About Immigrate to Europe
Last Verified: August 28, 2026 Next Verification: January 2027 Currency Basis: €1 = $1.09 (August 2026)
How much money do you need for the Portugal D7 visa?
As of August 2026, Portugal's D7 visa requires €920 per month ($1,003) in passive income for a single applicant. Add 50% for a spouse (€460, $501) and 30% per child under 18 (€276, $301). A couple with one child needs €1,656 per month ($1,805). Consulates in practice often want to see €1,500-2,000 ($1,635-$2,180).
The €920 figure tracks Portugal's minimum wage, so it rises most years. Budget above the floor rather than at it: a stated minimum is what gets you refused when the euro moves against you, not what gets you approved.
Qualifying income must be passive: foreign pensions, US Social Security, investment dividends, rental income, or annuities. A salary does not count, even a remote one; that is the D8.
Can you work on a Portugal D7 visa?
Yes. This is the most misunderstood fact about the D7, and it is Portugal's single biggest advantage over comparable visas. D7 holders may work full-time for a Portuguese employer, freelance, consult, or start a business. Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa, Italy's Elective Residence Visa, and Austria's equivalent all prohibit work outright.
You must still prove the passive income to get the visa and to renew it. The income is the qualification; the work is a right that comes with the residency.
For an American weighing early retirement against a career that is not quite finished, this distinction decides which country is even possible.
How long does the Portugal D7 visa take, start to finish?
Expect six to nine months from first document to residence card. The consulate stage runs 60-90 days, you must attend an AIMA appointment within 120 days of arriving in Portugal, and the card itself can take a further 90 days.
The step Americans underestimate is the FBI criminal background check and its apostille. The apostille is valid for only 30 days before submission, so ordering it too early is as damaging as ordering it too late.
Is there still a tax break for retirees moving to Portugal?
No. Portugal's NHR regime, which taxed foreign pensions at a flat 10%, closed to new applicants on 31 December 2023. Its replacement, IFICI (widely marketed as "NHR 2.0"), began on 1 January 2024 and offers a 20% flat rate for 10 years, but only on qualifying employment and self-employment income in research, technology and innovation roles. It explicitly excludes retirees and carries no pension benefit at all.
Any article or advisor still selling Portugal on the 10% pension rate is working from pre-2024 information. Foreign pension income now faces standard Portuguese progressive rates, up to 48%.
This changes the math substantially, though not always the answer: Portugal's cost of living and healthcare still outperform most US retirement scenarios. It just has to be argued on those grounds rather than on a tax break that no longer exists.
How long can you leave Portugal without losing your D7 residency?
Your permit can be cancelled after an unjustified absence of more than six consecutive months, or eight non-consecutive months, across the permit's validity. There is no minimum number of days you must be physically present, unlike the Golden Visa.
The trap is the non-consecutive count. Four separate two-month trips home look harmless and put you at the limit. Americans keeping ties in the US, grandchildren, a house, medical care, hit this without noticing, and discover it at renewal.
Track it from day one rather than reconstructing it later.
D7 or D8: which one is right for me?
The D7 is for passive income: pensions, dividends, rent. The D8 is for remote earned income and requires €3,680 per month ($4,011) as of August 2026, four times the D7 threshold. If your money arrives whether or not you work tomorrow, you want the D7. If it stops when you stop working, you want the D8.
The D7's far lower threshold makes it tempting, but qualifying a remote salary as passive income is the most common reason a D7 application is refused. The gap between €920 and €3,680 is exactly why consulates scrutinise the source of the income rather than just the amount.
Mixed situations, such as a small pension plus consulting work, are genuinely ambiguous and worth modelling before you choose.
Which other EU countries offer passive income visas?
Ten or more, at very different thresholds. Portugal's D7 is the cheapest entry at €920 ($1,003). Spain's NLV requires €2,400 ($2,616) and forbids all work. Italy's Elective Residence Visa requires €31,000 per year ($33,790) and enforces its no-work rule strictly. Greece's FIP requires €3,500 ($3,815). Austria, Czechia, Hungary and Romania run comparable programmes at lower cost and lower profile.
The threshold is rarely the deciding factor. Work rights, healthcare access, tax treatment of US Social Security, and the actual cost of the city you would live in matter more, and they push different people toward different countries.
Which country actually fits you?
Income thresholds tell you where you qualify. They do not tell you where you would want to live.
Take the free quiz. Twelve questions, and it eliminates the countries you cannot legally qualify for before ranking the rest against what you say matters: cost, healthcare, climate, language, community. You will see why each country was ruled in or out.
→ Pick your own top 5 EU countries → Read the full passive income visa guide: all 10+ countries, work restrictions, tax treatment, and application timelines
Want the full picture?
Our Passive Income Visas Guide goes deeper: all 10+ EU countries with detailed work restriction rules, renewal documentation templates, currency hedging strategies, income source verification guidance, and country-specific application timelines you won't find in Q&As alone.
→ Pick your own top 5 EU countries → Read the full guide
Verified against Portuguese government and AIMA guidance, August 2026. Visa thresholds change annually with Portugal's minimum wage. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.