D7 visa: the passive-income and retirement route to Portugal

Who the D7 is for

The Portuguese visa portal files the D7 under one heading: fixação de residência de reformados, religiosos e pessoas que vivam de rendimentos — settling of retirees, clergy and people who live on their own income. Two profiles fit:

• Retirees, who prove the amount of their pension and that they can receive it, or other income, in Portugal;
• People living on their own income — rents from property, dividends and interest from investments, royalties from intellectual property — who prove the income exists and is available in Portugal.

It is not for people who intend to work for a Portuguese employer (that is the D1) nor, strictly, for remote workers paid a salary from abroad: since 2022 they have their own visa, the D8. Consulates have long tolerated D7 files built on remote salaries, but the D8 was designed for that case and its income test is clearer.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens never need a D7: they settle by registering at the town hall.

The income you must show

The law does not set a D7-specific amount. It points to the general means-of-subsistence scale (Portaria n.º 1563/2007), indexed to the minimum wage, which is 920 € a month in 2026:

These are floors, not targets. Consular officers look for stable and regular resources: a monthly pension beats a lump sum; two or three times the minimum reassures. Many applicants also place a year of living costs in a Portuguese bank account before applying — not a written requirement, but the simplest way to prove that the income is “available in Portugal”, which the regulation does require.

Income that counts: state and private pensions, annuities, rental income backed by leases and bank statements, dividends and interest shown on brokerage statements, royalties. Savings alone are a weaker case; savings plus a modest regular income is a normal one.

The file, document by document

General documents for any residence visa: signed form, two photos, passport valid three months beyond the stay, travel insurance covering medical care and repatriation, criminal record certificate (apostilled) from your country and from any country where you lived more than a year, proof of legal status if you apply outside your own country.

Specific to the D7:

• Retirees: a document stating the pension amount (pension statement, award letter) and proof that it is received or that other income is available in Portugal — a Portuguese bank statement does both jobs.
• Own income: the documents showing the source and amount (leases, dividend statements, brokerage or bank statements, royalty contracts) and proof of availability in Portugal.

Documents consulates ask for in practice, even where the official list is silent: a Portuguese NIF, a Portuguese bank account with balance, proof of accommodation (12-month lease, deed, or a hosting statement) and a short letter of motivation. Turning up without them is the usual cause of a second appointment.

How the process runs

Timeline and budget

Living in Portugal on a D7

Work. The D7 is built on passive income, but once you hold a residence permit you have the right to take a job or work independently without any special authorisation (Foreigners Act, art. 83.º n.º 1). What you cannot do is present a job as the basis of a D7 application.

Minimum stay. To keep the permit you must not be absent from Portugal more than six consecutive months or eight months in total during each validity period (art. 85.º), unless you show professional or force-majeure reasons.

Health. Residence gives access to the public health service (SNS) once you register at the local health centre with your permit and NIF; many D7 holders keep a private health policy for faster appointments.

Tax. After 183 days in a year, or from the day you have a home that suggests you intend to keep it, you are tax resident in Portugal and taxed on worldwide income at progressive rates. Foreign pensions are taxed here unless a treaty allocates them to the paying state (public-service pensions usually stay taxable at source). The NHR regime that once offered a 10 % rate on pensions closed to new applicants on 1 January 2024; its successor, IFICI, covers research and qualified jobs, not retirement. See tax and accounting.

Citizenship. Legal residence under a D7 counts towards naturalisation: ten years for most nationalities, seven for citizens of EU and Portuguese-speaking countries (Nationality Act as amended on 19 May 2026), with a language test at level A2 and, for new files, a test on Portuguese culture and history. Permanent residence comes earlier, after five years.

Questions about the D7