D8 visa

Portugal's D8 visa is the country's dedicated digital nomad residence pathway, introduced in October 2022. It allows remote workers and freelancers employed by or serving clients outside Portugal to live legally in Portugal and work for non-Portuguese entities. The income threshold — set at four times Portugal's national minimum wage — stands at €3,680 per month for a single applicant in 2026 following the minimum wage increase to €920. Adding a spouse raises the requirement to €5,520/month; each additional child adds 30%. Applicants must arrive on a D8 entry visa, then attend an AIMA appointment within 120 days to convert to a formal two-year residence permit.

The D8 pipeline stalled significantly in early 2026. Cultural mediators at AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo), the agency that replaced the discredited SEF in 2023, walked out on strike on 30 March 2026 with adhesion above 70% in Porto, directly hitting appointment scheduling for the 40,000 to 60,000 pending residency cases already in AIMA's backlog. Separately, the Portuguese Parliament voted on 3 April 2026 to double the residency-to-citizenship window from five to ten years for most nationalities — not directly changing the D8 visa but significantly extending the path to permanent settlement for anyone who holds one.

By September 2025, Portugal had received more than 9,300 D8 applications. The visa is available to citizens of countries with which Portugal has reciprocal agreements or which meet EU SAFE-country criteria. Portugal has no specific D8 for all nationalities; applicants outside reciprocal agreement countries must apply under the general visa framework. Lisbon and Porto are the primary D8 settlement cities, though Madeira and the Algarve also host significant nomad communities.