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Pathway

Portugal Digital Nomad Visa

Portugal Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Portugal's D8, often called the digital-nomad visa, lets eligible remote workers live there while working for an employer, clients, or a business outside Portugal. It is for people who are not EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens. You can apply for a temporary stay of up to one year or a residence visa that leads to a temporary residence permit.

Work setup
Remote workers whose job or clients stay abroad
2026 income
Average monthly income of at least €3,680 during the three months before applying
Documents
Foreign employment or service records, tax-residence evidence, housing, insurance, and personal records

Summary

Portugal's D8 route lets eligible remote workers seek a stay in Portugal while continuing a documented working relationship with an employer, clients, or business abroad. The income test uses the average of the three months before filing and equals four times the relevant minimum wage, or €3,680 monthly using the 2026 mainland figure. It is not a one-time savings target.

Applicants choose between temporary-stay permission and the residence-visa process followed by a residence permit. Tax-residence evidence and the ordinary housing, insurance and personal documents remain necessary. A change to mainly Portuguese work requires a fresh assessment of the appropriate permission.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

EEA means the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

The applicant must show the remote relationship with a person or entity outside Portugal. Depending on whether the work is employed or independent, evidence may include an employment contract, employer declaration, company documents, service contracts, or proof of services supplied to one or more foreign clients.

The required average monthly income during the three months before the application is at least four times Portugal's monthly guaranteed minimum pay. With the 2026 mainland amount of €920, the threshold is €3,680 per month. The calculation must be redone if the legal wage changes.

Applicants must also provide evidence of tax residence, along with the passport, criminal-record, housing, insurance, and other general visa documents on the responsible consulate's current list. Funds and payments should be lawful, traceable, and actually available to the applicant.

More about this route

For the residence route, the applicant normally obtains the visa from the responsible Portuguese consulate, enters Portugal, and completes the permit process with AIMA. The initial residence permit is normally valid for two years and renewable for three-year periods.

Choose the temporary-stay or residence version first
  1. Select the intended permission Distinguish a stay of up to one year from the visa leading to a residence permit.
  2. Document foreign remote work and income Show the overseas work relationship and the required average income over the prior three months.
  3. Complete the applicable consular process Prepare tax-residence, housing, coverage, and other documents; use AIMA after entry for the residence version.

The two forms are alternatives with different next steps. The income threshold is linked to the legal minimum wage.

What This Route Allows

The residence version permits the holder to live in Portugal while continuing the qualifying foreign remote work. The temporary-stay version permits the approved stay but is not itself a residence permit.

Residence-permit holders can seek family reunification under the current rules. The general sponsor waiting period is two years, reduced to 15 months for a spouse or partner who cohabited with the sponsor for at least 18 months immediately before the sponsor entered Portugal. Specified cases—including minor or dependent children and a spouse or partner who is also the parent or adopter of the sponsor's minor child—have no waiting period.

The residence permit permits short Schengen travel. Time under the residence permit, unlike a temporary-stay visa alone, may count toward later permanent residence or EU long-term-resident status, or nationality if all separate requirements are met.

What This Route Is Not

It is not the correct initial basis for work principally performed for a Portuguese employer or Portuguese clients. Those facts may instead point to employed-work or independent-professional residence. If the work arrangement changes materially after approval, confirm the required permit update with AIMA.

The income threshold is not a fee or a one-time savings target. Meeting it does not guarantee approval, and a residence permit does not decide whether the holder becomes Portuguese tax resident or qualifies for any tax relief.

Next Steps

  1. Choose between the temporary-stay and residence versions based on the intended length and purpose of the stay.
  2. Calculate the current four-times-minimum-wage threshold and assemble the preceding three months of income evidence.
  3. Document who receives the work, where that person or entity is established, and how the work is performed remotely.
  4. Obtain tax-residence evidence, housing, insurance, and the other current consular documents.
  5. Apply through the Portuguese consulate responsible for your legal residence; for the residence version, complete the AIMA permit step after entry.
  6. Keep contracts, invoices or payslips, bank records, and presence records for renewal and obtain separate cross-border tax advice where appropriate.

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Sources