Whether you searched Portugal D7 visa requirements, D7 visa Portugal requirements, or just “D7 visa checklist,” nearly every guide gives you the same number: you need €920 a month. The legislation that actually governs the decision does not say €920. It says the national minimum wage net of social security contributions, which for a 2026 minimum wage of €920 gross is €818.80.
That gap is not a technicality, and it is not a reason to apply with the lower figure. It is a useful window into how the D7 really works. The visa is not an income test with a pass mark. It is a document test, and the income figure is only one of the things you have to evidence. Understanding where the number comes from tells you what a consular officer is actually checking. It also explains why an income reduction printed on the official checklist does not apply to retirees or people living on their own income.
Portugal D7 Visa Requirements: Where the Number Comes From
The D7 sits on a piece of 2007 legislation, Portaria n.º 1563/2007. Article 2 defines “means of subsistence” as stable, regular resources sufficient for a person’s essential needs: food, accommodation, health and hygiene. Then it sets the measuring stick:
“O critério de determinação dos meios de subsistência é efectuado por referência à retribuição mínima mensal garantida […] líquida de quotizações para a segurança social.”
In plain terms: the threshold is the guaranteed minimum monthly wage, net of social security contributions.
Portugal’s minimum wage rose to €920 a month from 1 January 2026, up from €870. That €920 is the gross figure. Employees pay 11% into social security, which leaves €818.80 net. Read literally, that is the number the ordinance points at.
So why does the whole market quote €920? Partly because it is the figure in the headlines every January. Partly because the checklist we cite, from Portugal’s embassy in Cairo, names no figure, and the foreign ministry’s visa portal prints €920 beside the words “net of any social security deductions” without giving a net figure, so the industry rounds to the one everybody recognises. And partly because it is the safer number to tell someone.
That portal sentence can be read two ways. Read with the ordinance, it points to the €920 minimum wage taken net of contributions, which is €818.80. On its own, it could also mean that €920 is itself the net figure required. No official text we read says which reading applies across posts: the ordinance names no amount, and the UK checklist (6 March 2026), the only consular list we read that prints a figure, uses €920 as its 2026 basis and asks for €11,040, twelve times that figure, from a single applicant.
Here is our practical answer: plan and evidence against €920. It satisfies both readings. The difference is about a hundred euros a month on a decision you cannot easily appeal. This is not a place to be clever. If your income sits between €818.80 and €920, you are relying on an interpretation, and you should talk to a lawyer licensed in Portugal before you file.
What a family needs
The ordinance sets a per-person valuation inside each household, and this part is unambiguous:
- First adult: 100% of the reference figure
- Each additional adult: 50%
- Each child under 18, and dependent adult children: 30%
On the €920 basis, a couple needs €1,380 a month. A couple with one child needs €1,656. A couple with two children needs €1,932.
Two things people get wrong here. The percentages apply to the household, not to each applicant separately, so a second adult does not need their own full income. And the income does not have to come from one source. Pensions, rental income, dividends, royalties and returns on investments all count, and most applications combine several. That mix of income sources is exactly why the D7 gets nicknamed the Portugal passive income visa.
If you already know roughly what you would be living on, it is worth getting a sense of the moving costs before you commit to a timeline. See what a move to Portugal would involve.
The twelve months of savings
Alongside the monthly income, the consular checklist asks for “proof of financial resources for a period of at least 12 months”. That is twelve times the monthly threshold: €11,040 for a single applicant on the €920 basis.
One correction is worth making here, because it is repeated constantly. A great many pages state that this money must sit in a Portuguese bank account. The Cairo checklist does not say that. It asks for proof of financial resources. Separately, it asks pensioners and people living on their own income for a document proving the income is available in Portuguese territory. Those are different requirements.
Most applicants do open a Portuguese account anyway, because it makes the “available in national territory” evidence straightforward and because you will need one eventually. But if you read somewhere that your savings are disqualified for sitting in your home bank, that is not what the Cairo checklist says. At least one post does ask for a Portuguese account: the UK checklist (6 March 2026) lists a recent Portuguese bank statement showing at least €11,040 for a single applicant. Read your own consulate’s list before you move any money.
Who the checklist’s income reduction really applies to
One sentence on the official checklist reads as if it applies to every D7 applicant:
“Means of support can be reduced by half when proved that the applicant has secured, in any way, accommodation or up to 90% of the amount when demonstrated that food is also secured.”
Where the sentence sits matters. When we checked on 9 October 2026, the Portuguese-language page of the foreign ministry’s visa portal printed it at the end of the block for religious applicants. The blocks for retirees and for people living on their own income came after it and carried no reduction. The Cairo checklist (9 December 2024) and the UK checklist (6 March 2026) print it in the same place, under the religious heading.
The ordinance points the same way. In Article 5 of Portaria n.º 1563/2007, the reduction appears for students and exchange participants (paragraph 4), for professional interns and volunteers (paragraph 5) and for ministers of religion (paragraph 7). Paragraph 6 covers retirees and people living on income from property, intellectual property or financial investments. It asks for the full means of subsistence, assured for at least twelve months, and contains no reduction.
If you are applying as a retiree or on your own income, do not build your file on a reduction: the official texts we checked offer none for your category.
If your income sits just below the threshold, change the question. Rather than asking whether a reduction applies to you, ask your consulate which figure it applies to your file, then have a lawyer licensed in Portugal check your position before you file.
The documents, which are the actual test
The Portugal D7 visa requirements that actually decide a file are these documents, not the income figure. The income figure gets the attention, but practitioners commonly report that D7 applications are refused over paperwork far more often than over money. This is the base list from the Cairo consular checklist (dated 9 December 2024) for the residency visa for pensioners, religious purposes and people living on their own income, and other posts add requirements of their own:
- National visa application form, completed and signed
- Two recent passport-sized photographs
- Passport valid for at least three months beyond your intended stay, plus a photocopy of the biographical page
- Proof of regular status, if you are applying somewhere other than your country of nationality
- Valid travel insurance covering medical expenses, urgent medical assistance and repatriation
- Police clearance certificate from your country of nationality, or from any country you have lived in for over a year, carrying a Hague Apostille or consular legalisation
- Proof of financial resources for at least twelve months
Then, depending on where your money comes from:
- Pensioners: a document proving the amount of the pension, and a document proving that income can be received or accessed in Portugal
- People living on their own income: documents proving the existence and amount of income from property, intellectual property or financial investments, and proof that income is available in Portugal
Three things the internet gets wrong about that list
Passport validity is not a flat six months. A lot of pages say six months. The Cairo checklist says “valid for at least 3 months beyond the intended period of stay”. Posts spell that out differently. The UK checklist (6 March 2026) asks for 90 days beyond the 120-day visa period, counted from your intended date of entry, which is 210 days in all and more than six months. Check the checklist your own consulate publishes before you rely on a rule of thumb.
It asks for travel insurance, not health insurance. The wording is “valid travel insurance, covering necessary medical expenses, including urgent medical assistance and possible repatriation”. Repatriation cover is the part people forget, and a standard domestic health policy will not include it.
The police certificate is not always from your home country. It is from your country of nationality or a country you have lived in for more than a year. If you have moved around, you may need more than one, and apostilles take longer than people plan for.
One more thing is worth knowing, mostly because it tells you how to treat any checklist you find: the official document we worked from cites the governing ordinance as “of 11th of December” in one place and “of 6th of December” in its footnotes. The correct date is 11 December 2007. It is a trivial error, but it is a reminder that consular checklists are working documents that differ between posts, and the one your consulate publishes is the one that governs your file. The version referenced here is dated 9 December 2024.
Citizens of CPLP countries have a different, lighter route: the checklist exempts them from travel insurance, return ticket and means of support, on presentation of a legalised sponsorship letter.
What the visa actually gets you
The D7 visa itself is not your residence permit, and this catches people out. It is valid for four months and allows two entries. It exists to get you into Portugal legally so you can attend an appointment with AIMA, the agency that took over immigration functions from SEF.
At that appointment the visa converts into a two-year residence permit, renewable for three years at a time. The renewal has to be filed at least thirty days before the current permit expires.
The residence permit that follows a D7 also comes with absence limits, and they are stricter than most people expect from a passive income visa. Under Article 85 of Law 23/2007, AIMA can cancel a temporary residence permit if its holder is absent from Portugal without good reason for more than six consecutive months, or more than eight months in total, during the permit’s validity. On the first two-year permit that works out at no more than eight months away, so at least sixteen months in Portugal, and the same limits apply to each three-year renewal. A longer absence has to be justified by a request to AIMA before you leave, or in exceptional cases afterwards, and the permit is not cancelled if you show you carried out professional, business, cultural or social activity while away. This is not a visa for keeping a European option open while living somewhere else.
After five years of legal residence you can apply for permanent residence. The route to citizenship changed during 2026 and the qualifying period lengthened. We are deliberately not putting a number on it here, because the change is recent and the detail is exactly the kind that gets reported inconsistently. If citizenship is your reason for doing this, that is the question to put to a Portuguese lawyer before you file anything, not after.
The number will move
Because the threshold tracks the minimum wage, it rises when the minimum wage rises, and the increases are already agreed. Under the tripartite incomes agreement the minimum wage is set to reach €970 in 2027 and €1,020 in 2028. On the same basis, a single applicant’s threshold rises with it, and a couple’s rises by half as much again.
If you are eighteen months away from applying, do not budget against today’s figure. Budget against the one that will be in force when you file, and leave margin above it.
Here is an open question we cannot answer from the published sources: the Azores set a higher regional minimum wage, €966 for 2026. Whether a D7 assessed for someone settling in the Azores follows the regional figure or the national one is not addressed in any official document we have found. If that is your plan, ask the consulate directly rather than assuming.
One thing this article deliberately does not cover is whether the D7 is the right route for you at all. If you are weighing it against the golden visa, the 2026 nationality law changed that comparison materially, and which one you actually qualify for is worth reading before you decide.
Everything above gets you the visa. Provided your residence stays continuous, what it leads to five years later is its own milestone with its own requirements, including a Portuguese language test most people do not expect this early. What permanent residence actually asks for is covered separately.
Neither of those figures accounts for what you will actually pay in Portuguese tax once you are living there. Retirees frequently assume a special regime like the old NHR still applies. It does not, and what replaced it works very differently for pension income.
What we would actually do
Work out your household threshold on the €920 basis and add a margin. Get the police certificates started early, because apostilles are the step that slips. Read the checklist your own consulate publishes rather than a summary of someone else’s. And if your income sits just under the line, ask your consulate which figure it applies to your file before you conclude you do not qualify.
Meet the Portugal D7 visa requirements as the ordinance actually states them, not as the market repeats them. Done that way, the D7 is one of the more achievable residence routes in Europe. Practitioners commonly report that most refusals come down to an incomplete file rather than an unconvincing one. Where the money is close to the line, or citizenship is the goal, that is the point to pay someone licensed in Portugal for an hour of their time. It is the cheapest part of the whole process.
Related reading: More on moving to Portugal
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum income for a Portugal D7 visa in 2026?
The ordinance sets the threshold by reference to Portugal’s minimum wage net of social security contributions and names no amount. The 2026 minimum wage is €920 gross, which is €818.80 after the 11% employee contribution. The visa portal prints €920 beside the words net of social security deductions without giving a net figure, and the UK consular checklist uses €920, so the official texts do not settle which figure applies. Plan and evidence against €920, because it satisfies both readings.
How much does a couple need for a D7 visa?
The ordinance values a second adult at 50% of the first adult’s requirement, so a couple needs 150% of the threshold. On the €920 basis that is €1,380 a month. Each child under 18 adds 30%, or €276.
Do D7 savings have to be in a Portuguese bank account?
Not on every checklist. The Cairo checklist does not require it: it asks for proof of financial resources covering at least twelve months, and separately for proof that your income is available in Portuguese territory. Many applicants open a Portuguese account to make that second point straightforward. At least one post does ask for one: the UK checklist (6 March 2026) lists a recent Portuguese bank statement showing at least €11,040 for a single applicant. Read the checklist your own consulate publishes.
Can the D7 visa income requirement be reduced?
Not for retirees or people living on their own income. Article 5 of Portaria n.º 1563/2007 allows means of support to be reduced by half where accommodation is secured, and by up to 90% where food is secured too, but only for students and exchange participants, professional interns and volunteers, and ministers of religion. The Cairo and UK consular checklists print the same provision under the religious applicants’ heading. If your income is just under the threshold, ask your consulate which figure it applies to your file. Checked on 9 October 2026.
How long is the D7 visa valid?
The visa itself is valid for four months and allows two entries. It exists so you can enter Portugal and attend an AIMA appointment, where it converts into a two-year residence permit, renewable for three years at a time.
How much time do I have to spend in Portugal on a D7?
On the first two-year permit, at least sixteen months in practice. Under Article 85 of Law 23/2007, AIMA can cancel a temporary residence permit if its holder is absent without good reason for more than six consecutive months, or more than eight months in total, during the permit’s validity, and the same limits apply to each three-year renewal. A longer absence can be justified by a request to AIMA before you leave, and the permit is not cancelled if you show professional, business, cultural or social activity during the absence.
Working out what the move itself costs?
The visa is one line in a much bigger budget. Tell us where you are moving from and we will come back with a realistic picture of what your household would cost to move.
Meeting the D7 requirements is the Portugal side of the move. The UK side, HMRC notification, tax residency timing and NHS deregistration, is a separate checklist: what to sort out before you leave the UK.
What is the rejection rate for the D7 visa in Portugal?
We found no official refusal rate for the D7, so any specific percentage you see quoted online is an industry estimate, not a verified figure. Industry professionals commonly put approval above 80% for complete, well-documented applications. The visa is decided by the Portuguese consulate, not by AIMA, and the Cairo and UK consular checklists both warn that an incomplete application may be refused and that the visa fee is not refunded. Checked on 9 October 2026.
Sources
- Embassy of Portugal in Cairo, official D7 residency visa checklist (English), dated 9 December 2024
- D7 residence visa checklist as applied in the United Kingdom (VFS Global), dated 6 March 2026
- Diário da República, Portaria n.º 1563/2007, Artigos 2.º and 5.º, the ordinance defining means of subsistence
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa portal: residency documents for retirees, religious applicants and people living on their own income (Portuguese-language page)
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa portal: means of subsistence
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, national visa legislation portal
- Diário da República, Lei n.º 23/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 48.º, 58.º, 75.º, 78.º, 80.º and 85.º: who decides the visa, visa validity, residence permit, renewal, permanent residence and absences
- Government of Portugal, minimum wage increase to €920 for 2026
- Government of Portugal, October 2024 tripartite agreement: minimum wage path to €1,020 in 2028
- DECO PROTESTE, 2026 minimum wage gross and net figures
- Caixa Geral de Depósitos, what changes with the 2026 minimum wage
All sources accessed and re-verified 9 October 2026. Visa rules and thresholds change, and consular practice varies between posts. Check the current checklist published by the consulate handling your application, and take advice from a professional licensed in Portugal before you rely on anything here.
