PortugalD7 Passive Income Visa.
For non-EU retirees living on passive income in Portugal.
- It's for people living on a pension or other passive income.
- The income bar is just one times Portugal's minimum wage.
- Once resident, you're allowed to work in Portugal too.
- It leads to permanent residency, and in time citizenship.
What is Portugal's D7 visa?
Portugal's D7 visa is a residence visa for non-EU nationals who live on passive or own income - a pension, rental income, dividends, or royalties. Often called the retirement visa, it lets the holder settle in Portugal, and once resident even take a job. It leads to permanent residency over time.
How much income do you need for the D7?
Portugal's D7 requires steady income of at least the minimum wage - about €920 a month in 2026, roughly €11,040 a year - for the main applicant, plus 50% for a second adult and 30% per child. Consulates also expect savings covering about a year of living costs.
What's the difference between the D7 and the D8?
The D7 is for passive or own income - pensions, rents, dividends - and asks for about one times the minimum wage. The D8 is for active remote work for foreign clients and asks for four times the minimum wage. Retirees and investors use the D7; remote workers use the D8.
Can you work in Portugal on a D7 visa?
Yes. Once you hold the D7 residence permit, Portuguese law lets you work, employed or self-employed, alongside your own income. The passive income remains the basis of the visa, but unlike Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa, the D7 does not forbid working in the country.
Live in Portugalon passive income.
Portugal's D7 is for people who don't need a local job - retirees and anyone living on a pension, rents, dividends, or other income of their own. It's the classic, low-bar route to settling in Portugal.
Passive income gets you in - and you can work in Portugal too.
The big picture
The D7 is Portugal's oldest residence route for people who don't need a local job - retirees and anyone living on a pension, rents, dividends, or other income of their own. It predates the digital-nomad era and remains the classic way to retire to Portugal.
You show that you have steady income of your own - at least Portugal's minimum wage, far less than the digital-nomad visa asks - plus enough in the bank to cover your first year. You enter on the visa, then collect a residence permit from AIMA. From there, unusually, you're even allowed to take a job.
The reality
The most important thing to get right is what kind of income you're showing. The D7 is for passive or own income - a pension, rents, dividends. If your money comes from actively working remotely, that's the digital-nomad D8, not the D7, even though people still mix them up.
Two things have changed lately and matter here. Portugal's celebrated five-year path to citizenship is gone: since May 2026 it's ten years, or seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries. And the old NHR tax break is closed - foreign pensions are now taxed at normal Portuguese rates, so don't move expecting a tax holiday.
What stays appealing is how reachable it is. The income bar is among the lowest in Europe, the permit lets you actually live - and even work - in Portugal, and after five years you can hold permanent residency. For a retiree or anyone with steady passive income, it's one of the simplest ways into the EU.
Two people who
fit the visa.
The D7 fits anyone with steady income of their own, earned without a Portuguese job. Most applicants are retirees or people living on investments.
The Retiree
Someone living on a pension - state, private, or both - who wants to retire to Portugal. A pension that clears one times the minimum wage is the classic D7 case.
The Income Investor
Someone funded by rental income, dividends, interest, or royalties rather than a salary. Steady passive income, documented and available in Portugal, carries the case - and they can still take a job once resident.
These are common profiles, not the only ones. A spouse or partner, children, and dependent parents can be included, with the income requirement rising for each.
What the D7 Passive Income Visa
Actually Asks For.
The D7 rests on a few things: steady passive income of your own, enough saved to cover your first year, the practical documents, and proof you'll actually live in Portugal.
01
Passive Income of Your Own
The D7 is for people living on their own income - a pension, rental income, dividends, interest, or royalties. What it is not for is active remote work for a foreign employer; that's the D8 digital-nomad visa. You show the source and amount of the income, and that it's available to you in Portugal, through statements and tax records.
Common issues- Showing salary or active remote-work income - that belongs on the D8, not the D7
- Income that is hard to trace to a clear, lasting source
- No proof that the income is available to you in Portugal
- Documents not apostilled or officially translated
Good to know- Qualifying income includes pensions, rents, dividends, interest, and royalties
- The D8 is the route for active remote work; the D7 is for passive or own income
- Once you hold the residence permit, you may also take a job in Portugal (more below)
02
Enough to Live On
The income bar is low: at least Portugal's minimum wage - €920 a month in 2026 (about €11,040 a year) - for the main applicant, with +50% for a second adult and +30% per child. On top of the monthly income, consulates expect proof you can cover about a year of living costs, usually savings in a Portuguese bank account - though that savings figure is a practice expectation, not a fixed legal amount.
Common issues- Meeting the monthly figure but having no savings cushion for the first year
- Forgetting the income requirement rises for a spouse and children
- Treating the savings expectation as a fixed legal number - it varies by consulate
- Income that only just clears the minimum, with nothing spare
Good to know- The minimum-wage figure (€920 in 2026) is reset yearly, so confirm the current amount
- The law sets the income multiples; the savings or term-deposit amount is a consular practice benchmark
- A larger cushion of savings or income makes a borderline case easier
03
Documents, Insurance, and a Place
The practical file. You'll need a clean criminal record from where you've lived (apostilled and translated), health insurance until you're covered by Portugal's health service, a Portuguese tax number (NIF) and usually a local bank account, and proof of accommodation - a lease or a property document. Nationals of Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) countries have some lighter requirements.
Common issues- Travel insurance instead of proper health cover for Portugal
- A criminal-record certificate missing for a country you lived in
- No NIF or Portuguese bank account set up to show the funds
- Documents that aren't apostilled or officially translated in time
Good to know- A NIF (tax number) and a Portuguese bank account are part of the setup
- Accommodation can be a lease or proof you own a home in Portugal
- Nationals of Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) countries can have lighter requirements
04
Living in Portugal - and Working
The D7 expects you to actually live in Portugal - long absences can cost you the permit and the residency clock. Unusually, once you hold the residence permit you may also take a job or work for yourself in Portugal, alongside your own income. Living there makes you a Portuguese tax resident: foreign pensions and income are taxed at normal Portuguese rates, as the old NHR tax break is closed to new arrivals.
Common issues- Treating it as a part-time base - the permit needs you to really live there
- Expecting the old NHR tax holiday, which is closed to new arrivals
- Assuming your foreign pension won't be taxed in Portugal
- Long absences that break the residence the renewal needs
Good to know- Once resident, you can work in Portugal, employed or self-employed, on top of your income
- Foreign pensions are generally taxed at standard Portuguese rates now - get tax advice
- A double-taxation treaty may decide where a given pension is taxed
imigOS
Not sure which requirements you meet? Get a structured assessment before your first attorney call.
What you get,
what to weigh.
The D7 is one of the most reachable residence visas in Europe - a low income bar, open to retirees and investors, and it even lets you work once resident. The trade-offs are the savings consulates expect, the closed tax break, and a citizenship clock that just got longer.
- One of Europe's lowest income bars - about €920 a month
- For passive income - a pension, rents, dividends, or royalties
- Once resident, you can also work in Portugal if you want
- Brings a spouse or partner, children, and dependent parents
- Leads to permanent residency after five years
- Live in Portugal and travel freely across the Schengen area
- It's for passive income - active remote work belongs on the D8
- Consulates expect about a year of savings on top of the income
- The old NHR tax break is gone; foreign pensions are taxed normally
- Citizenship now takes ten years - seven for Portuguese-speaking nationals
- AIMA appointment backlogs can slow the residence-permit step
- You have to really live there - long absences risk the permit
Upwing the strengths that ring true, downwing the limitations that hit hardest.
Why a simple visa
still goes wrong.
The D7 is one of the easier routes on paper, so refusals usually come down to the type of income, the savings cushion, or the documents arriving too slowly.
“The D7 isn't asking for a fortune - it's asking you to prove a steady, lasting income of your own, and enough behind it to settle.”
The D7 is for passive or own income. An application built on active remote-work or salary income runs into the line between the D7 and the D8, and can be redirected or refused.
Build the case on passive income - a pension, rents, dividends - and if you actively work remotely, look at the D8 instead.
Even though the monthly bar is low, consulates expect proof you can cover roughly a year in Portugal. A file that meets the income figure but shows little in the bank often gets questioned.
Keep a clear savings cushion - around a year of living costs - in an accessible account, on top of the monthly income.
A complete file leans on documents from several countries - income and pension statements, criminal records, insurance, accommodation - each with its own validity window and translation, and then an AIMA appointment. Cases drift when a certificate expires or a slot is hard to book. None of it is about whether you qualify.
Gathering documents early and coordinating cleanly between you and your lawyer is the part most in your control.
imigOS
A strong D7 Passive Income Visa case can still slip on the basics - a document that never made it in, a letter that needed one more revision, a deadline that quietly passed. On imigOS, every document is prepared, tracked, and revised in one place, with deadlines flagged before they pass. The file an officer finally opens is complete and consistent - no gaps, no stale versions.
Residence now,
citizenship later.
The D7 is a residence permit, and every year on it counts. Live in Portugal, keep your income, and it builds toward permanent residency and, in time, a Portuguese passport.
Portugal counts your legal residence year by year. After five years you can apply for permanent residency (with a basic Portuguese test). For citizenship, a 2026 reform raised the wait to ten years - or seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens - replacing the old five-year rule from May 2026.
Enter on the residence visa.
You arrive on the four-month residence visa, then book an appointment with AIMA, Portugal's immigration agency, to collect your residence permit. From here you're a legal resident and the clock starts.
Renew, and settle in.
The first permit runs two years, then renews for three-year periods, as long as you still have your income and live in Portugal. You can also take a job along the way if you choose.
Permanent residency at five years.
After five continuous years you can apply for permanent residency, which lifts the income condition. It asks for a basic level of Portuguese (an A2 test) and a clean record.
Citizenship, in time.
Citizenship now takes ten years of legal residence - or seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens, after a 2026 reform. It brings a Portuguese passport and EU citizenship.
Questions,
answered.
Portugal's D7 visa is a residence visa for non-EU nationals who live on passive or own income - a pension, rental income, dividends, or royalties. Often called the retirement visa, it lets the holder settle in Portugal, and once resident even take a job. It leads to permanent residency over time.
Portugal's D7 requires steady income of at least the minimum wage - about €920 a month in 2026 (roughly €11,040 a year) - for the main applicant, plus 50% for a second adult and 30% per child. Consulates also expect savings covering about a year of living costs.
The D7 is for passive or own income - pensions, rents, dividends - and asks for about one times the minimum wage. The D8 is for active remote work for foreign clients and asks for four times the minimum wage. Retirees and investors use the D7; remote workers use the D8.
Yes. Once you hold the D7 residence permit, Portuguese law lets you work, employed or self-employed, alongside your own income. The passive income remains the basis of the visa, but unlike Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa, the D7 does not forbid working in the country.
Usually yes. Living in Portugal makes you a tax resident, and foreign income, including pensions, is taxed at standard Portuguese rates. The old NHR tax break is closed to new arrivals, and its replacement doesn't cover pensions, so don't expect a tax holiday. A double-taxation treaty may apply.
It can. After five years you can apply for permanent residency. For citizenship, a 2026 reform raised the wait to ten years - or seven for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens - replacing the old five-year rule. The full path is in the Residency section above.
Yes, through family reunification - a spouse or partner, dependent children, and dependent parents can join. Each person raises the income you must show. Note that 2025 rules tightened reunification, often expecting the main applicant to be settled first, with exceptions for young children.
You apply at a Portuguese consulate abroad, then attend an AIMA appointment in Portugal to collect the residence permit. Gathering documents takes a few weeks; the AIMA step can take longer, as the agency carries a known appointment backlog. Plan for some patience after you arrive.
Lei n.º 23/2007 (REPSAE), art. 58 · Decreto Regulamentar 84/2007, art. 24 · Portaria 1563/2007, art. 2 · AIMA (aima.gov.pt)
This page contains general information for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Imigos Inc. Immigration laws, policies, and fees change frequently, and the information here may not reflect the most current legal developments. You should not act or refrain from acting based on this information without seeking professional counsel from an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. Imigos Inc. expressly disclaims all liability for actions taken or not taken based on any of its contents.
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