Portugal Digital Nomad Visa (D8) in 2026

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• Minimum wage of €920 in 2026: the D8 threshold, four times it, is €3,680 a month.
• Visa fee of €110 since March 2025 (it was €90).
• Family later takes two years: since October 2025, family reunification needs two years of residence first, so apply together.
• Citizenship after ten years of legal residence since May 2026 (seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens), counted from your first residence permit.
• Next year: a minimum wage of €970 in 2027 was agreed in 2024 but not decreed yet. If it is, the D8 threshold becomes €3,880 a month.

What is the Portugal digital nomad visa (D8)?

The D8 gives legal residence in Portugal to remote workers from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland. Your employer or your clients are abroad; you live and work from Portugal.

Portugal created it in 2022. You apply at a Portuguese consulate (or its VFS Global center) in the country where you live. The consulate issues a 4-month residence visa; in Portugal, AIMA then gives you a residence permit, renewed for as long as you meet the conditions.

Residence visa or temporary stay visa?

The law gives remote workers two visas. Both ask for the same proof of work and income. To settle in Portugal, you want the residence visa: it is the one this guide follows.

The temporary stay visa allows several entries and can be extended in Portugal, but it does not lead to a residence permit, permanent residence or citizenship. It also asks for a return ticket.

Benefits of the Portugal D8 visa

• Live in Portugal, with your spouse and children.
• Visit the other Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180 without another visa (to travel, not to live or work there).
• Use the national health service (Portuguese healthcare) and state schools (education) as a resident.
• Work for Portuguese employers or clients too, once you hold your residence permit.
• Permanent residence after five years, and Portuguese citizenship after ten (seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens).

D8 visa requirements in 2026: who is eligible?

The D8 is for citizens of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who work remotely for people or companies based outside Portugal. The law names two profiles:

• Employees of a company abroad, with an employment contract or a declaration from the employer.
• Freelancers and company owners with clients abroad, with a service contract, the articles of their company, or documents showing the services they provided.

You also need a valid passport, travel insurance, a clean criminal record, and a document showing where you are a tax resident today.

D8 visa income requirement: €3,680 a month

You must show an average monthly income of at least four times the Portuguese minimum wage over the last three months, from that remote work. With the 2026 minimum wage of €920, that is €3,680 a month, or €44,160 over a year.

The rule doesn't say whether the amount is before or after tax: if you are close to €3,680, ask your consulate how it counts. When the minimum wage rises (usually in January), the threshold rises with it.

How do you prove your income?

Your contract, your income and your bank statements must tell the same story. The checklist of the Portuguese consulates in the UK, for example, asks for:

• Employees: the work contract and a declaration from the employer that you can work remotely from Portugal, with your last three months of payslips and bank statements.
• Freelancers: your company's articles or your service contracts, with your last three months of invoices and bank statements.
• For both: a document showing your current tax residence, such as your latest tax return.

Other consulates ask for less, or add their own items: read your consulate's checklist before you book.

Do you need savings for the D8?

The law asks for income, not savings: for the D8, your means of subsistence are the income from your contracts. Some consulates still ask for a balance: the UK consulates want to see at least €920 in your account. The US checklist asks for none.

D7 or D8?

Both let you live in Portugal on income from abroad, but not the same income. If you live on a pension, rents or investments, the D7 visa is the one to apply for.

Can your family join you on a D8 visa?

Yes. Your family can apply for their residence visas at the same time as you, to come with you. You can include:

• Your spouse, or a partner you have lived with for more than two years.
• Your minor children, and adult children who depend on you, are single and study in Portugal (there is no age limit).
• Your or your spouse’s parents, if they depend on you: the proof is usually the money you send them.
• Minors adopted by you or your spouse, and minor brothers and sisters under your guardianship.

How much more income with a family?

For their visas, the consulate checks that your means cover everyone, on Portugal's scale of means of subsistence: 50% of the minimum wage for each other adult and 30% for each child. In practice, consulates usually add these amounts to the €3,680:

Family members who move with you get their own residence permit, the same access to healthcare and schools, and their own path to permanent residence and citizenship, counted from their own first permit.

Tip: apply together. Since October 2025, bringing family later through family reunification takes two years of residence first (15 months for a spouse you lived with for 18 months before, no wait for your minor children), and AIMA then has nine months to decide.

How to apply for the Portugal digital nomad visa in 7 steps

From your sofa to your Portuguese residence card. Each step says what to do and what it costs. In a free AnchorLess account, you tick them off one by one and get expert help where you need it.

1. 1

   Check that you qualify

   Remote work for an employer or clients outside Portugal, €3,680 a month on average over the last three months, a clean criminal record, and a home in Portugal.

   Take the 30-second check
2. 2

   Get your NIF

   Your Portuguese tax number: a landlord and a bank ask for it before anything else. You can get it from abroad.

   With us: from €99By email from 24 hours

   Get my NIF
3. 3

   Open a Portuguese bank account

   The law doesn't require one for the D8, but a Portuguese IBAN makes the move simpler: rent, bills, and your income in euros once you live there.

   With us: €359Opened remotely

   Open my account
4. 4

   Secure your home

   A lease (the UK consulates ask for at least 12 months, registered with the tax office), a deed, or a term of responsibility from someone who hosts you.

   Lease checked by a lawyer: €99In 48 hours

   Review my leaseOr find your home with us
5. 5

   Build your visa file

   Your contract, three months of income proof, your tax residence certificate, your criminal record with its apostille, travel insurance, a personal statement: the full checklist is below.

   Lawyer check of the whole file: €299Feedback in 3 business days

   Review my visa file
6. 6

   Apply at the consulate

   Fill in the national visa form, book your appointment at the consulate or VFS Global center for where you live, and pay the €110 fee. The consulate has 60 days to decide.

   €110 per applicantDecision within 60 days

   Find your consulate
7. 7

   Fly to Portugal and get your residence permit

   Within the visa’s 4 months, go to your AIMA appointment. AIMA has 90 days to decide (up to 120); your first residence card lasts 2 years.

   AIMA fee: €185.60First card: 2 years

   Check my AIMA file (€259)

How much does the D8 visa cost?

The AIMA fee is €247.30 where the reduced rate does not apply: see the AIMA Portugal fee table in our guide. Add the apostille of your criminal record, any translation your consulate asks for, and your insurance.

How long does the D8 visa take?

By law, the consulate has 60 days to decide on a residence visa (30 days for a temporary stay visa); in practice, times vary from one consulate to another. In Portugal, AIMA then has 90 days to decide on your residence permit, which it can extend by 30. Use the wait to prepare your move and your AIMA documents.

1. Day 0You apply at the consulate
2. 60 daysat most for the decision
3. 4 monthsto enter Portugal and go to AIMA
4. 90 daysfor AIMA to decide (up to 120)
5. 2 yearsyour first residence card
6. 5 yearspermanent residence
7. 10 yearscitizenship

Why are D8 applications refused?

A Portuguese visa refusal usually comes down to one of these:

• An income under €3,680 a month, or not from remote work for an employer or clients abroad (a pension or rents are a D7 case);
• A contract, payslips or invoices and bank statements that don’t match;
• A criminal record with convictions;
• Incomplete documents.

A doubt about your application? Book a free call to clear it up.

D8 visa documents checklist

Every consulate starts from the same official list, then adds its own items. Download your consulate's checklist before you book, and bring:

• The national visa application form, filled in and signed;
• 2 recent passport photos;
• A passport valid at least 3 months beyond your planned stay (the UK consulates count 90 days beyond the visa's 120 days);
• Proof of legal residence in the country where you apply, if you are not a national of it;
• Your employment contract or employer declaration, or your service contracts, company articles or proof of the services you provided;
• Proof of income: €3,680 a month on average over the last three months (payslips or invoices, and bank statements);
• A document showing your current tax residence;
• Travel insurance covering medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation;
• A criminal record certificate from your country of nationality or any country where you lived more than a year, apostilled or legalized (not needed under 16);
• A personal statement: why you move, and where and how you will live (our D8 motivation letter guide shows how);
• Proof of accommodation, where your consulate asks for it;
• The €110 visa fee.

What counts as proof of accommodation?

A property deed if you buy, a lease if you rent, or a term of responsibility signed by a Portuguese citizen or legal resident who hosts you.

Consulates differ here. The UK consulates ask for a lease of at least 12 months, registered with the Portuguese tax office. The US checklist for the residence visa asks for a personal statement saying where you will live and in what kind of home. In Portugal, AIMA asks for your address again.

Criminal record

From your country of nationality or any country where you lived more than a year, apostilled or legalized (not needed under 16). It must be recent: the US and UK consulates want it issued less than 90 days before you apply. Ask your consulate whether it needs a translation.

Travel insurance

Consulates ask for travel insurance that covers medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation. The UK consulates want it to cover the visa's 120 days from your entry. The €30,000 often quoted is the minimum for Schengen short-stay visas: the D8 rules set no amount.

A monthly subscription that renews itself may not show the dates a consulate wants: buy cover for the whole period. Our partner Insurte offers travel insurance for visa applications.

After the D8 visa: moving to Portugal and your AIMA appointment

Your D8 residence visa is valid for 4 months and two entries: the time to move and get your residence permit. Before you leave:

• Final preparations: finalize your travel, inform those concerned (the tax authorities of your home country, for example), and get your papers in order for AIMA.
• Check what you can take with you. Some items may need a baggage certificate from your Portuguese consulate.
• Cover your bases at home: leave a power of attorney with someone you trust, and bring copies of your main documents (birth and marriage certificates, property titles, vaccination cards).

Once in Portugal, move into your home, sort out your health cover and your bank, and change the address of your NIF to your Portuguese home, at the tax office (Finanças).

How do I get my AIMA appointment?

Many D8 visas are issued with the AIMA appointment already scheduled: the date and office are in the paperwork the consulate gives you, so read it before you request anything. If no date was assigned, request one from AIMA (consulates don’t book or move AIMA appointments); appointments are always free. Our guide to getting an AIMA appointment explains which option to pick. Go within the visa’s 4 months.

What happens at the AIMA appointment?

• Biometric data (photo, signature and fingerprints) and a check of your documents.
• Documents: your passport and residence visa, proof of your means of subsistence (recent statements), proof of your address, your tax and social security registration if you have them, and health insurance or proof that you are covered by the national health service (SNS).

You don’t need a foreign criminal record for AIMA: its list for residence visa holders has none, and it checks the Portuguese record itself.

AIMA has 90 days to decide, which it can extend by 30; then your residence card arrives at your address. The fee for a first permit is €185.60 in AIMA’s 2026 table (€247.30 where the reduced rate does not apply), paid on your own payment slip (DUC).

The D8 visa and taxes in Portugal

For the visa, you show where you are a tax resident today. Once you live in Portugal, you will usually become a Portuguese tax resident: more than 183 days in any 12 months, or a home you intend to keep as your habitual residence.

You then file a Portuguese tax return (IRS) every year, from 1 April to 30 June, for the year before. Your tax and social security situation also counts when you renew your residence permit.

How your remote income is taxed depends on your case: read our guides to IRS in Portugal and to IFICI, the “NHR 2.0”, or put your questions to a lawyer in a 40-minute tax consultation (€249).

How long is the D8 visa valid, and how do you renew it?

• Residence visa: 4 months, two entries, to enter Portugal and go to AIMA.
• First residence permit: 2 years.
• Renewals: 3 years at a time, as long as you live in Portugal and still meet the conditions.
• Permanent residence after 5 years with a permit; citizenship after 10.

Ask AIMA to renew up to 30 days before your card expires. It checks your means of subsistence, your home, your Portuguese criminal record and your tax and social security situation, and that your remote work goes on (contract, employer declaration or client contracts). It has 60 days to decide; meanwhile, your receipt counts as your card for 60 days, renewable. Our renewal guide has the details.

While your card is valid, don’t stay away from Portugal for more than 6 months in a row or 8 months in all without a good reason, or AIMA can cancel it. Permanent residence allows up to 24 months away in a row, or 30 months in three years.

Permanent residence and citizenship with a D8 visa

After five years with a residence permit, you can apply for permanent residence: you need basic Portuguese (an A2 certificate, for example), your means of subsistence and accommodation, and no prison sentence over one year in the last five years. It has no time limit, and its card is renewed every five years.

Ten years after your first residence permit is issued (seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens), you can apply for Portuguese citizenship: an EU passport, to live and work anywhere in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland.

What are the requirements for citizenship through a D8 visa?

Ten years of legal residence, counted from your first residence permit (seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens). You must also prove, by a test or a certificate, that you know Portuguese (level A2 under the current regulation) and, since the 2026 law, Portuguese culture, history and national symbols, citizens’ rights and duties and how the State is organized.

You also declare your adherence to the rule of law, show you can support yourself, and must have no conviction that bars it. The new test is still to be set by regulation.

Portugal D8 visa for US citizens: what it costs

Remote employees of a US company and US freelancers or company owners can apply, as long as their employer or clients are outside Portugal. The income test is the same: €3,680 a month on average over the last three months. From the United States, the total is higher than the consular fee alone:

• Consular visa fee: €110 per applicant, 127.11 USD at the US centers in 2026.
• VFS Global service fee: 43.91 USD per application, in New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Houston and Miami. In New England, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, you apply at the Portuguese consulates in Boston, New Bedford, Providence or Newark instead.
• FBI criminal record (Identity History Summary): 18 USD to the FBI, plus the cost of having your fingerprints taken (police, a private service or a participating Post Office, about 50 USD). It must be issued less than 90 days before you apply.
• Apostille on the FBI record, by the US Department of State: 20 USD per document.
• No translation: US consulates take the FBI record in English, with its apostille.
• A US tax residence certificate, and proof of your US address (a lease or a driver’s license) for the consulate’s jurisdiction.
• Travel insurance: the price depends on your age and the provider.

In all, plan for about 260 USD per person in fees before insurance, flights and accommodation. Once you arrive, the AIMA residence permit fee is €185.60 (€247.30 at the standard rate).

Applying for the D8 from the UK, Canada and elsewhere

From the UK, you apply through VFS Global in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, depending on where you live. The checklist of March 2026 adds a few items to the official list:

• The €110 visa fee, plus a VFS service fee of £32.85.
• A police certificate from ACRO, issued within 90 days, with an apostille from the UK Legalisation Office.
• A bank balance of at least €920, on top of three months of payslips or invoices and bank statements.
• A lease of at least 12 months, registered with the Portuguese tax office, a deed, or a term of responsibility.
• Eligible British nationals can show an S1 form instead of travel insurance.

From Canada, Australia or anywhere else, the core list is the same. Each consulate adds its own rules on the police certificate, translations and proof of accommodation: start from its checklist.

Our guides to moving to Portugal from the US, the UK, Canada and Brazil list where to apply and the documents to prepare in each country.

Is the D8 visa right for you?

If your remote work brings in €3,680 a month and your employer or clients are abroad, the D8 is the most direct way to live in Portugal, alone or with your family, on a path to permanent residence and citizenship.

Where to settle? Our guides to the best cities for digital nomads, the digital nomad communities in Lisbon, the coworking spaces in Lisbon and the cost of living in Lisbon help you choose.

Frequently asked questions