Portugal Digital Nomad Visa (D8): Requirements, Income and How to Apply

At a glance

Minimum income	€3,680 a month (2026), averaged over your last three months
First permit	A 4-month residence visa, then a 2-year residence permit
Renewable?	Yes, for 3 years at a time
Leads to permanent residency?	Yes, after 5 years
Special tax regime	IFICI (NHR 2.0) exists, but most remote workers don’t qualify
Freelancers and business owners?	Yes, with clients outside Portugal

Who can apply

Portugal’s digital nomad visa, usually called the D8, is the residence visa for people who work remotely for employers or clients outside Portugal. It’s set out in article 61-B of Portugal’s foreigners law, and it covers:

• Employees with a contract, or an employer’s declaration, that allows them to work remotely
• Freelancers and service providers with contracts for clients outside Portugal
• Business owners and partners, who can show their company’s articles of association and evidence of services provided outside Portugal

If your employer or clients are in Portugal, the D8 isn’t the right visa. Portuguese jobs go through the D1 work visa, and freelance or business activity based in Portugal goes through the D2.

Applying as an employee of your own company isn’t something Portugal has addressed directly: the official list asks for a contract or employer’s declaration, but says nothing about who owns the employer. This set-up isn’t accepted everywhere, and how you structure it has tax and legal consequences in more than one country. Get professional advice on structuring and tax before you rely on it for a visa application.

Two versions of the D8

Portugal offers the visa in two forms, and the difference matters:

• Temporary stay visa: for stays of up to a year, with multiple entries. It doesn’t lead to a residence permit, so it doesn’t count toward permanent residency or citizenship.
• Residence visa: valid for four months with two entries. During that time you apply in Portugal for a residence permit. This is the version most people mean by “the D8”, and the rest of this page covers it.

Minimum income requirement

You need average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times Portugal’s minimum wage. The minimum wage rose to €920 on 1 January 2026 (Decree-Law 139/2025), so the threshold is €3,680 a month, or €44,160 a year.

What the consulate looks at is the three-month average, so regular income matters more than one big month. Expect to show:

• Employees: your contract or employer’s declaration, the last three payslips and bank statements showing the salary arriving
• Freelancers: signed contracts with clients outside Portugal, the last three months of invoices, and bank statements showing those payments
• Business owners: your company documents, proof of billing to clients outside Portugal and bank statements

Payments with no contract, invoice or bank trail are the hardest to prove and the most likely to be questioned.

Savings. The official document list doesn’t set a savings amount, but several guides and some consulates mention savings equal to 12 months of the threshold, about €11,040. Ask your consulate whether it expects this.

Not earning €3,680 a month yet? That’s where most people reading this page are. The Portable Income Launchpad is a six-week program for experienced professionals turning their expertise into remote income that meets a visa threshold like this one.

Bringing your family

There are two ways for family to join you, and the rules tightened in October 2025.

Applying together. Family members can apply for a family accompanying visa alongside yours. The extra income needed is based on Portugal’s general means-of-subsistence rules: 50% of the minimum wage for each additional adult (€460 a month) and 30% for each child (€276). Some guides apply those percentages to the €3,680 figure instead, giving €1,840 for a spouse and €1,104 per child. Confirm with your consulate which it uses before you apply.

Family reunification after you arrive. Since Law 61/2025 came into force on 23 October 2025, you generally need to have held your residence permit for two years before you can apply to bring family over. There are exceptions:

• Minor or dependent children, and the other parent of those children, can be reunited without waiting
• If you and your partner lived together for at least 18 months before you moved, the wait drops to 15 months

You’ll also need suitable housing and enough income to support everyone without public assistance.

How long it lasts and renewal

The residence visa gets you into Portugal for four months. In that time, you attend an appointment with AIMA, Portugal’s immigration agency, to apply for your residence permit. AIMA has 90 days to decide, extendable by 30 in exceptional cases.

The first residence permit lasts two years. You then renew it for three years at a time, as long as you still meet the income requirement.

To keep the permit, don’t spend more than six months in a row, or eight months in total, outside Portugal during the permit’s validity.

Tax: special regimes and when you become tax resident

If you spend more than 183 days a year in Portugal, or have your habitual home there, you become a Portuguese tax resident and owe tax on your worldwide income at progressive rates of up to 48%. On the D8, most people reach that point in their first year.

Portugal’s old tax break for new residents, the NHR regime, is closed to newcomers. Its replacement, IFICI (often called NHR 2.0), taxes qualifying income at a flat 20% for ten years and exempts most foreign income. But it’s narrow, and it wasn’t designed for digital nomads:

• It mostly applies to highly qualified roles at Portuguese employers in specific sectors, certified startups, research and higher education
• Holding a D8 doesn’t qualify you, and nor does working remotely for a company with no Portuguese entity
• Freelancers billing foreign clients generally don’t qualify, except for teaching and scientific research

If you think you might qualify, you have to register by 15 January of the year after you become tax resident. Miss that date and you lose the regime.

This is general information, not tax advice. Talk to a Portuguese tax adviser who works with your home country before you move.

Does it lead to permanent residency or citizenship?

Yes, but citizenship now takes longer.

After 5 years of legal residence, you can apply for permanent residency or the EU long-term resident permit.

For citizenship, Organic Law 1/2026 changed the rules for applications made from 19 May 2026. You now need 10 years of legal residence, or 7 years if you’re a citizen of an EU country or a Portuguese-speaking country (CPLP). That’s up from 5 years for everyone under the old rules. You’ll also need to show knowledge of Portuguese language and culture, and of citizens’ fundamental rights and duties. Applications already pending on 19 May 2026 are assessed under the old law.

How to apply

From your home country

1. Get a Portuguese tax number (NIF) and, ideally, a Portuguese bank account. You’ll need them for a lease and for AIMA, even though they aren’t on every consulate’s visa list.
2. Gather your documents: the national visa form, two photos, a passport valid at least three months beyond your planned stay, travel insurance with medical and repatriation cover, a criminal record certificate (apostilled and issued within 90 days), proof of your work relationship, proof of three months’ average income, and a document showing your tax residence.
3. Arrange accommodation in Portugal. It’s needed for the AIMA stage, and consulates can ask for it. A signed lease is safer than a short-term booking.
4. Apply at the Portuguese consulate or visa centre that covers where you live. Many countries now use VFS Global centers, and some only take applications in person.
5. Wait for a decision. The consulate has 60 days by law, and asking for extra documents pauses the clock.
6. Travel to Portugal within the visa’s four-month window and attend your AIMA appointment to apply for the residence permit.

Budget for the consular visa fee, AIMA’s permit fee and the residence card fee, plus translations and apostilles. Fees change, so check the current tables before you pay.

From inside Portugal

Not for the residence version of the D8. You apply through a consulate in the country where you live, then complete the process with AIMA once you’re in Portugal.

Restrictions and common reasons for refusal

The D8 is for income from outside Portugal. Taking a Portuguese job or Portuguese clients puts you in a different visa category.

The problems that most often sink applications are:

• Income from the wrong source, such as a Portuguese employer or clients
• Informal payments with no contract, invoice or tax record
• Uneven income, where the three-month average only just reaches €3,680 thanks to one large month
• An expired criminal record certificate, which is only valid for 90 days
• No proof of accommodation when the consulate or AIMA asks for it
• Problems with your NIF, such as no fiscal representative or the wrong address

Long absences from Portugal can also cost you the permit at renewal, as explained above.

Is this visa right for you?

The D8 suits remote employees and established freelancers earning comfortably above €3,680 a month who want a long-term base in Portugal and are prepared to live there most of the year. It leads to permanent residency after five years, and Portugal is one of the most English-friendly countries in southern Europe.

Two things have changed the picture. Citizenship now takes ten years for most nationalities, so Portugal no longer has a fast track to an EU passport. And IFICI rarely applies to remote workers, so most D8 holders pay Portugal’s normal progressive rates. If you’re looking for a lower income threshold, Spain (about €2,849 a month) and Italy (about €2,066) are worth comparing. If your income is passive rather than from work, Portugal’s D7 visa is the better fit.

FAQ

What’s the minimum income for Portugal’s D8 visa in 2026? €3,680 a month, four times the 2026 minimum wage of €920, averaged over your last three months.

What’s the difference between the D7 and the D8? The D8 is for people working remotely for employers or clients outside Portugal. The D7 is for passive income such as pensions, rent and dividends, with a much lower threshold of €920 a month in 2026.

Can freelancers apply for the D8? Yes, with signed contracts for clients outside Portugal, invoices and bank statements showing at least €3,680 a month on average.

Can I bring my family? Yes. Family can apply alongside you for an accompanying visa, with extra income for each person. If they join later through family reunification, you’ll generally need two years of residence first, except for minor children and their other parent.

Does the D8 qualify me for NHR 2.0 (IFICI)? No. The visa and the tax regime are separate. Most remote workers don’t qualify for IFICI because they don’t work for a qualifying Portuguese employer.

How long until I can get Portuguese citizenship? For applications from 19 May 2026, 10 years of legal residence, or 7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals.

If you don’t qualify: alternatives and similar visas

If your income is passive, look at Portugal’s D7 visa, which has a much lower income threshold but doesn’t allow active remote work as the basis of the application. If you want to run a business or freelance practice with Portuguese clients, the D2 visa is designed for that.

To compare other digital nomad visas, see our digital nomad visas page, or start with:

• Spain’s digital nomad visa, with a lower threshold and the option to apply from inside Spain
• Italy’s digital nomad visa, with the lowest threshold of the major EU options
• Greece’s digital nomad visa, with a 2-year residence permit after the first year

Sources

• Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs: types of visa (official)
• DGERT: minimum wage for 2026 (official)
• Portaria 352/2024, the IFICI regulation (official)
• Cidadania e Visto: D8 minimum income and documents in 2026 (law firm guide)
• Cidadania e Visto: Portugal’s immigration law changes (law firm guide)

Educational information, not legal, immigration or tax advice. Rules change, so check the official sources before you apply.