Portugal D7 Visa in 2026: Income Requirements and How to Apply

If you’re a retiree living on a pension, rental income, dividends, or investment payouts, the Portugal D7 is the residence route built for you. It’s one of several options we track in our retirement visas hub, and it turns on one question before any other: does your passive income clear the 2026 threshold. This page gives you that number, the documents, and where you actually file, whether you’re moving from the US or the UK.

At a glance

The D7 is a passive-income residence visa, not a work visa. You qualify on money that arrives without a job: a state or company pension, rental, dividends, or investment income. For 2026, a single applicant needs passive income at least equal to Portugal’s minimum wage, which is EUR 920 per month (EUR 11,040 per year). A couple needs about EUR 1,380 per month (EUR 16,560 per year), and each dependent child adds EUR 276 per month.

That figure rose on January 1, 2026 when Portugal’s minimum wage moved from EUR 870 to EUR 920 per month. Many of the pages ranking for this search still quote the older EUR 870 per month (EUR 10,440 per year) number from 2024. If you budgeted against that, you’re now short. Use the current figure below.

This is a general guide, not legal or tax advice. Confirm the specifics with your competent Portuguese consulate before you file.

2026 D7 requirements at a glance

The D7 threshold is tied by law to the Portuguese minimum wage. The official means-of-subsistence rule sets the first adult at 100 percent of that wage, each additional adult at 50 percent, and each dependent child at 30 percent.

Every number in that table is annualized at 12 times the monthly value. Some consulates ask you to show a full year of income, and Portugal pays its own workers over 14 months, but the D7 subsistence test is stated as a monthly amount, so the monthly figure is the anchor.

Income: the 100/50/30 math and why the number moved

The D7 doesn’t use a fixed euro figure that Portugal sets once and forgets. It uses a percentage of the current minimum wage, so the requirement changes whenever the wage changes. For 2026 the wage is EUR 920 per month, set by Decree-Law 139/2025 in the Diário da República and effective January 1, 2026.

From that single number, the rest follows:

• First adult: 100 percent, so EUR 920 per month, EUR 11,040 per year.
• Second adult: add 50 percent, so EUR 460 per month. A couple needs EUR 1,380 per month, EUR 16,560 per year.
• Each dependent child: add 30 percent, so EUR 276 per month each.

A worked example. A married couple retiring together, one drawing EUR 1,600 per month in combined state and company pension, clears the EUR 1,380 couple threshold with room to spare. Add one dependent child and the target rises to EUR 1,656 per month, and the same EUR 1,600 income now falls short by EUR 56 per month. That gap is the kind of detail that decides an application, which is why the exact figure matters.

The reason this section leads with the wage change is simple. The 2024 requirement was EUR 870 per month (EUR 10,440 per year), and three of the highest-ranking guides for this query still print that older number as if it were current. It isn’t. If your income sits between EUR 10,440 and EUR 11,040 per year, you looked qualified against the old figure and are now below the line. Budget against EUR 11,040 for a single applicant.

Verdict: qualification is arithmetic. Take your reliable monthly passive income, compare it to the row for your household size, and you have your answer before you gather a single document.

Savings in a Portuguese bank: guideline, not law

You’ll read that you must park roughly a year of income, about EUR 11,040 for a single applicant, in a Portuguese bank account. Treat that as a widely used consular rule of thumb, not a statutory requirement. The official means-of-subsistence page sets the income percentages. It doesn’t publish a fixed bank balance you must hold.

What this means in practice. A savings cushion strengthens a borderline application and some consular officers expect to see one, but the amount and whether it must sit in a Portuguese account rather than one back home varies by consulate. Don’t treat a specific savings figure as a hard legal gate, and don’t assume you’re disqualified because your reserves sit in a brokerage account back home.

Verdict: show that you can support yourself. A healthy balance helps, especially if your monthly income only just clears the threshold, but confirm your specific consulate’s expectation rather than trusting a fixed number you saw online.

Passive income versus work

The D7 is a residence visa for people who don’t need a Portuguese job to live. The income that qualifies is passive: retirement pensions, rental income from property, dividends, and returns on investments. Salary from an employer and active freelance income aren’t what this visa is designed around.

This matters for two kinds of retiree. First, if your money is a pension, you’re squarely the intended applicant. Second, if you still do some remote consulting, that active income doesn’t count toward the D7 subsistence test, and if remote work is your main plan, Portugal’s digital-nomad route is the closer fit. The D7 case rests on money that arrives whether or not you work.

Verdict: if your income is genuinely passive and clears the threshold for your household, this is the correct visa. If you’re moving to keep working, look at a different route.

Health insurance: required for every applicant

Every D7 applicant files valid travel and health insurance that covers medical expenses in Portugal. This appears directly on the official residence-visa document list.

You can’t register with Portugal’s public health service (the SNS) until after you have residence, so private cover carries you from application through arrival and the early months in country. What that private cover replaces, and what public route opens once you are resident, depends on where you’re moving from, which the origin sections below cover.

Verdict: budget for private health cover from day one. It’s a filing requirement, not an optional extra.

The application: the VFS and AIMA two-step

Applying for the D7 is a two-stage process. You apply for the visa from your home country, then you convert it into a residence permit after you arrive in Portugal.

Stage one, from home. You don’t hand your file across a consular counter. You apply through VFS Global, the outsourced application center serving the Portuguese consulate for your jurisdiction. Which center is yours depends on where you live, and that channel differs by country, so see the origin sections below for the US and UK centers and how jurisdiction is set.

Your document set for the residence visa includes:

• The signed national-visa application form and two photos.
• A valid passport and proof of your lawful status in the country you’re applying from.
• Valid travel and health insurance covering medical expenses.
• A criminal-record certificate with a Hague Apostille. The specific document, and the office that apostilles it, depends on your country, so see your origin section.
• Proof of financial resources, plus a document certifying your pension or retirement income, or documentation of your passive income from property, financial, or intellectual assets.

A Portuguese tax number (NIF) isn’t listed as a field on the official visa form, but you’ll need one in practice to open a bank account and sign a lease, so most applicants arrange it early.

Stage two, in Portugal. The visa you receive is a national visa that lets you enter Portugal and attend an appointment with AIMA, the Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo. AIMA is the current immigration authority, and it replaced the old SEF (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) in 2023. Any guide still telling you to book with SEF is out of date. At the AIMA appointment your visa is converted into a residence permit.

On timing, the initial national visa is commonly reported to run about four months with two entries, and AIMA appointment waits are widely reported to stretch across several months. Treat both as commonly reported practice, not confirmed official 2026 figures, and plan with slack rather than to a fixed date. The structure (visa first, then AIMA permit) is official; the exact validity window and the backlog are practitioner reports that move.

Verdict: file cleanly through the correct VFS center, arrive on the national visa, and complete the permit with AIMA. The apostilled criminal-record certificate and the insurance are the two documents most likely to slow an application down, so start them first.

Taxes: NHR is closed, and what IFICI is not

A lot of older content still sells the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime as the tax reason to choose Portugal. For a new arrival in 2026, that advice is stale. NHR closed to new applicants from January 1, 2024. If you’re moving now, you can’t sign up for it.

Its replacement is IFICI, sometimes called the new incentive for scientific research and innovation. Read the name literally. IFICI is a narrow incentive aimed at research, innovation, and specific high-value roles, not a general tax break for retirees. An ordinary retiree living on a pension should not expect to qualify. Any page implying that IFICI hands pensioners an NHR-style holiday is overselling it.

The practical tax picture, how your pension and investment income are taxed once you live in Portugal, depends on your home country’s own rules and its tax relationship with Portugal. That is set out in the origin section for where you’re moving from, and it is a question for a cross-border tax adviser, not a visa checklist. The NHR-closed and IFICI-narrow reality applies the same way whichever passport you hold.

Moving from the US

If you’re a US retiree living on a pension, Social Security, rental income, dividends, or investment payouts, the mechanics below are the US-specific half of the move. The income math, the two-step structure, and the tax reality above apply to you unchanged, and Social Security counts as qualifying passive income.

Where you apply

US applicants apply through VFS Global, the outsourced application center serving the Portuguese consulate for your state. VFS runs several US centers, including New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Houston, Miami, and Chicago, and your state determines which consular jurisdiction, and therefore which center, is yours. A resident of California files at San Francisco, not Houston. Confirm your jurisdiction before you book, because filing at the wrong center wastes an appointment. Your passport goes in with proof of your legal status in the US.

Your criminal record: the FBI check

For US applicants, the apostilled criminal-record certificate on the shared document list is the FBI criminal record check, apostilled. It is one of the two documents, with the insurance, most likely to slow a US applicant down, so start it first.

Health cover: no US waiver

The insurance requirement can be waived only where a bilateral agreement covers it, and no such agreement exists for the United States. A US applicant needs the insurance. You can’t lean on Medicare, which doesn’t travel abroad, and you can’t register with the SNS until after you have residence, so private cover carries you from application through arrival and the early months in country.

Tax: worldwide income follows you

For a US retiree, the practical tax picture is its own project, and it’s one this page can’t resolve for you. Your US tax obligations follow you (the US taxes citizens on worldwide income), Portugal taxes residents, and how your pension, Social Security, and investment income land under the US-Portugal relationship depends on your specific income mix. That’s a question for a cross-border tax adviser, not a visa checklist.

If you’re still deciding whether to leave at all, our guide on how to leave the US covers the wider exit framework before you commit to any single country.

Moving from the UK

If you are a British national living on a pension or other passive income, the D7 income maths above applies to you unchanged: EUR 920 a month for a single applicant on the 2026 minimum wage, NHR closed to you exactly as it is to everyone else. What differs is the British half of the move, the paperwork and deadlines a US-framed guide never mentions. Here is each piece.

How you apply

You apply from the UK, not through any US centre. The route runs through the Portuguese Consulate in London or Manchester and their outsourced operator, VFS Global, which runs Portugal visa application centres in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. The category is the National Residence visa. Which centre is yours is set by the county you live in, so confirm your jurisdiction on the VFS site before you book. The fees are a EUR 110 consular fee plus a GBP 32.85 VFS service fee: the euro amount is the fee the consulate sets, and the sterling amount is VFS’s own service charge.

Your criminal record: the ACRO certificate

The shared document list asks for a criminal-record certificate carrying a Hague Apostille. For a British applicant, the equivalent of the American FBI check is an ACRO Police Certificate, the UK police certificate, legalised with an apostille from the FCDO Legalisation Office. gov.uk names ACRO as the UK police certificate and lists ACRO certificates among the documents the Legalisation Office apostilles, so the two steps line up cleanly with the US route. No single official page spells out “for the Portugal D7, file an ACRO certificate”, so confirm the exact certificate your consulate wants for the D7 when you file.

Tax: telling HMRC, and the new 2025 treaty

Telling HMRC you have left is the step that starts your UK tax exit cleanly rather than leaving your status ambiguous. If you are not within Self Assessment you use form P85; if you already file a Self Assessment return, you tell HMRC through that return instead. Whether you are UK-resident for a given tax year is decided by the Statutory Residence Test, one automatic limb of which is simply whether you spent 183 or more days in the UK that year. Move abroad partway through a year and that year is usually split under split-year treatment, so you pay UK tax on foreign income only for the resident part.

Leaving does not switch off UK tax on UK-source income. Rental income from a UK property stays taxable in the UK even once you are non-resident, and so, in defined cases, do some pensions. Income that arises in the UK usually keeps a UK tax tail after you have gone.

Which country taxes your pensions once you are Portuguese-resident is set by the UK-Portugal Double Taxation Convention. A new convention was signed in London on 15 September 2025, entered into force on 29 December 2025, and takes effect for UK Income Tax from 6 April 2026. Under it, and this is general information rather than advice on your own pension, government-service pensions are under Article 18(2) taxable only in the UK unless you are a Portuguese national, while under Article 17 the State Pension and most private pensions become taxable only in Portugal once you are resident there. Which category your particular pension falls into is worth confirming with a cross-border adviser before you file; the point is that the treaty decides it, not guesswork. NHR being closed and IFICI being narrow apply to you identically.

Your State Pension is uprated in Portugal

For UK State Pensioners resident in an EU country, and Portugal is one, the State Pension is increased each year in line with the rate paid in the UK. Portugal is not one of the frozen-pension countries, where the amount you first drew never rises again. Over a long retirement that difference is worth real money.

Healthcare: losing the NHS, and the S1 that replaces it

The NHS is a residency-based system, so moving abroad permanently can end your entitlement to free NHS care. Planning as though you keep it once you live in Portugal is a common and expensive mistake.

If you receive a UK State Pension, you can apply for an S1 form, under which the UK funds your healthcare in the Portuguese state system, the SNS. You apply for the S1 online (or by phone) from NHS Overseas Healthcare Services, part of the NHS Business Services Authority, then register it in Portugal. The Portuguese visa portal names the UK S1 among the health-cover documents it accepts, so for a State Pensioner the S1 can stand in for the private insurance the D7 otherwise requires; confirm with your consulate. SNS access is not the same as free care: you still pay the Portuguese user fees, the taxas moderadoras. If you are below State Pension age you rely on private cover, which the visa requires in any case, to bridge the application and the early period before any S1 route opens.

Driving: exchanging your licence, and the 60-day clock

You can exchange a UK licence for a Portuguese one without sitting a test, under a UK-Portugal agreement. The clock on it is tighter than Spain’s: you must register or exchange the licence within 60 days of the issue date on your residence certificate, where Spain instead gives a six-month recognition window. If you only realise this after the 60 days have already passed, start the exchange immediately rather than waiting. Once registered, your UK licence is recognised until it expires. Because the exact exchange procedure is administrative practice run by the IMT, confirm the current IMT process when you arrive rather than treating the 60 days as an errand for later.

Pets: the Animal Health Certificate

If you are bringing a dog, cat or ferret, a pet passport issued in Great Britain (England, Scotland or Wales) is not valid for entering the EU. You need an Animal Health Certificate from your vet instead, valid for ten days for entry into the EU, so it is arranged close to travel rather than months ahead. This is the Great Britain rule; Northern Ireland differs.

Before you have residence: the 90/180 limit

Until your residence is in place you are a visitor, and a British passport lets you be in the Schengen area, which includes Portugal, for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period. Overstay that limit and you risk being banned from the Schengen area for up to three years, which would sink a later residence application. This is why “I’ll just live there a few months at a time” is not a plan: the moment your intention is to live in Portugal rather than visit it, you need the residence visa applied for before you travel.

If you have EU ancestry, or Spain is also on your list

If you have Portuguese or other EU ancestry, a claim through citizenship by descent can be a stronger and permanent path than any visa, and it does not depend on income at all. And if Spain is also on your shortlist, our sister guide to moving to Spain from the UK walks the same UK-side steps for that country.

Moving from Canada

A Canadian applies through the Portuguese consulate and VFS center for their region. Canada does not freeze pensions abroad: the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security keep their annual indexing in Portugal. OAS is only payable abroad indefinitely with 20 years of Canadian residence after age 18, but the 1981 Canada-Portugal social-security agreement lets you count Portuguese residence towards that; the Guaranteed Income Supplement stops six months after you leave. Emigrating can trigger Canada’s departure tax on most non-registered assets. On tax, the 1999 Canada-Portugal treaty caps Portuguese tax on the portion of periodic pensions above about CAD 12,000 a year, so a modest pension is lightly treated. Two Portugal-friendly points for Canadians: the IMT names Canada on its exchange list, so you swap your license for a Portuguese one with only a medical, no test; and if you are moving from Quebec, a Quebec-Portugal health agreement can waive Portugal’s public-health waiting period once you register. The D7’s private-insurance requirement still covers you from day one.

Moving from Australia

An Australian applies through the Portuguese consulate and VFS centre for their state. The Age Pension can be claimed from Portugal, because Australia has a social-security agreement with it, though it stays means-tested and, after 26 weeks abroad, is proportioned to your Australian Working Life Residence over 35 years. Superannuation is not released just because you emigrate. The tax position is the one to watch: Australia and Portugal signed a tax treaty in 2023 but it is not yet in force, so unlike a Briton or Canadian you have no treaty to allocate taxing rights or cap Portuguese tax on your pensions, and you rely on domestic foreign-tax-credit rules instead. Take cross-border advice before you file. There is no reciprocal health agreement with Portugal, so the D7’s private cover is your baseline; on the upside, the IMT lists Australia, so you can exchange your licence for a Portuguese one with a medical and no test. Leaving Australia triggers CGT event I1 on your non-Australian assets unless you elect to defer.

Decision framework

Match your reliable monthly passive income to your household, then read across.

FAQ

How much passive income do I need for the Portugal D7 visa in 2026? A single applicant needs at least EUR 920 per month (EUR 11,040 per year), equal to the 2026 minimum wage. A couple needs about EUR 1,380 per month (EUR 16,560 per year), and each dependent child adds EUR 276 per month. The figure rose from EUR 870 per month when the minimum wage increased on January 1, 2026, so ignore older pages quoting EUR 10,440 per year.

What counts as passive income, and does a pension qualify? Yes. The D7 is built for passive income: pensions, rental income, dividends, and investment returns all count. Salary from a job and active freelance income don’t. If your money arrives without you working for it, it’s the kind of income this visa is designed around.

Is it SEF or AIMA now? AIMA. The Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo replaced the old SEF in 2023 and is the authority that issues and renews residence permits. If a guide still tells you to deal with SEF, it’s out of date.

Is the NHR tax break still available for D7 retirees? No. NHR closed to new applicants from January 1, 2024. Its replacement, IFICI, is a narrow incentive for research, innovation, and specific high-value roles, not a general tax break for retirees. A typical retiree should not expect to qualify for it.

Do I need savings in a Portuguese bank account? A savings cushion of roughly a year of income (about EUR 11,040 for a single applicant) is a common consular guideline, not a statutory requirement. The official rule sets income percentages, not a fixed bank balance. A healthy balance helps a borderline case, but the amount and the account location vary by consulate, so confirm your consulate’s expectation.

How long does the D7 take, and what about the AIMA backlog? The initial national visa is commonly reported to run about four months with two entries, and AIMA appointment waits are widely reported to run several months. Treat both as reported practice rather than confirmed official 2026 figures, and build in extra time. The two-step structure itself (visa, then AIMA permit) is official.

Do I have to live in Portugal, and can I work on a D7? The D7 carries a physical-presence expectation, commonly described as spending most of the year in Portugal, so it isn’t a route for keeping a mainly-home-country life. And it’s a passive-income visa, so it isn’t designed for taking a Portuguese job. If your plan is to keep working remotely, look at the digital-nomad route instead. If you have EU ancestry, a claim through citizenship by descent can be a stronger long-term path than any visa. Note too that Portugal’s 2025 nationality reform lengthened the naturalization clock: for applications filed after May 18, 2026, most residents need ten years of legal residence (seven for nationals of EU or Portuguese-speaking countries), not the five years many guides still quote. So if descent is open to you, it is often the faster route.

Sources and methodology

Portugal sources were checked 2026-09-07 and the load-bearing D7 income figure was re-confirmed 2026-09-18; the UK sources were checked 2026-09-18 and re-verified in an independent fact-check on 2026-09-21. Primary and official sources only. Competitor pages were used to benchmark freshness, never as the source for a number.

Portugal:

• Diário da República, Decree-Law 139/2025: Portuguese minimum wage for 2026 (EUR 920 per month), published December 29, 2025, effective January 1, 2026.
• Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal, means of subsistence: the 100 percent first adult, 50 percent second adult, 30 percent per child rule on the 2026 wage.
• Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal, residence-visa document list: insurance, apostilled criminal record, proof of resources, pension or passive-income documentation.
• AIMA official site: AIMA as the current immigration authority that replaced SEF.
• Portuguese Tax Authority, Portal das Finanças IFICI guidance: NHR closed to new applicants (2024) and the narrow IFICI successor; NHR closure enacted by Lei 82/2023 in the Diário da República.
• Portuguese Embassy in Washington DC consular guidance: US applicants apply through VFS Global by consular jurisdiction.

United Kingdom:

• gov.uk, “Living in Portugal” (updated July 10, 2026): the Portuguese consulates in London and Manchester, the S1 healthcare pointer, the UK-Portugal driving-license bilateral agreement, and the ACRO police certificate.
• gov.uk, “Get your document legalised”: the FCDO Legalisation Office apostille, which names ACRO police certificates among the documents it legalises.
• gov.uk, “Healthcare in Portugal”: the S1 via NHS Overseas Healthcare Services (part of the NHS Business Services Authority), SNS registration, the taxas moderadoras user fees, and loss of NHS entitlement on a permanent move.
• gov.uk, “Benefits and pensions for UK nationals in the EU, EEA or Switzerland” (updated January 25, 2024): annual State Pension uprating in EU countries, which includes Portugal.
• gov.uk, “Portugal: tax treaties” (updated January 8, 2026): the 2025 UK-Portugal Double Taxation Convention, signed September 15, 2025 and in force from December 29, 2025.
• gov.uk, “Driving in the EU: UK license holders living in the EU” (updated February 23, 2024): license exchange with no test, and the 60-day registration window from the residence-certificate issue date.
• gov.uk, “Taking your pet dog, cat or ferret abroad”: the Animal Health Certificate and the invalidity of a Great Britain pet passport for EU entry.
• gov.uk, “Foreign travel advice: Portugal, entry requirements”: the 90-day-in-180 Schengen visitor limit and the overstay ban of up to three years.
• gov.uk, “Get your Income Tax right if you’re leaving the UK (P85)”: telling HMRC you have left the UK.
• gov.uk, “Tax on foreign income: UK residence and tax”: the Statutory Residence Test and split-year treatment.
• gov.uk, “Tax on your UK income if you live abroad”: UK-source income staying UK-taxable after you leave.
• VFS Global, Portugal visa application centers in the UK: the National Residence visa category, the London, Manchester and Edinburgh centers, and the EUR 110 consular plus GBP 32.85 service fees.

Canada and Australia (checked 2026-09-22):

• Canada: Service Canada, Old Age Security while outside Canada (CPP and OAS indexed abroad; the 20-year OAS rule; the 1981 Canada-Portugal agreement totalises); CRA, Leaving Canada (emigrants) (departure tax); the 1999 Canada-Portugal tax treaty (about CAD 12,000 of pension exempt); the IMT lists Canada for license exchange (medical only).
• Australia: Services Australia, travel outside Australia rules for Age Pension (agreement with Portugal; means-tested, proportioned to Australian Working Life Residence); Treasury, income tax treaties (Australia-Portugal signed 2023 but NOT yet in force); ATO, how changing residency affects CGT; the IMT lists Australia for license exchange.

Methodology: figures are derived from the 2026 minimum wage set in the Diário da República and the percentage rule published on the official visa portal. Household thresholds are calculated at 12 times the monthly value. Initial-visa validity and AIMA appointment waits are drawn from practitioner reports and are labeled as commonly reported rather than official. The UK-side mechanics are pinned to UK government (gov.uk) sources and the official VFS Global Portugal-UK channel.

Last updated: 2026-09-22. Reviewed by Expat Future editorial.

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Disclaimer

This is not legal or tax advice. Immigration rules, thresholds, and processing times change, and consular practice varies by jurisdiction. Confirm the current requirements with your competent Portuguese consulate and, for the tax side, with a qualified cross-border tax adviser before you act.