TL;DR

  • You must show average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the Portuguese minimum wage. The minimum wage is €920 in 2026, so the threshold is €3,680 a month.
  • It is an average over three months, not a single payslip, and it is not a bank balance.
  • The residence permit that follows is granted under Article 88.º, n.º 1, is valid for two years, and renews for three years at a time.
  • Portugal changed its immigration law in October 2025, but the remote work visa was not one of the articles amended.

Portugal’s remote work visa is one of the most searched routes into Europe, and one of the most inconsistently described. Remote Work Europe has verified every figure on this page against the Diário da República, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal, three official consular checklists and AIMA’s own guidance, in September 2026.

Start with the number, because it is the thing that decides whether you can apply.

How much income do you need for Portugal’s digital nomad visa?

You need average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the Portuguese guaranteed minimum monthly wage. In 2026 the minimum wage is €920, so the threshold is €3,680 a month.

The official consular checklists put it like this, in identical wording across posts:

“Comprovativo de rendimentos médios mensais auferidos nos últimos três meses no valor mínimo equivalente a quatro remunerações mínimas mensais garantidas.”

And in the English column of the same document: “Proof of average monthly income earned in the last three months with a minimum value equivalent to four times the Portuguese monthly minimum wage.”

Three details in that sentence get missed constantly:

It is an average, over three months. One strong invoice does not do it. If your income is lumpy – and freelance income usually is – the three-month window is the thing to plan around, not the headline figure.

It is income, not savings. A bank balance is not what is being asked for here. You are proving what you earn, from the work you do remotely.

It moves every January. The threshold is not a fixed euro figure written into the law; it is a multiple of the minimum wage, which is set annually by decree. It has gone up every year, and Portugal has an agreed schedule taking the minimum wage to €1,100 by 2029. On today’s multiplier that would put the threshold near €4,400.

For 2026 the minimum wage was set by Decreto-Lei n.º 139/2025 of 29 December. Article 3.º states the value is €920,00. Article 2.º limits that to mainland Portugal – Madeira and the Azores set their own minimum wage, which is a wrinkle worth raising with your consulate if you are applying to live in either.

Is it called the D8 visa?

Not officially, and this is worth knowing before you go looking for forms.

Portugal’s own paperwork does not use the letter code. All three official consular checklists we examined – Toronto, Caracas and Shanghai – head the document “Visto de residência para o exercício de atividade profissional prestada de forma remota – Nómadas Digitais”, and none of them prints a “D8” anywhere.

“D8” is a convention that grew up online and among immigration advisers. It is perfectly serviceable shorthand, and we use it ourselves because it is what people search for. Just do not expect to see it on a consulate form, and do not be thrown when you don’t.

The one official identifier that does matter is Article 88.º, n.º 1, which is the provision the residence permit is granted under once you are in Portugal. AIMA uses that reference on its own page.

There are two remote work visas, not one

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal lists two separate routes for remote work, and choosing the wrong one wastes an application.

A temporary stay visa for remote professional activity. This suits a stay of up to a year and does not put you on a path to a residence permit.

A residence visa for remote professional activity performed for entities outside Portugal. This is the one people mean by the digital nomad visa. You obtain it at a consulate, travel to Portugal, and then convert it into a residence permit with AIMA.

If your intention is to settle – and particularly if you are thinking about the five-year clock towards permanent residence or citizenship – the residence visa is the route. Our guide to Portugal’s citizenship rules covers what that clock now looks like.

What documents does Portugal actually ask for?

From the official consular checklists, for the residence visa:

General requirements, for everyone

  • The national visa application form, completed in full and signed
  • Passport valid for at least three months beyond your intended stay, plus a photocopy
  • Passport photographs
  • Proof of lawful status where you are applying, if you are not a national of that country
  • Valid travel insurance covering medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation – the Toronto checklist specifies minimum cover of €30,000
  • A criminal record certificate from your country of nationality, or where you have lived for more than a year, apostilled or legalised
  • A signed request permitting the Portuguese authorities to check your Portuguese criminal record

Specific to this visa

  • If you are employed: an employment contract, or a declaration from your employer confirming the relationship
  • If you are self-employed: evidence of the company contract or services being provided
  • Proof of average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the minimum wage
  • A document attesting your tax residence – some posts require it apostilled, others do not

That last one is the requirement we see omitted most often from summaries elsewhere, and it is not a formality. Note that it varies between consulates: the Shanghai checklist asks for the tax residence document “devidamente Apostilado”, while the Tokyo checklist of 28 May 2025 asks only for the document. If yours needs an apostille, start early – it is the slowest item on the list in most countries.

One caution about the official checklists

Several consular documents still instruct you to request a criminal record check from the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras. SEF was dissolved, and its functions passed to AIMA. The documents have not all caught up.

This is a good illustration of a wider point about Portuguese immigration paperwork: an official source can still be an out-of-date source. Where a checklist and AIMA’s live guidance disagree, ring the consulate you are applying to rather than assuming either is current.

What happens after you arrive

The visa gets you into Portugal. The residence permit is a separate step, handled by AIMA.

According to AIMA’s own guidance, the application is made by appointment and submitted in person at any Loja AIMA, with an electronic platform described as “em fase de implementação” for residence visa holders. Alongside your passport and valid visa, you will need:

  • A declaration on your honour from the employer or client outside Portugal attesting the working relationship or the services provided
  • A declaration on your honour of your address, stating on what basis you live there – owner, tenant, sub-tenant and so on
  • Supporting proof of that: a land registry certificate if you own the property, or a declaration from your landlord if you rent

The permit is valid for two years from issue, and renews for successive three-year periods. That is a materially better deal than the annual renewal cycles some European schemes run, and it is one of the genuine advantages of this route.

What changed in October 2025, and what didn’t

Portugal amended its immigration law through Lei n.º 61/2025 of 22 October, which took effect the following day. It was a substantial reform: it restricted the job-seeker visa to holders of specialised technical skills, created a new residence route for entrepreneurs in certified incubators, and revoked the manifestação de interesse mechanism that had allowed people already in Portugal to regularise their status.

The remote work visa was not among the articles amended. Article 2.º of Lei n.º 61/2025 lists them exactly: 45.º, 46.º, 52.º, 52.º-A, 57.º-A, 75.º, 87.º-A, 89.º, 98.º, 99.º, 101.º, 103.º, 104.º, 105.º, 106.º, 122.º and 123.º. Article 61.º-B, which creates this visa, is not on that list, and the law’s revocation article does not touch it either. In the consolidated text it still carries only its original stamp: aditado pelo Lei n.º 18/2022. Lei n.º 61/2025 remains the most recent amendment to the Lei de Estrangeiros.

One nuance, because it matters. Article 52.º – the general conditions for granting a visa – was amended, and that is where the means-of-subsistence requirement lives. But 52.º(1)(d) does not name a figure: it delegates the definition to a ministerial portaria. So the income rule sits in ministerial and consular instruction rather than in the statute, which is exactly why the operative number appears on consulate checklists rather than in the law.

That is reassuring for anyone mid-application, but it is worth stating plainly what it does and does not mean. It means the visa survived a reform that reshaped a good deal around it. It does not mean the rules are frozen – the income threshold still moves every January with the minimum wage, and the practical requirements sit in consular instructions that can change without a change in the law.

Tax is a separate question, and a big one

Getting the visa and understanding what you will pay are two different problems, and the second one catches people out.

Portugal’s tax treatment of new residents changed when the old non-habitual resident regime closed to new entrants and the IFICI regime replaced it, with much narrower eligibility. Whether you qualify is not obvious, and the assumption that “Portugal is the low-tax option” is doing a lot of unexamined work in most people’s plans.

We have written that up separately in do you qualify for Portugal’s IFICI regime?, and on the day-to-day compliance side, issuing recibos verdes to foreign clients and the Portugal freelancer compliance calendar cover what the year actually looks like once you are registered.

We are not tax advisers, and none of the above is advice for your situation. Get a Portuguese accountant before you commit, not after.

Before you apply

Our companion piece on the D8 mistakes that get applications rejected goes through the failure modes in detail. The short version:

  • Check your three-month average, not your best month
  • Ask your consulate whether the tax residence document needs an apostille – it varies by post, and where it is required it is the long pole
  • Confirm requirements with the specific consulate you are applying to, since checklists differ between posts and some are out of date
  • Remember the threshold changes every January

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Frequently asked questions

How much do I need to earn for Portugal’s digital nomad visa in 2026? €3,680 a month – four times the €920 minimum wage – measured as an average across the last three months.

Does savings count instead of income? No. The requirement is proof of income earned over the last three months. Some consulates ask to see bank statements as supporting evidence, but the test is what you earn.

Will the threshold go up in 2027? Almost certainly. It is four times the minimum wage, and Portugal has an agreed path to €1,100 by 2029. Assume it rises each January.

Is the D8 the same as the temporary stay visa? No. There are two remote work visas. The temporary stay visa suits stays of up to a year; the residence visa is the one that converts into a residence permit and starts your clock towards permanent residence.

How long is the residence permit valid? Two years from issue, then renewable for successive three-year periods, per AIMA.

Did the October 2025 immigration reform change this visa? No. Lei n.º 61/2025 amended a long list of articles, and the one creating this visa was not among them.

Sources

Figures verified 7 September 2026. The income threshold changes each January with the Portuguese minimum wage – check the current figure before you apply.