Renewing your residence permit in Portugal in 2026

• Apply before it expires — the law says up to 30 days before the end date (Lei 23/2007, art. 78.º); AIMA's Portal das Renovações takes the request online
• No counter visit unless your application is approved and your biometrics or passport are out of date
• Fees: 133 € for the analysis plus 114,30 € for a temporary permit (85,80 € through the portal); 61,90 € for a permanent permit (46,30 €)
• Automatic extensions ended on 15 October 2025 — an expired card is only valid if a renewal has been filed; the receipt AIMA issues is valid for 180 days

The residence permit (autorização de residência, AR) that follows a D7, D2, D1, D8, study or family visa is temporary: two years at first, then three, and it has to be renewed each time. Since July 2025 the renewal is filed online, the fee is paid online, and in most cases the new card arrives without anyone going to an AIMA desk. This article explains who has to renew, when, what AIMA checks, what it costs and what to carry while you wait.

Who renews, and when

Every temporary residence permit is renewed through the same procedure, whatever the visa that opened it: passive income (D7), work (D1 and D2), digital nomad (D8), study, family reunification, highly qualified activity. The permanent permit granted after five years of temporary permits (art. 80.º) is a status without an end date; only its card is renewed, every five years. Holders of a CPLP residence permit use a separate service on services.aima.gov.pt, built for that permit.

The Foreigners Act sets one deadline: the renewal “must be requested by the interested party up to 30 days before its validity expires” (art. 78.º, n.º 1). Start earlier than that — the portal lets you file as soon as the card enters its last months, and an application filed before expiry is what keeps you legal afterwards.

What AIMA checks

Renewal is not automatic. Article 78.º, n.º 2, lists what the holder must still have: means of subsistence at the level fixed by ministerial order, accommodation, tax and social-security obligations fulfilled, and no conviction to a sentence, or sentences, of more than one year of prison. Renewal can also be refused on public-order or public-security grounds (n.º 3), and if the SIS holds an entry ban against you (art. 81.º, n.º 3). An illness that appeared after the first card is not a ground for refusal (n.º 4).

The regulation (Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007, art. 63.º) turns that into a document list:

• a valid passport or travel document;
• proof that you still have the means on which the permit was granted — pension or investment income for a D7, activity and income for a D2, salary for a D1, remote income for a D8;
• proof of accommodation (rental contract, deed, or a declaration from the person housing you);
• information on your criminal record in Portugal — AIMA consults it directly;
• a regularised tax and social-security situation (art. 63.º, n.º 3): AIMA checks the databases, so clear any debt first — the two free certificates that prove it are explained in our guide to the non-debt certificates;
• for work permits, proof that the employment or the independent activity continues (n.º 5); for students, enrolment, attendance and results, tuition paid and health cover (n.º 7).

The renewal, step by step

Fees in 2026

Fees are paid by Multibanco reference or the other methods on the payment slip; keep the proof.

Permits that expired before July 2025

AIMA split the backlog in two. Permits that expired before 30 June 2025 (from February 2020 onwards) were handled by the Estrutura de Missão: holders were notified by e-mail, in order of expiry date, to revalidate their access on services.aima.gov.pt, request the payment document and pay it within ten working days; a biometrics appointment followed only when needed. Permits expiring after 30 June 2025 go through the Portal das Renovações described above. If you never received a notification and your card is long expired, file through the portal and contact AIMA’s centre (+351 217 115 000, weekdays 8:00–20:00) with your process number.

What the September 2026 reform changed

Lei n.º 62/2026 of 10 September, which transposes the EU single-permit directive, rewrote parts of the Foreigners Act. Two points matter for renewals: the renewal request “may be made by the interested party or by the legal representative” and is filed with AIMA (new art. 81.º-A), and applications for a residence permit must now be decided within 90 days, extendable by 30 in exceptional, justified cases, with the applicant informed (art. 82.º, n.º 5). Refusals must state their grounds and the deadline for a court challenge (n.º 8).

Five years in: the permanent permit

Holders of temporary permits for at least five years, without a conviction over one year in that period, with means, accommodation and basic Portuguese, are entitled to a permanent residence permit (art. 80.º). The change is requested rather than renewed: 133 € analysis plus 351,10 € (263,40 € online), and from then on only the card is renewed, every five years, for 61,90 €. Five years of legal residence is also the point at which many holders look at Portuguese nationality by residence — a separate procedure with its own clock.