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Residence permits in Portugal 2026 – AIMA, D7, D8 digital nomad, CPLP and the new family rules

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

An EU passport gives you a right that nobody stamps; most other newcomers need a visa, then an autorização de residência from AIMA. The rules changed in June 2024, October 2025 and again in September 2026. Here is what applies to you, from the D7 and D8 income rules to the new wait for family reunification.

Woman on a sofa holding a red passport and a phone
Photo: Krakenimages.com/Adobe Stock

Portugal rewrote its immigration rules three times in just over two years. EU citizens are barely touched; for everyone else, these dates decide which autorização de residência (residence permit) you can get from AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo – the immigration agency that replaced SEF).

DateWhat changed
4 June 2024Manifestação de interesse – regularising without a visa – revoked by Decreto-Lei 37-A/2024; transitional applications closed 31 December 2025
23 October 2025Lei 61/2025: family reunification after two years; general job-seeker visa abolished; CPLP permit needs a residence visa
10 April 2026EU Entry/Exit System fully in force; ETIAS not yet in operation
19 May 2026Lei Orgânica 1/2026: seven or ten years of residence for citizenship (part 15)
11 September 2026Lei 62/2026: AIMA decides within 90 days; employer changed by notification; students' in-country visa waiver revoked

Source: AIMA, Diário da República and the visa portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, read 24 September 2026.

Do EU citizens need a residence permit in Portugal?

No. As an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen you may stay three months on a valid ID card or passport. To stay longer you must work, have sufficient resources, or be a student, and you register that within 30 days after the first three months at the câmara municipal (town hall), which issues the CRUE (certificado de registo de cidadão da União Europeia), valid five years (part 3).

After five consecutive years you have a right of permanent residence, documented by AIMA's Certificado de Residência Permanente – since 1 July 2026 requested through the Portal de Renovações, decided within three months. Non-EU family members apply to AIMA for a Cartão de Residência in the same 30-day window. UK citizens resident by 31 December 2020 keep Withdrawal Agreement status; later arrivals are third-country nationals.

How the visa and the autorização de residência work

Non-EU citizens need a long-stay visa from a consulate for any stay over 90 days. The fee is €110 (researchers and Portuguese scholarship holders are exempt) and the legal deadline is 60 days for a residence visa, 30 for a temporary-stay visa. The residence visa allows two entries and four months and comes with a pré-autorização de residência that assigns provisional NIF, NISS and SNS numbers.

Within those four months you apply to AIMA, in person by appointment at any of its 35 Lojas, with the documents listed in part 1; reception and analysis cost €133.00 and the temporary permit €114.30, 25 per cent less digitally. The permit is valid two years and renewable for three-year periods; after five years a permanent permit needs basic Portuguese (A2). Since 11 September 2026 AIMA must decide within 90 days, extendable by 30, and a work-permit holder can change employer by notifying AIMA – rules its own pages and FAQs had not yet reflected on 24 September 2026.

Which visa fits you? Work, study, research, D7, D8 and CPLP

RouteWhoWhat you must showPermit
D1 – subordinate workEmployeesContract, promise of contract or an employer's expression of interest2 years, then 3
D2 – independent workFreelancers, entrepreneurs, Startup VisaService contract; investment or funds in Portugal; IAPMEI incubation declaration2 + 3
D3 – highly qualified / EU Blue CardSkilled employeesSix-month contract at 1.5 times the national average gross annual salary (1.2 for shortage jobs)2 + 3
D4 – study and researchStudents, researchersAdmission or hosting agreement; recognised institutions waive meansStudents 3 years; researchers 2
D7 – retirement, passive incomePensioners, people on passive incomeResources for at least 12 months2 + 3
D8 – remote workStaff or freelancers of entities outside PortugalThree months' average income of four times the minimum wage; tax residence2 + 3, or a temporary-stay visa under one year
Golden visa (ARI)InvestorsNo real estate since Lei 56/2023; €500,000 in funds or research, €250,000 in culture, or 10 jobsFee €8,418.90

Source: the visa portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and AIMA, read 24 September 2026.

Two routes are missing. The general job-seeker visa was abolished on 23 October 2025, and its successor for specialised technical skills – 120 days, extendable by 60 – was still 'not yet available at Portuguese consular offices' on 24 September 2026, with no implementing order. And the EU Blue Card has no official 2026 salary figure: AIMA's reference amounts rest on 2023 and 2024 data, so ask the consulate.

D7 visa and D8 digital nomad visa Portugal – the income rules

Means for every visa are measured against the 2026 minimum wage of €920 a month: 100 per cent for the first adult, 50 for each further adult, 30 per child. The D7, for retirement or passive income, needs proof of resources for at least 12 months under Portaria 1563/2007, pension or income documents and an apostilled or legalised police certificate: €920 a month or €11,040 over twelve months for one person, €1,380 a month for a couple – simple multiples of the official figures – halved if accommodation is secured.

Portugal's D8 digital nomad visa comes as a temporary-stay visa for under a year or as a residence visa leading to an AIMA permit valid two years, renewable for three. Both require an average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the minimum wage (€3,680 a month at the 2026 rate), a document proving your tax residence, and an employment contract or employer's declaration, or equivalent proof for the self-employed.

The non-habitual resident tax regime was repealed on 1 January 2024; its successor, IFICI, covers only listed activities – not pensions, nor ordinary remote work for a foreign employer (part 7).

CPLP residence permit and family reunification: the two-year rule

Nationals of the CPLP mobility-agreement states lost their shortcut on 23 October 2025: the CPLP residence permit can now be requested in Portugal only with a residence visa obtained for that purpose, no longer on a tourist visa or visa-free entry – Brazilians included. CPLP applicants are exempt from travel insurance and a return ticket, and means can be replaced by a term of responsibility from an employer, a Portuguese citizen or a legal resident. The permit costs €56.80 and is an EU-format card valid two years.

Family reunification is where Lei 61/2025 bites. Since 23 October 2025 the sponsor must have held a valid residence permit for two years – 15 months for a spouse or partner who cohabited with the sponsor for at least 18 months before the sponsor's entry – with no wait for dependent minors, for a co-parent spouse, or for family of highly qualified, investment and EU Blue Card permit holders. The Constitutional Court struck parts of the first decree (ruling 785/2025); the law in force is the amended version. AIMA decides within nine months, the sponsor must show adequate housing and means without social support, and family members attend Portuguese-language and civic training.

Family memberWaiting periodThen
Dependent minor childNoneIn Portugal if the child entered legally, or from abroad
Co-parent spouse of a dependent minorNoneConsular visa within 90 days of AIMA's approval, or the decision lapses
Spouse or partner after 18 months' cohabitation15 monthsVisa issued within 10 days, with NIF, NISS and SNS numbers
Other spouse, adult child or parentTwo yearsDescendants pay no visa fee; spouses and ascendants pay €110

Source: Lei 61/2025, AIMA and the visa portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, read 24 September 2026.

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Find your row in the visa tableBefore anything else
2EU citizens: note the date three months after arrivalOn arrival
3Others: book the consulate; police certificate under 90 days oldOnce you have contract, admission or income proof
4D7: 12 months of resources; D8: three months at €3,680Before the appointment
5Keep the AIMA appointmentWithin the four months of your visa
6Sponsors: count two years (or 15 months) from your first permitBefore the family applies

Source: AIMA and the visa portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.