’s the part people get wrong most often.
Of the 144 American, British, Canadian and Australian readers who’ve run their numbers through our D7 calculator since June 2026, 74% have pension or Social Security income. 14% also listed a remote job or freelance work, which on its own is D8 territory.
| If your money comes from… | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pensions, Social Security, rent, dividends, royalties | The D7 | It’s built for exactly this |
| A remote job or freelance clients outside Portugal | The D8 | Salary and freelance income don’t count for the D7. The D8 asks for €3,680 a month, though |
| A large lump sum, and you don’t want to move yet | The Golden Visa | About seven days a year in Portugal, but €500,000 tied up |
| A job offer from a Portuguese employer | The D1 or D3 | Built for employment from day one |
| A business you’ll run here | The D2 | A business plan someone has to believe in |
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Why people pick Portugal’s D7 over Spain’s
Spain’s equivalent, the non-lucrative visa, bans work outright, including remote work for a company back home. On the D7 you can work once your card arrives unless there is anything on the card which explicitly says otherwise.
Portugal also lets you into the public health system once you’re a resident, where Spain makes you buy private cover.
Full trade-offs: D7 vs D8 · D7 vs the Golden Visa · all of Portugal’s residency permits
The money
What counts as passive income for the D7?
Short answer
Passive income for the D7 is money that arrives whether or not you work: state and private pensions, US Social Security, annuities, dividends, interest, rental income and royalties. A salary or freelance income doesn’t count on its own, even if you work 100% remotely. Mixing sources is fine, as long as the passive part alone clears €920 a month.
Consistency matters more than total wealth. Consulates look at your average over roughly 3 to 12 months, so dividends that arrive quarterly or rent that dips one month aren’t a problem. Income below the threshold is.
✓ Counts as passive income
- State or private pensions
- US Social Security
- Rental income (usually counted gross, not net of mortgage)
- Dividends and other investment income
- Interest on savings (must be ongoing and recurring)
- Royalties—books, music, software
✗ Doesn’t count
- Freelancing income—use the D8 instead
- Salary from a remote job—also the D8
- Savings alone—must generate ongoing passive income (e.g., interest)
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Watch the margin, especially if you’re British
The full new UK State Pension clears the threshold comfortably. The old basic State Pension clears it by about 1.5%, and the Portuguese figure goes up every January while the pound moves daily.
If you’re within a few percent, check the exchange rate on the day you apply and add another income source if you can.
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Moving to Madeira?
Madeira sets its own minimum wage: €980 a month in 2026, against €920 on the mainland (Decreto Legislativo Regional 1/2026/M). Ask your consulate which figure it will use for you.
What counts as passive income for the D7, including the gray areas →
Can you use rental income?
Yes. If you can rent out a property for €920 a month, you can qualify on that alone, even with a mortgage on it. It’s a popular route for people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who own a home but don’t have retirement income yet.
Consulates generally look at gross rent, not what’s left after the mortgage. But if your costs eat 90% of the rent, expect questions about how you’ll live.
Have at least three months of rent landing in your bank account before you apply, and a lease of a year or more. If you still live in the property, that may mean moving out early. Some readers stayed with family for a few months to build up the history.
Don’t buy a rental property in Portugal to qualify. The income is meant to come from outside the country.
Applying for the D7 with rental income →
Can you apply with savings instead?
Sometimes, but I wouldn’t plan on it. Savings are a lump sum, and the D7 is designed for people with income that keeps coming. Half of the readers using our calculator list savings as one of their sources, so you’re not alone in asking.
Some lawyers have seen savings-only applications approved, but not reliably, and advises asking your consulate first.
The outcomes readers report back show why. One San Francisco applicant with around $400,000 in cash was told savings alone wouldn’t do and was refused. A family of three with about $139,000 in US savings and CDs, plus €25,000 moved to Portugal, was approved.
The safer route is to turn savings into income first: an annuity, a rental property, dividend-paying investments or locked-in interest. Financial adviser Scott Kirk suggests setup fees of around €2,000 for an annuity. If you have a large lump sum and don’t need to move yet, the Golden Visa is the more predictable route.
What you’ll need
D7 visa requirements: the full checklist
Short answer
The D7 visa requires €920 a month in passive income, €11,040 in savings in a Portuguese bank account, a Portuguese address, a clean criminal record, travel insurance, a NIF and a personal statement. You apply at the consulate or VFS center covering the country where you live, not from Portugal.
Each consulate publishes its own checklist, and they don’t agree. The UK VFS checklist asks for twelve months’ minimum wage in a Portuguese account. New Delhi’s just says “funds available in Portugal” with no figure. San Francisco has asked for 12 months of travel insurance where most offices accept four to six.
Treat the list below as the core, and your consulate’s checklist as the final word.
The four things that trip people up
Most refusals and delays come from the same four places. None of them is about whether you qualify.
All 20 requirements
Personal and legal
1. Age and nationality
18 or over, and not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen. EU citizens don’t need a visa to live in Portugal.
2. Apply from where you live
Your consulate or VFS center is the one covering where you legally live, which may not be your country of citizenship. If you’re a resident somewhere else, bring proof of that, such as a US green card. Americans also need proof of address in the area the office covers, such as a lease or driver’s license.
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You can’t apply from Portugal
A lot of people plan to fly over as tourists and apply once they’re here. The D7 doesn’t work that way. You need the visa in your passport before you move.
3. Criminal record certificate
From your country of nationality and anywhere you’ve lived for a year or more, apostilled (or legalized by a Portuguese consulate in non-Hague countries) and usually issued within the last 90 days. Americans need an FBI report, Britons an ACRO certificate, and Canadians an RCMP check. Something on your record? See applying with a criminal record.
4. Permission for a Portuguese record check
A signed form letting Portugal check its own criminal records. Almost always a formality for first-time applicants.
Money
5. Passive income
€920 a month for one person, plus 50% for a spouse or partner and 30% for each child. It has to come from passive sources, and the passive part alone has to clear the threshold.
6. Proof of that income
Recent bank statements showing it arriving (offices ask for anything from three to twelve months), plus whatever backs it up: pension statements, leases and rental statements, dividend and brokerage records, and tax returns.
7. Savings
€11,040 for one person, roughly 12 months of your monthly income requirement, sitting in a Portuguese bank account. Most lawyers suggest showing a little more as well, just in case.
Portuguese setup
8. NIF (Portuguese tax number)
You need one to open a bank account, sign a lease and submit the application. Most people get it remotely through a fiscal representative, a lawyer or an online service.
9. Portuguese bank account
In your name, with the savings deposited. Wise and other e-money accounts don’t count. Revolut has offered Portuguese IBANs through a Lisbon branch since 2025, so it may now work, but check with your consulate first. Several Portuguese banks open accounts remotely for non-residents, Millennium BCP and Novo Banco among them.
10. Proof of accommodation
A 12-month lease registered with Finanças, property deeds, or a notarized termo de responsabilidade from someone hosting you. Airbnb and hotel bookings aren’t usually accepted, particularly on a short-term basis, but some consulates will accept them.
11. Travel insurance
At least €30,000 of medical and repatriation cover, for however many months your consulate asks. Most accept four to six; San Francisco has asked for twelve. See travel insurance for the D7 visa.
Paperwork
12. Passport
Valid for at least three months beyond your intended stay under the US checklist, with two blank pages. Some offices want six.
13. Application form and photos
The national visa application form, in the version your consulate currently uses, plus two passport photos per person in the EU size (35 × 45 mm).
14. Personal statement
A short letter on who you are, why Portugal, where your income comes from and how you’ll settle in. End it with an index of your documents, because the person reviewing your file is the person deciding your visa. Some consulates now ask spouses for their own statement. See how to write a D7 personal statement.
15. Family documents
Apostilled marriage and birth certificates if anyone’s coming with you, proof of two or more years together for unmarried partners, and the other parent’s consent if only one parent is bringing a child.
16. Translations
Documents in Portuguese never need translating, and English ones usually don’t. Most other languages need a certified Portuguese translation, and a few consulates have their own rules, so check before you pay for one.
Getting there and after you arrive
17. Flight itinerary
Some consulates want to see a planned flight. Book something refundable or hold a reservation, and don’t lock in a non-refundable ticket before you’re approved.
18. Health insurance for your AIMA appointment
You don’t need it to apply, but you do at AIMA, and travel insurance isn’t accepted there. You’ll need a private health policy valid in Portugal, for at least 12 months and renewable. You normally can’t register with the public health service until you have your card.
19. NISS (social security number)
You’ll need a NISS, or proof you don’t need one, but not until your AIMA appointment in Portugal.
20. AIMA appointment
Once you arrive, AIMA takes your biometrics and turns the visa into a two-year residence permit. Bring originals of everything. See what to bring to your AIMA appointment.
Couples and families
How much do you need as a couple or a family?
Short answer
Each extra person on a D7 application raises the income and savings you need to show: 50% more for a spouse or partner, and 30% more for each dependent child. Only the main applicant’s income counts toward the total.
Most D7 applicants aren’t applying alone. Of the American, British, Canadian and Australian readers who’ve used our calculator since June 2026, 58% were applying with a spouse or partner.
Income and savings, by household
| Household | EUR official | USD approx. | GBP approx. | CAD approx. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly passive income | ||||
| Single applicant | €920 | $1,027 | £767 | CA$1,434 |
| Couple | €1,380 | $1,541 | £1,151 | CA$2,150 |
| + each dependent child | €276 | $308 | £230 | CA$430 |
| + each dependent parent | €460 | $514 | £384 | CA$717 |
| Savings (≈ 12 months of income) | ||||
| Single applicant | €11,040 | $12,327 | £9,207 | CA$17,204 |
| Couple | €16,560 | $18,491 | £13,811 | CA$25,805 |
| + each dependent child | €3,312 | $3,698 | £2,762 | CA$5,161 |
| + each dependent parent | €5,520 | $6,164 | £4,604 | CA$8,602 |
Spouse or partner
Married, civil-partnered, or long-term unmarried partners can be added. For unmarried partners you’ll usually need 2+ years at the same address, with paper evidence (shared bills, both on the lease).
Adds 50% of the main applicant’s income and savings requirements
Dependent children
Under-18s are added easily. Children 18 to around 24 can be included if they’re in full-time education; older children, or those not studying, normally need to apply with their own separate visa.
Adds 30% of the main applicant’s income and savings requirements
Dependent parents
Can be included if they’re physically or financially dependent on you. If they have their own passive income (e.g., retirement income), they’ll usually apply for their own D7 visa.
Adds an estimated 50% of the main applicant’s income and savings requirements
The D8 uses the same percentages on a base four times higher, so adding a partner to a D7 is cheap by comparison. That’s one of the D7’s real advantages for couples living on one person’s pension.
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Only one person’s income counts
If one of you doesn’t reach the family figure alone, two separate applications sometimes work better.
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Bringing someone over later takes longer
Family members moving with you each apply for their own visa at the same time, as accompanying family members, and your income covers them. Bringing someone over after you’ve moved is family reunification, and since October 2025 that generally means holding your residence permit for two years first (Lei 61/2025).
Minor children are exempt, and so is a spouse or partner who shares a minor child with you. A spouse you lived with for at least 18 months before you moved waits 15 months. Dependent parents and adult children wait the full two years.
If a parent might follow you later, read bringing dependent parents to Portugal before you apply.
The bill
How much does the D7 visa cost?
Short answer
Government fees for a D7 come to roughly €330 to €400 per person: the €110 national visa fee, a VFS service fee of about €38, and €186 to €247 for the AIMA residence permit. The real cost is rent on an apartment you can’t live in yet, plus documents, insurance and flights.
Here’s what a single applicant doing their own paperwork can expect to spend, based on €900 a month in rent and no scouting trip:
| Applying from | Rough total | Of which: rent while waiting |
|---|---|---|
| United States | €7,100 | €4,500 |
| Canada | €6,000 | €3,600 |
| United Kingdom | €4,050 | €2,700 |
A lawyer adds €1,500 to €5,000, taking an American applicant to about €10,000. A US couple comes to about €9,100 without one.
Don’t just double the single figure for a couple. A lot of the cost, like the rent and the lease, is shared.
Timing
How long does the D7 take?
Short answer
Plan on about a year from signing a lease to holding a D7 residence card. The law gives consulates 60 days to decide a residence visa, though US applicants often wait longer. The rest of the wait sits either side: for a consulate or VFS appointment beforehand, and for an AIMA appointment after you arrive.
US consulates are the most backed up, simply because more Americans apply than the system was built for. And the AIMA wait is the one people underestimate. It’s meant to happen within your first 120 days, and for plenty of people it doesn’t.
| Stage | On paper | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Consulate or VFS appointment | US consulates are the most backed up; Australia is the opposite. | |
| Consulate decision | 60 days (Lei 23/2007, article 58) | |
| Traveling to Portugal | The visa is valid for 120 days | |
| AIMA appointment | Often set for after the visa expires | Plenty of people wait six months or more |
| Residence card arrives | This usually arrives a few weeks after the appointment |
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Be in Portugal before your visa runs out
AIMA appointments are often set for a date after your 120-day visa expires. That’s normal, but you need to have entered Portugal while the visa was still valid.
Until your card arrives, think twice about trips elsewhere in Schengen. Other countries aren’t bound by Portugal’s arrangements for people waiting on AIMA.
The process
How to apply for the D7, step by step
Short answer
Applying for the D7 takes seven steps: get a NIF and a Portuguese bank account, sign a lease, gather your documents, attend your consulate or VFS appointment, wait for a decision, move on your 120-day visa, and attend your AIMA appointment to get your residence permit.
Before you apply
Get a NIF and a bank account
Both can be done remotely. Move your savings in, and ideally start sending your income there too.
Sign a lease
Or arrange another form of accommodation. Check the landlord registers the lease with Finanças.
Gather your documents
Criminal record checks, apostilles, bank statements, insurance and your personal statement. Watch the 90-day expiry.
Attend your appointment
At the consulate or VFS center for where you live. Most applicants have a short interview.
After you apply
Wait for a decision
Usually around 60 days.
Move on your 120-day visa
Fly in through another Schengen country and Portugal doesn’t know you’ve arrived until you tell it: file an entry declaration with AIMA within three working days.
Attend your AIMA appointment
Bring originals of everything and a 12-month private health policy, because travel insurance won’t do. AIMA then issues a two-year residence permit.
Once your card arrives, register with the SNS, the public health service, at your local centro de saúde.
Getting help
Do you need a lawyer for the D7?
Short answer
You don’t legally need a lawyer for the D7, and some people do the whole thing themselves. Most get some help, and even with a simple pension and a lease in hand, I’d still want at least a document review before submitting.
Most of you are planning to go it alone. Of the 35 readers who’ve told our calculator how they’ll apply since October 5, 2026, 24 (69%) plan to do it themselves and 11 (31%) want a lawyer or relocation firm. It’s a small sample so far, and I’ll update it as more come in.
If that’s you, the document check is the option to look at. D7 applications get delayed or refused for avoidable reasons: a lease the consulate won’t accept, a missing apostille, bank statements that don’t match, or a criminal record certificate that expires before you submit.
| Option | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Official fees only | One simple income source, and patience with paperwork |
| Document check | €250–€1,000 | You prepare the file; a professional reviews it before you submit |
| Full lawyer | €1,500–€5,000 per person | Couples, families, mixed or rental income |
Most people spend thousands moving. Saving a lawyer’s fee only makes sense if your application is genuinely simple.
Doing it yourself? Get your file checked first
Tell us about your situation and we’ll put you in touch with someone who can review your D7 application before you submit it, or handle the whole thing if you’d rather.
The honest bit
The downsides of the D7 visa
Short answer
The D7’s biggest downsides are paying rent on a Portuguese apartment before you can move in, becoming a Portuguese tax resident, consulates that each read the rules differently, and having to live here for most of the year. None of them is a reason not to apply. All of them are reasons to plan.
The usual benefits lists (Schengen travel, public healthcare, a path to citizenship) come with almost any Portuguese residence permit, so I won’t pretend they’re reasons to pick the D7 specifically. These are the trade-offs particular to it.
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You’ll pay rent on a place you can’t live in yet
The most expensive part of the D7, and hardly anyone warns you about it. It’s a bad requirement and it isn’t changing.
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Portugal becomes your tax home
Live here more than 183 days a year and Portugal taxes your worldwide income. US Social Security is taxable here, and an IRA, Roth, ISA or TFSA is only tax-free because your own government made it so. Portugal has no reason to honor that.
This is the one part of the move where I’d pay a cross-border tax professional rather than rely on a website, including this one.
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Every consulate reads the rules differently
The income threshold is clear. Almost everything around it isn’t, and the published checklists change without notice.
That’s the best argument I know for using a lawyer: not because the process is hard, but because someone who has filed at your consulate knows what it actually wants.
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You have to actually live here
About eight months a year for the first five years. If you want an EU foothold without moving, this is the downside that should stop you. That’s what the Golden Visa is for.
All the pros and cons of the D7 visa, in detail →
Qualifying isn’t the same as being ready
€920 a month gets you the visa. It’s about the least you can live on here. A one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon averaged around €1,300 a month in August 2026, so don’t assume €920 is enough to actually live in Portugal.
In cheaper inland towns such as Castelo Branco or Beja, a small one-bedroom can be found from about €500. Most of those won’t have central heating, so in winter you’ll do what the Portuguese do and put on another sweater.
If your income is near the line, that’s not a reason to give up. It’s a reason to pick the town carefully and keep the savings buffer bigger than the consulate asks for.
Time in Portugal
How much time do you have to spend in Portugal on a D7?
Short answer
On a D7, you can be outside Portugal for up to six consecutive months, or eight months in total, during each residence permit. The first permit lasts two years and the second three, so in practice you spend about eight months a year here.
Permanent residency loosens that a lot, and once you hold Portuguese citizenship there are no stay requirements at all. There are exemptions for work and health reasons. The limits are set by Portugal’s Foreigners Law (Lei 23/2007).
| Stage | Longest single absence | Total absence allowed | In practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| First permit (years 1–2) | 6 months | 8 months | About 8 months a year here |
| Second permit (years 3–5) | 6 months | 8 months | About 9 months a year here |
| Permanent residency (year 5+) | 24 months | 30 months in any 3 years | Up to 2.5 years away in every 3 |
Renewals
Renewing your D7 residence permit
Short answer
You renew a D7 permit by showing you still meet the rules: income at the current threshold, a Portuguese address, no debts to Finanças or Social Security, time spent here within the limits, health cover and a criminal record check. Your first permit lasts two years, and after that you renew for three years at a time.
The income threshold on renewal is the one for the year you renew, not the year you applied. It rises every January. A pension that cleared it comfortably in year one may not in year five.
Income that still meets the threshold
Your passive income needs to meet the requirement for the year you renew, and that figure rises whenever Portugal’s minimum wage does. Bring recent bank statements and proof of income, as you did for the original application.
Proof of address in Portugal
A rental contract, property deeds, or similar showing where you live now.
Tax and social security in order
Proof that you’re up to date with the tax office (Finanças) and Social Security, usually no-debt certificates (certidões de não dívida). This is one reason to register as a tax resident as soon as you arrive.
Time spent in Portugal
You’ll need to have stayed within the absence limits above. Long stretches abroad can put a renewal at risk.
Health coverage and criminal record check
Proof of health coverage (by now, usually your SNS registration) and authorization for a Portuguese criminal record check.
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Start early
Begin the renewal well before your card expires. AIMA backlogs can make renewals slow, and you don’t want your status in question while you wait.
The end goal
Does the D7 lead to citizenship?
Short answer
Yes. The D7 leads to permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after ten. The ten-year rule came in with Portugal’s new nationality law on May 19, 2026. It’s seven years for EU and Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) nationals.
The clock now starts when AIMA issues your first residence card, not when you apply, so AIMA delays push your citizenship date back too. Applications already pending when the law came into force stay under the old rules.
You’ll also need A2 Portuguese, the second-most basic level, or a 150-hour approved course instead of the exam. The law also adds a culture and civics requirement. A civics test is expected, but what it will cover hasn’t been confirmed yet (Lei Orgânica 1/2026).
If a passport was the main reason you were looking at the D7, ten years is a long time. Permanent residency at year five is still the milestone that matters most day to day. More in getting Portuguese citizenship.
Alternatives
D7 vs D8 vs Golden Visa
Short answer
The D7 and D8 have the same savings, stay and tax rules. What differs is where the money comes from and how much of it you need. The Golden Visa is a different idea altogether: you invest instead of moving.
| D7 | D8 (digital nomad) | Golden Visa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money that qualifies | Passive income | Remote salary or freelance income from outside Portugal | €500,000 in a fund, or a €250,000 cultural donation |
| Monthly income needed | €920 | €3,680 | None |
| Time in Portugal | About 8 months a year | About 8 months a year | About 7 days a year |
| Tax residency | Portugal | Portugal | You can keep your current one |
| Citizenship | 10 years | 10 years | 10 years |
Apply for the one your evidence cleanly supports. If you have enough passive income, most lawyers would point you to the D7 even if you also work remotely. The Golden Visa’s rules have changed several times, including dropping real estate in 2023, so it carries more uncertainty.
Full comparisons: D7 vs D8 · D7 vs the Golden Visa
Next steps
Where to go from here
If the D7 sounds right for you
- Check your numbers with the calculator at the top of this page.
- Set up your NIF and Portuguese bank account first. They take longest to arrange remotely and don’t commit you to anything.
- Read the accommodation guide before you look at a single apartment.
- Talk to a lawyer about your consulate before you sign a lease.
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If it doesn’t fit
Look at the D8 for remote income, the Golden Visa for capital without moving, or all of Portugal’s residency permits compared.
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If you’re not ready yet
You’re in good company. 43% of the American, British, Canadian and Australian readers who’ve used our calculator since June 2026 are a year or more away from applying.
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If you want the whole move
The full process, with checklists, is in my book, Moving to Portugal Made Simple.
Common questions
D7 FAQ
Yes. Permanent residency after 5 years; citizenship after 10, or 7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Authorities typically look at the gross income before any costs like a mortgage, insurance, property management costs, etc. However, if your net income (what’s left over) is very low and you have no other income sources, your application has a higher risk of rejection. Read more about applying for the D7 as a landlord.
This varies. We have a full breakdown of the costs involved in a D7 application.
Yes, once your residence card arrives, unless the card says otherwise. You can take a job, freelance or run a business. More in can you work on a D7 visa.
Almost certainly. Spending more than 183 days a year in Portugal makes you a tax resident, so your income will be taxed under Portuguese law. Tax treaties with the US, UK, and Canada prevent double taxation; however, income that isn’t taxed in your home country can still be taxable here. US Social Security, for example, is generally taxable in Portugal, although individual situations vary. Always speak to an experienced tax advisor.
Not anymore. The old Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime has closed to new applicants. Its replacement, IFICI (sometimes called NHR 2.0), is aimed at people working in specific fields such as research, tech, and startups. Pension and other passive income aren’t covered, so most D7 holders are taxed under Portugal’s standard rules. Plenty of older articles still promise D7 retirees a low flat tax rate, so treat those with caution and speak to a tax advisor.
No. You apply from the country where you legally live, and you need the visa in your passport before you move. [JAMES: link the page that lists Portuguese consulates and VFS centers for the US, UK and Canada, and say which US consulate covers which states.]
Not for the visa, but you’ll need A2 Portuguese for permanent residency and citizenship. A2 is the second-most basic level, with a 55% pass mark, or you can complete a 150-hour approved course instead.
No. Anywhere in Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores.
Minor offenses are often fine; serious crimes (punishable by 1+ year in prison under Portuguese law) tend to cause problems. More in applying for a Portuguese visa with a criminal record.
365 days. The D7 is a residency visa—you can be there full-time and renew the permit while resident.
You can buy property in Portugal without residency, so you could buy property before or after getting your residence permit. Buying doesn’t grant residency on its own; the D7 is still needed to live here.
You can appeal or re-apply. Most rejections come down to documentation, timing, or insufficient income. A lawyer beforehand is cheaper than an appeal after.
Sources
The official rules and figures this guide is based on.
- Decreto-Lei n.º 139/2025, setting the 2026 minimum wage (Diário da República)
- The government’s 2027 budget assumption of a €970 minimum wage (DNoticias, October 8, 2026)
- D7 checklist for US applicants, November 2025, including the Portaria 1563/2007 savings rules (VFS Global USA)
- Decreto Legislativo Regional n.º 1/2026/M, setting Madeira’s 2026 minimum wage at €980 (Diário da República)
- Revolut’s Portuguese branch and IBANs (Essential Business, July 2025)
- Residence visa documentation (Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Means of subsistence for national visas (Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- National visa application form, PDF (Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Lei n.º 23/2007, the Foreigners Law, consolidated version (Diário da República)
- Lei n.º 61/2025, including the family reunification changes (Diário da República)
- Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, the 2026 nationality law (Diário da República)
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