D8 digital nomad visa: remote work from Portugal, the 2026 rules

Two visas under one name

What everyone calls the “digital nomad visa” is the visa para o exercício de atividade profissional prestada de forma remota para fora do território nacional, created by Lei n.º 18/2022. The consulate issues it in one of two forms, and the choice matters:

If you plan to stay beyond a year, apply for the residence version from the start: a temporary-stay visa cannot be converted into a permit without leaving and applying again.

• 3 680 € minimum average monthly income over the last 3 months (4 × RMMG of 920 €)
• 110 € consular fee
• 60 days decision deadline for the residence version
• 2 + 3 years permit validity, then renewals

The income test, exactly as the consulate reads it

The official list asks for comprovativo de rendimentos médios mensais auferidos … nos últimos três meses de valor mínimo equivalente a quatro remunerações mínimas mensais garantidas: proof of average monthly income over the last three months of at least four minimum wages. With the 2026 minimum wage at 920 €, that is 3 680 € a month, 11 040 € over the quarter.

Three things follow from the wording:

1. It is an average: one strong month can carry a weaker one, but the three-month total must reach 11 040 €.
2. It is earned income from remote work — a salary or invoiced fees — not savings, not investment income (that is the D7).
3. It is per applicant. Family members who accompany you are covered by the general means-of-subsistence scale (50 % per adult, 30 % per child), not by a second 3 680 €.

Payslips and bank statements prove a salary; invoices and the matching bank credits prove freelance income. Cryptocurrency payments and cash are the two sources consulates reject most often for lack of a paper trail.

Documents specific to the D8

For employees, one of: the employment contract, or a declaration from the employer confirming the employment relationship (it should say the work is performed remotely and the employer has no establishment in Portugal).

For the self-employed, one of: the company deed (if you invoice through your own company), a service contract, or documents showing services provided to one or more clients.

For everyone: the three months of income evidence, and a document proving your tax residence — a tax-residency certificate or your latest tax return. Then the general documents of any long-stay visa: form, photos, passport, travel insurance, apostilled criminal record certificate, and proof of accommodation in Portugal (asked in practice: a lease, a booking for the temporary version, or a hosting declaration).

The steps

Tax: the part people underestimate

Once you spend more than 183 days in Portugal in a twelve-month period, or keep a home here in conditions that suggest a habitual residence, you become tax resident and Portugal taxes your worldwide income at progressive rates. Your foreign employer may also have obligations. Three practical consequences:

• An employee of a foreign company usually ends up either on the company’s Portuguese payroll, through an employer-of-record, or declaring the salary in the annual IRS return with foreign tax credited under the treaty.
• A freelancer registers an activity with Finanças (recibos verdes), charges VAT rules according to where the client is, and pays social security after a first year of exemption.
• The IFICI regime (the successor of NHR since 2024) grants a 20 % flat rate for ten years to people in listed qualified activities — research, higher education, certified start-ups, some technology and industry roles — not to every remote worker. Eligibility is checked case by case.

We run the tax side with certified accountants; see tax and accounting and income tax for expats.

Questions about the D8