Portuguese Residency Visa Categories 2024

PORTUGAL D1 VISA

This is the residency visa for professionals who have already accepted an offer of employment in Portugal. It is valid for stays longer than 12 months. It is important to note that you can only be employed in Portugal if the position was advertised and interviewed for, and if it could not get filled by hiring a Portuguese citizen, or a citizen of another EU country. This visa is NOT suitable for non-EEA nationals who are still looking for work in Portugal.

PORTUGAL D2 VISA

Portugal seeks to incentivize emerging entrepreneurs to settle in Portugal and start an innovative enterprise in Portugal. In order to be eligible to apply for the D2 Visa, you’ll need to have an innovative or original idea and a solid business plan, along with some nominal capitalization. If you’re looking to start a restaurant, guest house or a similar, more conventional business in Portugal, this visa will not be suitable for you.

 

PORTUGAL D3 VISA

The D3 Visa, also packaged as the Highly Qualified Activity Visa, is suitable for highly qualified foreign nationals across a range of specified industries and activities. In order to be eligible to apply, you’ll have to meet at least one of three primary criteria:

  1. You’ll have to have an offer of employment, or a signed job offer with a duration of 12 months or longer, and with an annual salary package that is at least 1.5 times the national minimum wage. The national minimum wage in 2021 is €7,980, so your gross salary will have to be €11,970 – and ideally significantly higher. Or;

  2. You’ll need to hold a postgraduate qualification and/or professional certification in a regulated industry. Or;

  3. You’ll need to hold a professional qualification that is highly specific and appropriate to a non-regulated profession.

NOTE: The so-called Tech Visa also falls under this category.  Similarly, the concierge-style Highly Qualified Activity Visa, or HQA, for short, is issued on the same legal basis as the D3 Visa. But given that it serves the government’s objective of promoting R&D in Portugal, the minimum stay requirements associated with this visa program are as flexible as those associated with the Golden Visa Program (D9 Visa).

PORTUGAL D4 VISA

The D4 is Portugal’s student visa category for non-EEA nationals seeking to spend more than three months in the country for educational purposes (unless your country has an agreement with Portugal to waive this requirement). It is suitable for students, exchange students, professional internships and voluntary internships. If you’re coming to Portugal for study purposes for shorter than 90 days, however, you’ll have to apply for a C-Type Schengen Visa).

PORTUGAL D5 VISA

The D5 Visa caters for college or university students seeking to come to Portugal to further their tertiary education.

PORTUGAL D6 VISA

The D6 is the Portuguese visa category for family reunification purposes. If you hold legal residency in Portugal, you can apply for the D6 Visa in order to bring your spouse, dependent children under the age of 18, and your financially dependent parents over the age of 65 to Portugal.

PORTUGAL D7 VISA

Also frequently referred to as the Portuguese retirement or passive income visa, the D7 Visa, which we specialize in, is ideally suited for a range of applicants – provided that you can prove sufficient income (and ideally passive income) sourced from outside Portugal. The minimum income requirement for this visa, in 2021 is €820 per month, or €9,840 per year for a single applicant, and at least €14,760 per year for a married couple.

But consider that to be the absolute minimum. To maximize your chances of getting approved for this visa, you’ll need to be able to prove a stable income that is substantially higher than the minimum required amounts.

PORTUGAL D9 VISA

This visa category is better known as the Portuguese Golden Visa, or ARI, in Portuguese. In order to qualify for this residency visa, you’ll have to invest a minimum of €280,000 in real estate in Portugal, although the overwhelming majority of investors opt for the €350,000 investment pricing category, which involves investing in a property that is at least 30 years old, requires renovation, and is located in government specified areas within Portugal.

The newly launched artistic support option, also known as the Cultural Production Golden Visa, is priced at only €200,000 for projects located in low-density areas, and €250,000 for projects in urban areas.