The visa for founders of innovative startups, in 7 steps: who qualifies, how IAPMEI decides, what it costs, and how we can help at each step.
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The Portugal Startup Visa lets founders from countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland move to Portugal to build an innovative company in a certified incubator. IAPMEI, the State agency for competitiveness and innovation, selects the projects. With its declaration, you get a D2 residence visa at the consulate, or your residence permit directly from AIMA in Portugal.
There is no minimum investment, but each founder shows €6,445.56 in 2026, and the incubator charges for its services. This guide takes you through IAPMEI’s criteria, the two routes, the documents and the 7 steps, up to your residence card.
The Startup Visa in 6 numbers (2026)
Yes to all five? The Startup Visa can be your route.
No innovative project, but a company, an investment or clients under contract? The D2’s other routes need no IAPMEI approval. Working remotely for clients or an employer abroad? Look at the D8. A doubt on one point? Ask us in a free call.
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The Startup Visa is a programme for foreign entrepreneurs, run by IAPMEI since 2018. It is not a visa of its own: once IAPMEI approves your project and you sign with a certified incubator, IAPMEI’s declaration gets you the residence visa for immigrant entrepreneurs (one of the D2’s three routes), or a residence permit from AIMA if you are already in Portugal.
It is open to two kinds of founders: those who want to start a project in Portugal, even without a company yet, and those who already have a young company abroad and want to bring it to Portugal. Up to five founders can apply with one project, and each gets his or her own visa or permit.
The programme’s rules (Despacho Normativo 4/2018) set requirements for each founder and for the project. They must be met when you apply and for as long as the programme lasts.
It must have been created less than 4 years ago, show positive equity in its last accounts, and have the potential to create at least 5 jobs in 24 months in Portugal, founders not counted. Each founder holds an executive role or at least 10% of the capital or the votes.
IAPMEI weighs the degree of innovation, how the business can scale, its market potential, the management team, and the qualified jobs it could create in Portugal. For the €325,000, you estimate your turnover and assets in the fifth year, with your target segments, market share and prices.
It has become selective: since 2023, IAPMEI has approved about one decided application in three each year, against 55% to 72% from 2018 to 2022.
| Year | Applications | Approved | Refused |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 236 | 163 | 63 |
| 2022 | 455 | 246 | 200 |
| 2023 | 353 | 104 | 214 |
| 2024 | 192 | 46 | 84 |
| 2025 | 191 | 40 | 83 |
| 2026 (to 26 October) | 137 | 10 | 21 |
IAPMEI’s figures on 26 October 2026; most 2026 applications were not decided yet.
You apply on IAPMEI’s Startup Visa platform, at any time of the year, in Portuguese or in English. You describe your project in the platform’s form, and you can add a presentation file. Each founder uploads:
No degree and no separate business plan file are on IAPMEI’s list, and its rules mention no application fee.
IAPMEI certified 94 incubators for 2026, from the Azores and Madeira to the Algarve, with Lisbon the most represented. The list, with each incubator’s contact, is on IAPMEI’s site. You can write to as many as you like, but you need a declaration of interest from at least one before IAPMEI looks at your project.
The incubation is physical: there is no virtual incubation. An incubator hosts at most 20 Startup Visa projects at a time, draws up a personal incubation plan and reports to IAPMEI every quarter. It charges for its services, at a price you agree with it: there is no official figure, so ask several for a quote.
The incubation contract lasts 12 months, renewable by agreement, and states its price. Your company can be set up during the contract, and must exist by its end.
There is no minimum investment. You show money of your own, at each stage, and you pay the incubator.
Twelve times the social support index (IAS), €537.13 a month in 2026, on a bank statement. With several founders, each shows it separately. The amount follows the IAS, updated each year.
For a residence visa, consulates measure your means on the Portuguese minimum wage, €920 a month in 2026. For an entrepreneur who invests, the rule is 12 months of it: €11,040 for one person, which New Delhi applies. London asks for three months of bank statements with at least €920 available. Each family member who comes with you adds 50% for an adult and 30% for a child:
| Household | Means for a year |
|---|---|
| Main applicant alone | €11,040 |
| + spouse (+50%) | €16,560 |
| + spouse + 1 child (+30%) | €19,872 |
| + spouse + 2 children (+30% each) | €23,184 |
For your residence permit, AIMA accepts IAPMEI’s declaration of your incubation contract as proof of your means.
Each incubator sets its own price, written in your contract. Ask for quotes before you choose, and plan for it on top of your living costs.
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With IAPMEI’s declaration, you have two ways to get your residence permit.
You apply at the Portuguese consulate (or its VFS Global center) for the country where you live, and you don’t need to go in person to file the application, though the consulate may still take your fingerprints. The fee is €110, and the consulate decides within 60 days. The visa is valid for 4 months and two entries, comes with provisional tax, Social Security and health service numbers, and your family can apply at the same time to come with you. In Portugal, AIMA then gives you your residence permit.
Since 23 October 2025, a founder already in Portugal can ask AIMA for the permit without a visa (article 89(4) of the foreigners’ law), at any AIMA office, by appointment. The law sets no legal-entry condition for this route, but AIMA’s page lists the fines for staying illegally and for not declaring your entry: come in legally, and as a visitor you can stay 90 days in any 180.
AIMA asks for your passport, your foreign criminal record, a sworn declaration of your address (with your landlord’s declaration or the land registry certificate) and proof of your tax and Social Security registration. It checks your incubation contract with IAPMEI itself. The fee is €416, and AIMA has 90 days to decide, which it can extend by 30.
| Visa at the consulate | Permit at AIMA | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you apply | Where you live | In Portugal |
| Fees | €110 + €185.60 at AIMA | €416 |
| Decision | 60 days, then AIMA | 90 days |
| Family | Comes with you | After 2 years |
The visa route is the safer one for most founders, and the only one that lets your family move with you. A doubt about which suits you? Ask us in a free call.
Yes. On the visa route, your family can apply for their residence visas at the same time as you, to come with you. For each of them, the consulate expects more means: 50% more for an adult, 30% more for a child. You can include:
On the AIMA route, there is no visa for them to share: they come through family reunification, which since October 2025 takes two years of residence first (15 months for a spouse you lived with for 18 months before, no wait for your minor children).
Co-founders are not family: each of the up to five founders of a project applies for his or her own visa or permit.
From your idea 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.
Compare your project with IAPMEI’s criteria, browse the 94 certified incubators and ask those that fit for their terms and price. You need at least one declaration of interest.
Take the 30-second checkSee IAPMEI’s listDescribe your project and upload each founder’s motivation letter, CV, passport, criminal record and bank statement (€6,445.56), in Portuguese or English.
Translate my documentOnce IAPMEI approves, you have up to 40 working days to sign with an incubator that declared interest. IAPMEI then issues its declaration, valid for 180 days.
Ask us in a free callYour tax number opens the bank account, the lease and your company, and AIMA asks for your tax registration. A Portuguese account holds your means.
Get my NIFOpen my accountA lease, a deed, or a term of responsibility from someone who hosts you. Consulates usually ask for a lease of at least 12 months; AIMA, for your landlord’s declaration.
Review my leaseOr find your home with usWith IAPMEI’s declaration, apply at the consulate for where you live (€110, decision within 60 days), or, already in Portugal, ask AIMA for your permit directly (€416). The full checklist is below.
Review my visa fileFind your consulateWith a visa, go to AIMA within its 4 months; AIMA has 90 days to decide (up to 120). Your first card lasts 2 years. Set up your company during the incubation: it must exist when the contract ends.
Have your AIMA file checked (€259)Get my company quoteYour file is built in three stages: IAPMEI, then the consulate or AIMA. Some Portuguese documents take time, like your NIF (tax number) and a Portuguese bank account: start them early (step 4 above).
IAPMEI sets no date for it, but consulates do: London and New Delhi want it issued less than 90 days before you apply. From your country of nationality, or the country where you have lived for over a year, apostilled or legalized.
For the visa, the rules ask for travel insurance that covers medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation, and set no amount. Consulates add their own: London wants it to cover the visa’s full 120 days, New Delhi at least €30,000.
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Your visa is valid for 4 months and two entries: the time to move, start at your incubator and get your residence permit.
IAPMEI’s guide says the appointment is made for you and printed on the visa. If no date was given, request one from AIMA: our guide to the AIMA appointment explains how. Go within the visa’s 4 months.
AIMA has no list of its own for this permit yet. IAPMEI’s guide lists:
AIMA has 90 days to decide, which it can extend by 30. The fee for a first permit is €185.60 in AIMA’s 2026 table.
Ask AIMA to renew between 90 and 30 days before your card expires (fee €185.60). You show that your means and your home continue, that your taxes and Social Security contributions are in order, and that your incubation contract goes on. As a contract lasts 12 months, your first renewal needs it renewed at least once.
AIMA decides a renewal within 60 days, and the receipt of your request counts as your card for 60 days, renewable.
Your company must exist by then. No rule says yet how a founder renews once the incubation is over: renewing as a self-employed or business resident may be the path, as the law lets the holder of an independent-activity permit change activity by telling AIMA since September 2026, but AIMA has not said how it applies this to the Startup Visa. Plan it with us before your contract ends.
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; work done abroad for your business is a good reason.
Not by itself. IFICI, the regime that followed the NHR, taxes the work and business income of new residents at 20% for 10 years. Founders and staff can get it for a job or a board seat in a company certified as a startup under Lei 21/2023, or in a company whose activity IAPMEI or AICEP recognize as relevant for the economy.
Startup status is a separate certification: the company must be set up in Portugal, be under 10 years old, and be recognized as innovative or have raised venture capital, among other conditions. You also need to have lived outside Portugal for the five previous years, and not to have had the NHR. Review your IFICI options with us.
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. It has no time limit.
Ten years of legal residence (seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens) open the way to Portuguese citizenship: you also prove that you know Portuguese and, since the 2026 law, Portuguese culture, history and the State’s organization, declare your adherence to the rule of law and show you can support yourself.
| Visa | For | Key proof |
|---|---|---|
| Startup Visa | Founders of an innovative, scalable project | IAPMEI’s declaration |
| D2, entrepreneur | Founders and investors with a company or an investment | Investment |
| D2, independent | Freelancers in a liberal profession | Service contract |
| D8 | Remote workers with clients or an employer abroad | €3,680 a month |
The Startup Visa suits a project that IAPMEI and an incubator will back, and founders ready to work from the incubator. A company or an investment without that innovation goes through the D2’s other routes, remote work through the D8, and our guide to Portugal’s visas covers the others. Whatever you choose, our guide to moving to Portugal takes you through the move itself.
The rules, amounts and fees in this guide were checked on 26 October 2026 against the law and the official portals:
Written by Brenda L., relocation expert at AnchorLess.
Each founder must be a citizen of a country outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland with no permanent residence in the Schengen area, be 18 or over, have no criminal record and no tax or Social Security debts, and show €6,445.56 in 2026. The project must be innovative, built on technology and knowledge, able to sell abroad and create qualified jobs, with the potential to reach turnover above €325,000 a year (or assets above €325,000) within 5 years, and be backed by a certified incubator.
For IAPMEI, €6,445.56 per founder in 2026 (12 times the IAS). For the visa, consulates measure your means on the minimum wage, up to 12 months of it: €11,040 for one person, more with family. On top, you pay the incubator, at a price agreed with it.
No. The programme sets no investment and no company is needed at the start: you set it up during the incubation. You show your own means and pay for the incubation.
IAPMEI decides within 30 working days, then you have up to 40 working days to sign the incubation contract. The consulate decides the visa within 60 days, and AIMA the permit within 90 (up to 120). Count several months from your application to your card.
Yes, since 23 October 2025: a founder in Portugal with an incubation contract can ask AIMA for the residence permit without a visa (article 89(4)), for €416. Your family then has to wait two years for family reunification, except your minor children, so the visa route is usually better with a family.
Each incubator sets its own price, written in the incubation contract, and there is no official figure. Ask several of the 94 certified incubators for a quote before you choose.
Yes. On the visa route, your spouse, children and dependent parents can apply at the same time as you, with 50% more means per adult and 30% per child. On the AIMA route, they come through family reunification after two years of residence (no wait for minor children).
Yes, if it was created abroad less than 4 years ago, had positive equity in its last accounts, can create at least 5 jobs in Portugal within 24 months, and you hold an executive role or at least 10% of its capital or votes.
Not by itself. IFICI covers jobs and board seats in companies certified as startups under Lei 21/2023, or whose activity IAPMEI or AICEP recognize, for people who did not live in Portugal in the five previous years. Your company has to get that status once it is set up in Portugal.
Your company must exist by then. The contract lasts 12 months and can be renewed by agreement; your permit’s renewal needs it to go on. No rule says yet how a founder renews once incubation is over: plan it with an expert before your contract ends.
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