Portugal D7 Visa: Requirements, Income Thresholds and How to Apply

27 de Julho de 2026Imigração e Nacionalidade, PH Advogados Barcelos - Artigos de referência

Rua tranquila de vila portuguesa com café, manhã

The D7 is a Portuguese residence visa for non-EU citizens who can live on stable income they already receive — a pension, rent, dividends, royalties or financial returns. You apply at a Portuguese consulate before moving. The income benchmark is the national minimum wage, set at €920 per month for 2026, with additional percentages for each family member.

What is the D7 visa?

“D7” is the common name for the Portuguese residence visa for people who wish to settle in Portugal as retirees, as ministers of religion, or as holders of their own income. It is one of the national (long-stay) residence visas granted under Law 23/2007 of 4 July, the Portuguese Foreigners Act.

It is not an investment route and it is not a work route. The premise is different: you are not coming to Portugal to earn a living here, you already have an income stream elsewhere and want to transfer your residence to Portugal while continuing to receive it.

The visa itself does not make you a resident. It authorises you to enter Portugal and to apply, once here, for a residence permit from AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo).

Who qualifies?

The official service description on gov.pt is open to all foreign citizens who are not nationals of an EU Member State, the European Economic Area or Switzerland. Within that group, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal treats three separate profiles:

Retirees — people receiving a pension.
People living on their own income — income from movable or immovable property, from intellectual property, or from financial investments.
Ministers of religion and members of institutes of consecrated life — a distinct category with its own documents.

The critical word across all three is *stable*. What is assessed is whether the income already exists, is documented, and will continue to be available to you once you are living in Portugal.

How much income do you need?

Portugal does not publish a fixed euro figure for the D7. It publishes a rule, indexed to the national minimum wage, and the figure moves every year.

The visa portal states that the criterion for means of subsistence takes as its reference the guaranteed minimum monthly remuneration, which in 2026 is €920 (set by Decree-Law 139/2025 of 29 December, confirmed by DGERT). That reference is applied net of social security contributions, with a per-capita valuation for each household:

First adult — 100%
Second and further adults — 50% each
Children under 18 and dependent adult children — 30% each

So a couple is assessed at 150% of the reference and a couple with one child at 180%. Because the percentages apply to the minimum wage net of social security contributions, the exact euro amount is not the same as a simple percentage of €920, and no official euro table is published alongside the rule. Confirm the current figures with the consular post handling your application, and check the reference value directly on the visa portal’s means of subsistence page.

For ministers of religion, the portal adds that the means of subsistence may be halved where accommodation is secured, or reduced by up to 90% where food is also secured. No equivalent reduction is published for retirees or income holders.

Where do you apply?

At the Portuguese consular post competent for your country of nationality or residence. In a large number of countries, applications are lodged through VFS Global, the external service provider contracted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rather than at the consulate counter. The Ministry publishes a country-by-country table showing which post — and whether VFS — handles each case, on vistos.mne.gov.pt.

The legal deadline for a decision on a residence visa application is 60 days. The consular fee for a national visa is €110, according to the Ministry’s own fee page; where an external provider is used, that provider charges its own service fee on top.

What documents are typically required?

The visa portal lists a general set for every residence visa:

Application form, completed and signed.
Two identical, recent passport-type photographs.
Passport or travel document valid for at least three months beyond the intended stay, plus a photocopy of the biographical page.
Proof of lawful status in the country where you apply, if you are not a national of that country.
Valid travel insurance covering medical expenses, including urgent medical assistance and repatriation. Portugal notes this may be waived under bilateral agreements — the PB4 for Brazil and the S1 for the United Kingdom are the examples given.
Criminal record certificate from your country of origin, or from the country where you have lived for more than a year, with Hague Apostille or legalisation. Under-16s are exempt.
Proof of means of subsistence.

Then, specific to this visa:

Retirees: document proving the amount of the pension, and a document proving that you are guaranteed to receive it — or that other income is available to you — in Portugal.
Income holders: document proving income from movable or immovable property, intellectual property or financial investments, and a document proving that this income is available in Portugal.

If your spouse and children are applying at the same time, the portal provides a separate accompanying residence visa, requiring proof of the family tie and proof of stable, regular resources sufficient for the whole group.

Consular posts publish their own checklists, which sometimes go beyond the national list. Treat your consulate’s checklist as the operative one.

The two stages: consulate first, AIMA second

The process has two distinct legs, and confusing them is a common source of trouble.

Stage one — the visa. Granted abroad by the consular post. Under Article 58 of Law 23/2007, a residence visa is valid for two entries into Portugal and allows a stay of four months. That four-month window exists so you can complete stage two.

Stage two — the residence permit. In Portugal, you apply to AIMA. AIMA states that the application is made by appointment (with an electronic platform being rolled out for residence visa holders) and is submitted in person with the official form. The documents it lists include a valid passport, the valid residence visa, proof of means of subsistence, a sworn declaration of address supported by land registry proof or a landlord’s declaration, proof of family ties where relevant, tax and social security registration where applicable, and health insurance or proof of coverage by the Portuguese National Health Service.

A temporary residence permit is valid for two years from issue and renewable for successive periods of three years (Article 75 of Law 23/2007).

Renewal, permanent residence and citizenship

Permanent residence. Article 80 of Law 23/2007 requires, cumulatively: holding a temporary residence permit for at least five years; no conviction to a prison sentence of more than one year during the last five years of residence; means of subsistence; accommodation; and basic knowledge of Portuguese.

Citizenship — and this changed recently. Organic Law 1/2026 of 18 May amended the Nationality Law and entered into force on 19 May 2026. The five-year rule that circulated for years no longer applies. Article 6(1)(b) now requires legal residence in Portugal of at least:

seven years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and citizens of EU Member States;
ten years for nationals of all other countries.

For most D7 applicants from outside the EU and outside the Portuguese-speaking world, that means ten years. The same article adds further cumulative conditions: proof, by test or certificate, of sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols; sufficient knowledge of the fundamental rights and duties attached to Portuguese nationality and of the political organisation of the State; a solemn declaration of adherence to the fundamental principles of the democratic rule of law; the absence of certain criminal convictions and security concerns; and the capacity to ensure one’s own subsistence.

Applications already pending on 19 May 2026 continue to be governed by the previous version of the law.

What we could not verify on official sources

Two requirements are repeated constantly in online guides but do not appear in the national documentation list published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: proof of accommodation in Portugal for a minimum of twelve months, and holding an account with a Portuguese bank. We could not confirm either as a general national requirement on official sources — they may nonetheless appear on an individual consulate’s checklist, so check yours.

We also could not verify, on official sources, any published figure for how long AIMA takes in practice to issue the residence card after the appointment, or a fixed euro table converting the means-of-subsistence percentages into amounts.

What a lawyer adds

A D7 application is a documentary exercise built on a legal assessment. The parts where legal input matters are usually these: reading whether your income actually meets the stability and availability test as Portuguese law frames it, rather than merely being large enough; reviewing documents, apostilles, legalisations and translations before they are filed, since a rejected file has to be rebuilt from the start; handling the household calculation when a spouse and children are involved; and representing you before AIMA at stage two, including where a decision is refused and has to be challenged.

PH Advogados is a law firm in Barcelos and Braga, experienced in immigration and nationality matters and dedicated to working with foreign clients settling in the north of Portugal.

Official sources

This guide is general information on Portuguese law and does not constitute legal advice on any individual case. Rules, amounts and official checklists change; confirm them on the sources above before acting.

Need legal guidance on Portuguese immigration? PH Advogados provides legal support in this area, in English. More information: https://phadvogados.pt/servico/english-speaking-lawyers-portugal/ · phone (+351) 253 824 687.

Veja também: