Author: Expats Direct Team

Permanent residence Portugal status is the milestone most people skip straight past on their way from a temporary permit to a passport. Most people planning a life in Portugal think about two milestones: getting a residence permit, and eventually getting a passport. A real, separate milestone sits between the two and gets almost no coverage. It is where the Portuguese language requirement actually first shows up, years before the citizenship process most people associate it with.

That milestone is permanent residence, reachable once you have held a valid temporary permit for five years, whether that permit was a D7, a work visa, family reunification, or several routes stitched together. And the detail almost everyone gets wrong: the A2 Portuguese permanent residence requirement, which the law words as basic Portuguese, applies first, not only at naturalisation.

Permanent Residence Portugal: What Five Years Actually Means

The route that got you to Portugal does not matter for this milestone. Five years under a D7, which we have covered in detail separately, counts the same as five years under a work permit, a D2 for entrepreneurs, family reunification, or any combination of legal temporary permits, provided none of them lapsed.

That condition is not a formality. The law asks for a temporary permit held for at least five years (Article 80(1)(a) of Law 23/2007) and does not say what a gap does, so a lapsed permit puts the count at risk. Absences matter too: under Article 85(2)(a), AIMA can cancel a temporary permit if its holder is absent without good reason for more than six consecutive months, or more than eight months in total, during its validity, and a cancelled permit takes the count with it. A D7 holder is under the same rule. Treat every renewal window as load-bearing for everything that comes after it, not just for the permit in front of you.

Article 80 Portugal: The Language Requirement People Think Is New

If you have read anything about Portugal’s 2026 nationality law changes, you may believe the Portuguese language test is a citizenship-only hurdle that arrived this year. It is not, and this is the most useful correction on this topic.

Permanent residence, under Article 80(1)(e) of the immigration law, has required basic Portuguese, which AIMA accepts at A2 level, for far longer than the 2026 citizenship reform has existed. It sits at the five-year mark, well before the seven or ten-year citizenship eligibility we have written about separately. If your plan involves Portuguese at all, you need to start well before your citizenship application, because it is required at the earlier milestone regardless of whether you ever intend to naturalise.

There is a genuine silver lining here. AIMA accepts several kinds of proof for permanent residence: a school certificate, an IEFP or other recognised basic Portuguese course certificate, a CAPLE test certificate, or an A2-or-higher Português Língua de Acolhimento course certificate. AIMA confirms that an A2-or-higher Português Língua de Acolhimento certificate counts for both permanent residence and nationality. If you clear this bar honestly at year five, through whichever route suits you, you will very likely already hold the language element of a later naturalisation file. The 2026 law also asks for proof of knowledge of Portuguese culture, history and national symbols, which is a separate element, so this is one requirement satisfied early rather than the whole of the citizenship test.

The rest of the checklist

Alongside the residence and language conditions, permanent residence asks for a clean record, in the specific sense that you must not have been convicted, during your last five years of residence, of sentences adding up to more than one year in prison. It asks for your tax and social security position to be regularised, with proof from the tax authority and social security. It asks for proof of accommodation: your own declaration of the address and how you live there, backed by a land-registry certificate if you own the home, or by a declaration from the landlord or host if you rent or are lodged. And it asks for proof of means of subsistence, which has a defined yardstick.

The means-of-subsistence test is numerical, and it is the same one the D7 uses. Article 80(1)(c) of Law 23/2007 sends it to the means-of-subsistence ordinance, and Article 8(1) of Portaria n.º 1563/2007 requires means determined under Article 2(1) and (2), assured for at least twelve months. That means the guaranteed minimum monthly wage, taken net of social security contributions, counted at 100% for the first adult, 50% for each further adult and 30% for each child. For 2026 the wage is €920, which is €818.80 net of the 11% employee contribution. Our D7 article explains why we plan against the gross figure. AIMA’s checklist asks only for proof of means of subsistence and states no figure, so ask AIMA which one it applies to your file.

AIMA Permanent Residence: Not the Citizenship Office

Permanent residence is a separate application from your ordinary permit renewal, but it stays within AIMA, the same agency that handles your temporary permit. This is different from what comes later. Naturalisation is the actual citizenship application, open at seven or ten years of legal residence depending on your nationality. It moves to the registry service, the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado, where the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais handles nationality files, and we have covered that process in the citizenship article. Permanent residence does not touch that service at all.

Processing has two stages worth planning around separately. The application is made in person, by appointment, at an AIMA shop (Loja AIMA), so the first thing to check is how soon an appointment is available near you. Once a complete application is submitted, the law gives AIMA 90 days to decide a residence permit application, extendable by 30 days in exceptional circumstances (Article 82(5) of Law 23/2007). Treat that as the legal deadline rather than a promise of how long your file will take; AIMA’s own processing pace has moved substantially over the past two years and is worth checking against current reporting before you build a timeline.

The three checkpoints, in order

It helps to see the whole shape of this rather than treat each stage as a separate mystery.

At five years, provided your permits have not lapsed, you become eligible for permanent residence, which requires basic Portuguese, in practice A2, for the first time. At seven years for EU and CPLP nationals, or ten for everyone else, you become eligible to apply for naturalisation, a separate process at a separate office, where an A2-or-higher certificate also counts as proof of the language element. The 2026 law added proof of Portuguese culture and history on top, and the nationality regulation was due to be amended to implement it, so check its current text when you apply. Citizenship itself follows once naturalisation is granted, on a timeline that is not reliably published and should be treated as a genuine unknown rather than assumed.

Seen this way, permanent residence is not a waypoint to rush past on the way to a passport. It is where the real integration requirements actually begin, and it changes your day-to-day status meaningfully in its own right. Getting the language element right at this stage removes it as a concern for the citizenship file that follows.

What actually changes once you have it

Permanent residence Portugal status is worth pursuing for reasons beyond ticking off a milestone on the way to citizenship. Once granted, you stop being on a renewal cycle that depends on re-proving income, accommodation, and presence every two or three years. The permit has no expiry date, and the card is renewed every five years, with a criminal-record check rather than a fresh income and accommodation file (Article 76 of Law 23/2007; Article 65 of Decreto Regulamentar 84/2007). Absence limits still exist but are much longer: AIMA can cancel a permanent permit if its holder is away without good reason for 24 consecutive months, or for 30 months in a three-year period (Article 85(2)(b)). For a D7 holder, that replaces the six- and eight-month limits that governed your first years. You have moved from a status that has to keep proving itself to one that, in practice, mostly just needs maintaining.

It also gives you a more stable foundation for anything that depends on long-term certainty: a mortgage application, a long lease, a business registration, or simply not having to explain your immigration status every time you deal with a Portuguese institution. None of this is citizenship, and it does not give you a Portuguese passport. But it is the point at which Portugal stops being a country you are conditionally allowed to live in and becomes, in most practical respects, the country you live in.

The mistake that can reset the clock

The five years are counted as a holder of a temporary residence permit, and that is worth being careful about. Time spent in Portugal before you actually held a valid permit does not count, however long you had been planning the move or however many prior visits you made. The clock starts when your legal residence starts, not when you first arrived or first applied.

The more common mistake is letting a permit lapse near the end of a renewal cycle, often because a renewal application was filed late or a required document arrived after the deadline. The law does not say what a gap does to the five-year count, so the safe assumption is that a permit that lapses and has to be reapplied for, rather than renewed, can break it. If that happens in year four, the practical effect can be starting the count over rather than losing a few weeks. A renewal has to be requested at least 30 days before the permit expires (Article 78(1) of Law 23/2007), and a late request is an administrative offence with a fine of €75 to €300 (Article 201), so treat the date 30 days before expiry as your deadline, not the date on the card. A lawyer licensed in Portugal can tell you how AIMA treats a gap in your specific case.

If citizenship itself, rather than just permanent residence, is the eventual goal, we have covered what naturalisation asks for once you are eligible separately.

Related reading: More on moving to Portugal

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to speak Portuguese for permanent residence?

Yes. Article 80 of Law 23/2007 requires basic Portuguese for permanent residence, which you can apply for after five years with a temporary permit, and AIMA accepts an A2-or-higher certificate as proof, alongside a school certificate, an approved basic Portuguese course certificate or a CAPLE test certificate. This is separate from, and earlier than, the language requirement for citizenship, which applies at seven or ten years of legal residence depending on nationality.

How is permanent residence different from citizenship?

Permanent residence Portugal status is reached at five years and is handled by AIMA, the same authority as your temporary permit. Citizenship requires seven or ten years of legal residence in total, depending on nationality, and is then a separate application handled by the registry service (IRN), where the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais deals with nationality files, not by AIMA.

Does my D7, work visa, or other permit count toward permanent residence?

Yes. Article 80 asks for a temporary residence permit held for at least five years and does not distinguish between routes, so a D7, a work permit or family reunification all count. The law does not say what a lapse in between does to the count, so treat a gap as a risk.

How much income do I need for permanent residence?

The same yardstick as the D7. Article 8(1) of Portaria n.º 1563/2007 requires means determined under Article 2(1) and (2), assured for at least twelve months: the guaranteed minimum monthly wage, net of social security contributions, counted at 100% for the first adult, 50% for each further adult and 30% for each child. For 2026 the wage is €920, or €818.80 net of the 11% employee contribution. AIMA’s checklist asks for proof of means of subsistence without stating a figure, so confirm with AIMA which one it applies. Checked on 9 October 2026.

Sources

• Diário da República, Lei n.º 23/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 76.º, 78.º, 80.º, 82.º, 85.º and 201.º: permanent residence, renewal, decision deadlines, absences
• Diário da República, Portaria n.º 1563/2007, Artigos 2.º and 8.º, the means-of-subsistence ordinance
• Diário da República, Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 64.º and 65.º: permanent residence application and renewal
• AIMA, Autorização de Residência Permanente (Art. 80.º): documents and accepted proof of Portuguese
• AIMA, Aprendizagem de Português como Língua Estrangeira, perguntas frequentes: A2 certificates for permanent residence and nationality
• Diário da República, Lei da Nacionalidade (consolidated text), Artigo 6.º, as amended by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026
• Diário da República, Regulamento da Nacionalidade Portuguesa, Artigo 25.º: proof of Portuguese for naturalisation
• Government of Portugal, Pedir a nacionalidade portuguesa (service page)

All sources accessed and re-verified 9 October 2026. Immigration rules, processing times and appointment availability change frequently, and the nationality regulation was due to be updated for the 2026 law. Confirm current requirements and take advice from a professional licensed in Portugal before building a timeline around any figure here.

Search for the Portugal golden visa cost and you will find a different number on every page. Some say €530,000. Some say €55,000 in fees alone. Some quote a figure that turns out to be two years old. None of this is because the writers are careless. It is because two different things are being counted as one, and because AIMA’s fee table prints two amounts for each golden visa fee and moves every March.

Here is the honest version: we are not going to give you a single total, because a single total is exactly what has been misleading everyone. We are going to give you the categories, tell you which ones are fixed and which vary, and show you why the number you build for your own situation will not match anyone else’s article.

This assumes you have already decided the golden visa is your route. If you have not, the D7 versus golden visa comparison is the place to start, since for most people planning to actually live in Portugal the D7 is both cheaper and simpler.

The mistake almost every cost page makes

The investment itself is not a cost in the way a legal fee is a cost. If you put €500,000 into a qualifying fund, that money is still yours, held in an asset that is meant to perform. It is capital at risk, not an expense. A legal fee, an AIMA charge, a translation bill: those are gone the moment you pay them.

A page that adds €500,000 and €30,000 together and calls the result “the cost of the golden visa” is telling you something true and something misleading in the same sentence. The €30,000 is what the programme actually costs you. The €500,000 is what you are choosing to hold, in a fund you presumably believe in, for reasons that have nothing to do with residency.

Split those two apart before you read anything else about golden visa cost, including the rest of this article.

Government fees, and why the number moves

AIMA, the agency that administers the golden visa, publishes a fee table that moves every year. Under Article 3 of Portaria n.º 307/2023, every value is updated automatically on 1 March by the previous year’s average consumer-price inflation on the mainland, excluding housing. The latest table took effect on 1 March 2026. Since the Portaria took effect in October 2023 the grant fee has risen from €7,730.11 to €8,418.90, about 9%, so a page written in 2024 or 2025 quotes a lower figure, but by under €700, not by the tens of thousands that separate cost pages.

For the golden visa the table prints two amounts on each line. The first column holds the Portaria’s own values as indexed for 2026. The second is the table’s in-person and digital service column, with point XIV applied, and it takes 25% off: point XIV of the Portaria cuts fees by 25% for requests lodged through the digital channel and, until these services are offered digitally, for fees charged at in-person service. The lines that matter are:

• Reception and analysis of the application (due again with each renewal request): €842.80, or €632.10 after the reduction
• Grant of the residence authorisation: €8,418.90, or €6,314.20 after the reduction
• Renewal (due at year two and year four): €4,210.30, or €3,157.80 after the reduction, each time
• Permanent residence grant, when you reach it: €11,786.70, or €8,840.00 after the reduction, with renewal at €5,894.10, or €4,420.70

These are the amounts printed in AIMA’s own fee table (Portaria n.º 307/2023, last updated 26 February 2026), read directly on 9 October 2026. AIMA’s ARI pages do not say which of the two amounts the payment document carries on a golden visa file, so budget on the first column and treat the reduction as a saving to confirm with your lawyer or with AIMA. Fee tables at government agencies move, and this one is indexed to inflation every March, so treat the figures above as current as of this check, not as permanent, and confirm the live table on AIMA’s own site before you commit to a budget.

One thing in that schedule catches people out and is worth stating plainly: family members pay the same grant and renewal fees as the main applicant. There is no discounted family rate. If you are applying with a spouse and two children, the grant and renewal fees alone are charged four times over, not once with a top-up. Budget for the whole household, not just yourself.

Legal and professional fees, which is where the totals really diverge

This is the category responsible for most of the disagreement between cost pages, because it genuinely varies more than any other line item.

An application through a simpler route costs less to run than a fund-route application requiring anti-money-laundering documentation, fund due diligence, and coordination between a fund manager and an immigration lawyer, particularly when the applicant already has a NIF and a Portuguese bank account. Reported ranges for this category run from a few thousand euros at the simple end to well into five figures for a complex fund-route family application. We are not going to give you a single figure, because the range is the honest answer and a false-precision number would be worse than no number.

Our advice: ask any lawyer you are considering for a written, itemised quote before you engage them, and ask specifically whether renewals at year two and year four are included or billed separately. That single question resolves more of the apparent cost disagreement between firms than anything else.

Fund management fees, if you take the fund route

If your qualifying investment is a fund rather than job creation or a cultural donation, the fund charges a management fee, typically annually, for the years your capital sits in it. The law sets only a floor on how long that is. The investment must be in place when you apply and then maintained for at least five years counted from the date the residence permit is granted (Decreto Regulamentar 84/2007, Articles 65-A and 65-B), and AIMA’s ARI FAQ lists proof that the investment is maintained among the requirements relevant to each renewal. The fund itself must have at least five years of maturity when you invest (Article 3 of Law 23/2007). Add the wait for the grant and your capital is committed for the length of that wait plus five years at the very least, and the fund’s own term can be longer, so read it in the fund documents. A management fee that looks small in year one compounds into a real number across that whole period.

We are not quoting a percentage here, because it depends entirely on the fund you choose and this is exactly the kind of number that belongs in your fund’s own prospectus, not in a general article. Ask for it directly, and ask whether it is charged on committed capital or on called capital, which can make a meaningful difference to what you actually pay.

The ancillary costs nobody itemises properly

The ancillary costs include a Portuguese tax number, a Portuguese bank account, certified translations of foreign documents, apostilles on documents from your home country, and courier costs for physical paperwork between jurisdictions. Individually these are small. Together they are commonly reported in the low thousands of euros, and they are the category most likely to be quietly forgotten in a budget built from a cost-page total rather than from your own checklist.

A worked example, so the categories mean something

Take a single applicant on the fund route, and a family of four on the same route, and put real structure around the five categories above. These are illustrative, not a quote, and the AIMA lines use the first, higher column of the fee figures given earlier.

Category	Single applicant	Family of four
Investment (capital, not spent)	€500,000	€500,000 (one investment covers the family)
AIMA fees at grant (analysis + grant, per person)	€9,262	€37,047
AIMA fees at renewals (analysis + renewal, per person, x2 renewals before permanent residence)	€10,106	€40,425
Legal fees (illustrative mid-range)	€10,000	€18,000
Ancillary (NIF, bank, translations, apostilles)	€1,500	€4,000
Non-recoverable total (excludes investment)	€30,868	€99,472

The AIMA lines count the analysis fee once per person, at the grant and again at each renewal. Using AIMA’s second column instead takes a quarter off those lines: about €4,800 for the single applicant and about €19,400 for the family of four. AIMA’s table words the analysis line to include the family-reunification request, so a household may pay less than the family column shows.

Look at what happened between the single and family columns. The investment line did not move, because one fund investment qualifies the whole family. The AIMA lines multiplied by four, and the legal and ancillary lines grew too. For a family application, the government fees and legal fees are very often the larger swing factor, not the investment choice, and that is the opposite of what most people assume when they start pricing this out.

How to build your own number instead of trusting ours

Work through five lines, separately, for your own household:

1. The investment amount for your chosen route, which is capital, not spend
2. AIMA fees at the current published rate, multiplied by every family member, at grant and at each renewal you expect to reach
3. A written legal fee quote, itemised, with renewals specified as included or excluded
4. Fund management fees if applicable, from the fund’s own documentation, for your expected holding period
5. Ancillary costs, itemised against your own document checklist rather than estimated

Add two through five together and that is your real, non-recoverable cost of the programme. Keep line one separate. Anyone quoting you a single combined total without showing their working is doing the same thing the confusing cost pages do, just with more confidence.

When each fee actually falls due

The amount matters less than the timing if you are managing cash flow around this, and timing is the part cost pages skip almost entirely.

The reception and analysis fee is paid when you submit the application, before any decision: AIMA’s checklist for each route asks for the receipt with the application. The grant fee is a separate line in the table, charged for the grant itself, so it follows a positive decision. The law sets 90 days to decide a residence application, extendable by 30 days in exceptional, justified cases (Article 82(5) of Law 23/2007), but one practitioner tracker reports golden visa files running from about twelve months to well over three years for applicants caught in the earlier backlog (Global Citizen Solutions, updated 7 September 2026). Renewal fees fall at year two and again at year four, tied to your permit’s own expiry rather than to any date you choose. Legal fees are typically front-loaded, billed at engagement and at submission, with a smaller amount at issuance, though this varies by firm and is exactly the kind of thing to pin down in your written quote.

The practical implication: the investment has to be in place and evidenced at application, but a meaningful share of the fee burden can land a year or more later, when the grant fee falls due, and then again on a schedule dictated by AIMA’s own permit cycle rather than by your budgeting calendar.

Frequently asked questions

What is the total cost of a Portugal golden visa?

There is no single reliable total, because published figures mix the investment amount, which is capital you hold rather than spend, with genuine fees, and because AIMA’s fee table is indexed and updates every 1 March, so older cost pages quote older figures. Build the figure from your own investment route, government fees, legal quote, and ancillary costs rather than trusting a single quoted total.

Do family members pay separate golden visa fees?

Yes. AIMA’s fee table lists the same grant and renewal fees for family members as for the main applicant, with no discounted family rate. A family of four pays the grant and renewal fees four times over.

How much are AIMA’s golden visa fees in 2026?

In AIMA’s fee table in force from 1 March 2026, the reception and analysis fee is €842.80, the grant of the residence authorisation €8,418.90 and each renewal €4,210.30, or €632.10, €6,314.20 and €3,157.80 after the 25% reduction in point XIV, which the table applies to in-person and digital service. The table is indexed to inflation every 1 March, so confirm the current figures directly with AIMA before budgeting.

Are golden visa fund management fees included in the investment amount?

No. The €500,000 fund investment is separate from the fund’s ongoing management fee, which is charged annually for as long as your capital is held. The law requires the investment to be maintained for at least five years from the grant of the permit, and the fund’s own term can be longer. Ask your fund for the exact fee and term, and whether the fee applies to committed or called capital.

Can I get citizenship in Portugal if I buy a house?

No. The real estate route to Portugal’s golden visa was abolished in October 2023 under Law 56/2023. Buying a home in Portugal today does not itself qualify you for any residency or citizenship pathway. The routes that remain open require investment in a qualifying fund, scientific research, arts and cultural heritage support, or job creation, not property purchase. See our guide to Portugal citizenship by investment for what the naturalisation path actually requires once you hold the visa.

Sources

• AIMA, Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo, official fee table (Tabela de Taxas, Portaria n.º 307/2023), in force from 1 March 2026, last updated 26 February 2026, read directly 9 October 2026
• AIMA, notice of 28 February 2026 on the fee table update
• Diário da República n.º 199, 13 October 2023, Portaria n.º 307/2023 (copy hosted by AIMA): the original fee values, Article 3 (annual indexation) and point XIV (digital-channel reduction)
• AIMA, Autorização de Residência para Investimento (Art. 90.º-A), and its ARI frequently asked questions: routes, documents, renewals and minimum stay
• Diário da República, Lei n.º 23/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 3.º, 82.º and 90.º-A: investment activities, the 90-day decision deadline, residence for investment
• Diário da República, Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 65.º-A, 65.º-B and 65.º-C: when the investment must be in place, the five-year maintenance period, minimum stay
• Global Citizen Solutions, Portugal golden visa processing delays, updated 7 September 2026 (secondary source, cited for processing times only)

All sources accessed and re-verified 9 October 2026. Government fees are indexed to inflation every 1 March, so this schedule will change again. Verify the current fee table directly with AIMA and get a written, itemised quote from a licensed Portuguese lawyer before committing to any figure.

For a decade, the choice between the Portugal D7 visa and the golden visa came down to a trade. The D7 was cheap and required you to actually live there. The golden visa cost a few hundred thousand euros and required about a week a year, and both routes reached a Portuguese passport in five years.

On 19 May 2026 that stopped being true. Amendments to the nationality law extended the residency period for naturalisation to ten years for most nationalities, and seven for EU and CPLP nationals. The five-year passport was the golden visa’s entire commercial proposition, and it no longer exists on either route.

That does not make the golden visa pointless. It does mean the honest comparison is no longer about money, and a lot of what you will read about these two routes was written before the change.

What each one actually is

The D7 is a residence visa for people living on income they already receive: pensions, rent, dividends, royalties, returns on investments. You prove a monthly income against a threshold tied to the Portuguese minimum wage, which is €920 a month in 2026 for a single applicant, plus twelve months of savings behind it. There is no investment and nothing to buy. What the D7 actually asks you to prove includes a discrepancy in the income figure worth knowing about before you file.

The golden visa is the opposite bargain: formally ARI Portugal’s residence permit for investment, or more plainly, Portugal residency by investment. You commit capital, and in exchange the residency requirement is roughly seven days a year. It exists for people who want a European residence permit without relocating.

Those are genuinely different products. Most of the confusion comes from comparing them as if they were competing versions of the same thing.

The money gap is larger than people expect

The golden visa’s qualifying routes, after the 2023 overhaul, are:

• €500,000 into qualifying investment funds or venture capital
• €500,000 for scientific research
• €250,000 for arts and cultural heritage support
• Creation of ten jobs in Portugal
• €500,000 into eligible company capital, plus creation of five jobs

In territories the law classes as low-density, the job-creation, research and cultural-heritage minimums can be 20% lower: eight jobs instead of ten, €400,000 instead of €500,000 for research, and 20% off the €250,000 cultural-donation minimum, which is €200,000 on the regulation’s arithmetic. AIMA’s own ARI page printed €220,000 for that last figure on 9 October 2026, so confirm it with AIMA. The fund and company routes have no such reduction.

On the 2026 figures, the D7 asks for savings of around €11,040 and a passive income of €920 a month.

So the entry cost differs by a factor of roughly twenty-five at the cheapest standard golden visa route, and closer to fifty at the common one. If you are going to live in Portugal, and your income clears the D7 threshold, there is no financial argument for the golden visa at all. That sounds obvious written down. It is not obvious in a market where most of the published comparisons are produced by firms that earn a commission on a €500,000 fund subscription and nothing on a D7.

Property no longer qualifies, and this catches people out

If you have read an older guide, or spoken to someone who did this in 2021, you may still believe you can buy an apartment and get residency. You cannot.

Law 56/2023 removed the real estate routes in October 2023. Residential purchase does not qualify at any price. Commercial purchase does not qualify. The rehabilitation route and the reduced property thresholds in low-density areas are gone. A low-density reduction does survive, but only on the job-creation, research and cultural-heritage routes. Property is now something you might buy because you want somewhere to live, not something that buys you a permit.

The real dividing line is presence

The D7 vs golden visa debate comes down to this one question, and it is not about money at all.

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. On the D7’s 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. That is a residence visa in the plain sense of the word: it expects you to reside.

The golden visa asks for roughly seven days a year.

So the question to answer before you compare anything else is simple. Are you moving to Portugal, or are you acquiring the right to move to Portugal later? If it is the first, the D7 is almost certainly your route and the golden visa is an expensive way to buy something you do not need. If it is the second, the D7 is not available to you in any practical sense, because the permit can be cancelled once your unjustified absences pass those limits.

People try to split the difference here and it rarely works. The absence limits are not a formality.

Portugal Golden Visa 2026: What It No Longer Buys

Until May 2026 the golden visa had a genuine advantage that justified the price for some people: five years of minimal presence, then eligibility for citizenship, and an EU passport at the end of it.

The nationality law amendments effective 19 May 2026 extended the qualifying residency period to ten years for most nationalities, and seven for EU and CPLP nationals. Applications already pending on that date continue under the old rules. Everyone else is on the new clock.

Both routes are affected identically. The golden visa did not lose an advantage over the D7 here; it lost an advantage over doing nothing. Ten years of holding an investment and flying in for a week a year is a different proposition from five, and anyone who modelled this in 2024 should model it again.

The same amendments added a requirement to demonstrate knowledge of Portuguese culture, history, national symbols, civic rights and duties, and a formal commitment to democratic principles. If your plan involved never really engaging with Portugal, the law has now noticed.

The clock change almost nobody is pricing in

Buried in the same reform is a detail with more practical bite than the headline number.

The qualifying period now starts on the date your residence permit is issued, not the date you applied. Previously the application date could be argued to count, which mattered enormously given how long Portuguese immigration processing takes.

One practitioner tracker puts golden visa files at about twelve months at the fast end and well over three years for applicants caught in the earlier backlog (updated 7 September 2026), and they sit at lower priority than humanitarian and work permits. Put those two facts together. Someone submitting a golden visa application in late 2026 might not have a permit issued until 2028 or later, at which point a ten-year clock begins. Citizenship lands in the late 2030s at the earliest.

That is the number to run before committing half a million euros, and it is not the number in most brochures.

Is the backlog getting better?

Partly, and it is worth being accurate about this rather than alarming.

AIMA, the agency that replaced SEF, inherited a backlog estimated at over 400,000 applications in 2024, around 350,000 of them from its predecessor. Delays beyond a year were routine. In 2025 it issued 386,000 residence permits, a 60% increase on the previous year, and it points to that as evidence the system is working.

Immigration lawyers push back on what that figure measures. “Resolved,” they note, includes archived and rejected files rather than approvals alone. Halfway through 2026 the honest position is that the backlog is neither the crisis it was in 2024 nor the solved problem it is sometimes described as. Plan for months, not weeks, and do not build a timeline that depends on a fast decision.

Portugal D7 Visa vs Golden Visa: Which One You Actually Qualify For

Strip out the marketing, and three real questions remain.

Will you live in Portugal more than half the time? If yes, and your passive income clears the threshold, take the D7. Nothing about the golden visa improves your position and it costs a quarter of a million euros more.

Do you have qualifying passive income at all? The D7 is specific about this. Salary from active employment is not passive income. If you are working remotely for a foreign employer, the D7 is the wrong instrument and you should be looking at the D8 rather than the golden visa.

Are you buying optionality rather than a home? Then the golden visa is the only one of the two that works. Price it against the new ten-year clock, the issue-date rule and the processing delay, not against the five-year timeline it was sold on.

A fourth case is worth naming: people who want the golden visa because they believe the D7 income threshold is out of reach. Before you conclude that, work out the figure for your own household. The means-of-subsistence ordinance counts a second adult at 50% of the first adult’s requirement and each child under 18 at 30%, so a couple needs 150% of the single-applicant figure, not 200%. If you are still close to the line, ask your consulate which figure it applies to your file and have a lawyer licensed in Portugal check your documents before you spend hundreds of thousands of euros on the alternative.

Whichever route you take, get the real cost picture before you commit: why the golden visa’s published cost totals never agree, and how to build a number for your own household instead.

And whichever route gets you to residency, the citizenship process at the end of it has its own separate requirements. What naturalisation actually asks of you once your residency clock is done is covered separately.

And once you have a route in mind, the actual monthly number matters more than either visa. What a month in Portugal really costs is covered separately.

What does not differ

Both routes reach permanent residence at five years. Both give you Schengen mobility. Both allow family reunification. Both now face the same naturalisation period and the same civics requirements.

And neither is a tax status. This is a common conflation. A residence permit determines your right to be in Portugal. It says nothing about how your income is taxed. Taxation is a separate application under a separate regime with its own eligibility rules. Getting a D7 does not give you a tax break, and getting a golden visa does not either.

What we would tell you

If you are moving, take the D7 and spend the difference on a good lawyer and a better flat.

If you are not moving, understand that you are now buying a ten-year option rather than a five-year passport, and that the clock does not start when you pay. That may still be worth it. It is a materially worse deal than it was eighteen months ago, and anyone telling you otherwise has not updated their material since the spring.

Either way, the Portugal D7 visa versus golden visa decision turns on facts about your own life, income and timeline that a general article cannot know. Both routes are administered by AIMA under legislation that has changed twice in three years. Pay someone licensed in Portugal for an hour before you commit to either.

Related reading: More on moving to Portugal

Frequently asked questions

Is the Portugal D7 Visa Cheaper Than the Golden Visa?

Substantially. The D7 requires around €11,040 in savings and a passive income of about €920 a month in 2026 for a single applicant. The cheapest standard golden visa route requires a €250,000 investment, and the most common requires €500,000. If you intend to live in Portugal, there is no financial case for the golden visa.

Can I still get a Portugal golden visa by buying property?

No. Law 56/2023 removed the real estate routes in October 2023. Residential purchase does not qualify at any price, commercial purchase does not qualify, and the rehabilitation route and the reduced property thresholds in low-density areas no longer exist. The remaining routes are investment funds, scientific research, cultural heritage, job creation, and company capital combined with job creation, and a 20% low-density reduction still applies to the job-creation, research and cultural-heritage routes.

How long until citizenship on the D7 or the golden visa?

Both are now the same. Amendments to the nationality law effective 19 May 2026 extended the qualifying residency period to ten years for most nationalities and seven for EU and CPLP nationals, replacing the previous five years. Applications pending on 19 May 2026 continue under the old rules.

When does the citizenship clock start?

On the date your residence permit is issued, not the date you applied. Because golden visa files can take from about twelve months to well over three years at AIMA and sit at lower priority than work and humanitarian permits, the gap between applying and starting the clock can be substantial.

How much time do I have to spend in Portugal on each route?

On the D7, 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 (Article 85 of Law 23/2007), which on the first two-year permit means at least sixteen months in Portugal. The same limits apply to each three-year renewal. The golden visa requires roughly seven days a year.

Does a D7 or golden visa give me a tax benefit in Portugal?

No. A residence permit determines your right to live in Portugal and says nothing about how your income is taxed. Portugal’s tax regime for new residents is a separate application with its own eligibility rules, and holding either visa does not grant it.

Sources

• Clark Hill, Portugal nationality law changes: extended residency rules, 2026
• Portugal golden visa real estate rules in 2026, and why property no longer qualifies
• Portugal golden visa processing delays, 2026
• AIMA backlog and appointment situation, mid-2026
• AIMA, Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum
• Diário da República, Portaria n.º 1563/2007, the ordinance behind the D7 income threshold
• Government of Portugal, minimum wage increase to €920 for 2026
• Diário da República, Lei n.º 23/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 3.º and 85.º, the investment routes, the low-density reduction, and absences from Portugal
• Diário da República, Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007 (consolidated text), Artigos 65.º-A and 65.º-C, the low-density reduction and the minimum stay for golden visa renewals

All sources accessed 28 August 2026, except Portaria n.º 1563/2007, Lei n.º 23/2007 and Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007, which were re-checked in the Diário da República on 9 October 2026. Portuguese immigration and nationality law changed materially in October 2023 and again in May 2026, and processing practice moves faster than published guidance. Check the current position and take advice from a professional licensed in Portugal before committing to either route.

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.

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.

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.