Portugal residency for non-EU citizens: golden visa, D7 and D8

Golden visa without property

Buying a home no longer gets you a Portuguese residence permit: Law 56/2023 revoked the real-estate route from 7 October 2023. The investment residence permit (ARI) is still open through these investments:

Low-density territories: the job, research and culture routes may need up to 20% less when the investment is made in a low-density territory — the areas listed in Portaria 208/2017 with fewer than 100 inhabitants per km² or GDP per head below 75% of Portugal's average (Law 23/2007 art. 3(2)–(3)). The fund and company routes get no reduction. For culture and heritage the law's 20% would mean €200,000, but AIMA's own application form names €220,000 — ask AIMA which figure it applies before you commit. Whether a place qualifies: check the Portaria's list of municipalities and parishes.

AIMA's fees, in person: €842.80 to receive and analyse the application, €8,418.90 to grant the permit and €4,210.30 for each renewal — the same amounts for each family member. Online requests cost about 25% less. Family members of golden visa holders are exempt from the two-year wait that applies to other family reunifications.

D7 visa: living on your own income

The D7 is for pensions and other regular passive income. The test is Portugal's minimum wage, €920 a month in 2026: 100% for you, 50% (€460) for each further adult and 30% (€276) for each child — a couple with two children needs €1,932 a month. The means must be stable and regular, assured for at least 12 months, with proof that they are available in Portugal. No official text says that a lump of savings can replace the income; ask the consulate before you apply on savings alone. The figure follows the minimum wage, so it usually changes every January. To test your own household, use the own-income calculator.

D8 visa: remote work

The D8 asks for an average income of at least 4 times the minimum wage over the last three months — €3,680 a month in 2026. No extra amount per family member is stated for the D8. Other countries' remote-work permits are compared on the digital nomad page.

How long the permits run

A D7 or D8 permit is valid for two years and then renewed for three years at a time. It can be cancelled if you are away from Portugal without good reason for six months in a row or eight months in total during its validity. A golden visa is renewed for two years at a time, with the 7- and 14-day minimum stays (AIMA's own page says 14 days in each later year; the regulation says 14 days per two-year period).

Fees and how long it takes

The consulate charges €110 to process a residence visa. AIMA charges €114.30 to issue or renew a temporary residence permit and €133 to analyse a renewal; its fee table does not name the D7 or D8, so confirm the rows with AIMA. By law the consulate decides a residence visa within 60 days, and AIMA decides a permit within 90 days (30 more in exceptional cases) and a renewal within 60. These are legal deadlines — no official figure says how long it really takes.

Bringing your family

Since 23 October 2025 family reunification usually needs the permit holder to have held a residence permit for at least 2 years (15 months for a spouse you lived with for 18 months before arriving). Children who are minors and the family of golden visa holders are exempt.

Citizenship

Naturalisation now needs at least 10 years of legal residence for most non-EU citizens (7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking countries' nationals), under Organic Law 1/2026. The golden visa, the D7 and the D8 count the same way.

The law behind it

The routes are in Law 23/2007, the foreigners law. Law 62/2026 of 10 September 2026 amended it, mainly to apply the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum; the figures on this page are from the consolidated text read on 19 October 2026. AIMA's fee table: AIMA. Every other EU country's routes without property: all 27 countries and investment routes compared.

Golden visa: what takes longer than expected

The law gives AIMA 90 days to decide. In practice the investment residence permit (ARI) is among the slowest of the European golden visas: practitioners report about 1.5 to 3 years to the first card, most of it waiting for AIMA verify. The government told parliament in October 2025 that it would clear the remaining backlog in 2026 (press report); no official waiting time is published.

Family paperwork

Criminal-record certificates — and in practice other foreign public documents — must carry an Apostille or be certified by a Portuguese consulate, and need a Portuguese translation unless they are in English, French or Spanish and the AIMA official accepts that. Translations can be certified by a notary, a consulate, a recognised chamber of commerce or a Portuguese lawyer or solicitor. Criminal-record certificates must be less than 3 months old — and AIMA itself tells applicants to plan 90 to 180 days ahead when foreign documents need certifying. AIMA singles out proof of the family link for adult children and dependent parents as the document sometimes left out.

Where are your documents from? Documents from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, India, Pakistan, China, Russia, the UK, the US, Canada, South Africa, the Philippines and the other countries in the Apostille Convention need an Apostille from the issuing country. The UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon and Nigeria are not in the Convention: their documents need full legalisation — first the issuing country's foreign ministry, then the Portuguese consulate. Allow weeks for each stamp, per document and per family member. Pakistan joined the Convention in 2023 and Portugal has not objected, so an Apostille from Pakistan works here (Greece is different — see its page).

The bank account

The investment is proved by a declaration from a credit institution authorised in Portugal (and one from the fund manager), so in practice a Portuguese tax number and account come first.

Advice from someone who is not selling you the fund

For the fund route, the person explaining the golden visa is often the manager or distributor of one particular fund. Check the fund and its manager in the public register of Portugal's securities regulator (CMVM), read the fund's own documents on fees, maturity and exit, and get advice from someone who is not paid by that fund.

Before you rely on this: what to confirm

These points rest on a law firm, a commercial source or a single source, or the official page could not be read. Ask a licensed lawyer to confirm them against the official tariff or law before you pay anything.

• The whole-journey estimate for the golden visa (practitioners' reports, not an official figure) — ask AIMA or a licensed lawyer in Portugal for the current waiting time.