If you are American, British, Canadian or South African, the Portuguese citizenship rule you have read about is out of date. On 19 May 2026 the qualifying period went from five years to ten. Seven for Brazilians and other CPLP nationals, and for EU citizens. Only naturalisation applications already filed by 18 May 2026 keep the old five-year rule.
That is law, not a proposal — Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, in force the day after publication. It does not wipe out residence you have already accrued, but it does apply to you if you are living in Portugal now and have not yet filed. Almost every English-language guide still says five years.
Portugal is still one of the more achievable places in Europe for a non-EU national to move to. The D7 threshold is €920 a month. But the country has rewritten its immigration and nationality law three times since 2023, closed the tax regime that brought most retirees, abolished the route that let people regularise from inside the country, and gutted the golden visa. This page is the current position, with dates on everything.
Key facts
| Citizenship — CPLP and EU nationals | 7 years of legal residence |
| Citizenship — everyone else | 10 years — US, UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia |
| Permanent residence | Still 5 years |
| D7 income, single applicant | €920/month — passive income only, no salary |
| D8 income, single applicant | €3,680/month — four times the minimum wage, active income |
| Add a spouse | +€460/month. Each child under 18: +€276/month |
| Permit structure | 2 years, then renewals of 3 years |
| AIMA fees, first permit | About €440 per person (€133 + €307.20), from 1 March 2026 |
| Golden visa | Property routes abolished October 2023. Funds €500k, culture €250k, 10 jobs |
| Regularising from inside Portugal | Abolished 4 June 2024. You must have a visa before you arrive |
| NHR tax regime | Closed. Last transitional deadline passed 31 March 2025 |
| Figures checked | 18 September 2026. Minimum wage 2026: €920/month |
The citizenship rewrite, precisely
This deserves careful reading, because the detail decides whether your plan still works.
Parliament passed a nationality reform in late 2025. The Socialist Party sent it to the Constitutional Court, which in December 2025 struck down five provisions — the lifetime ban on citizenship for anyone sentenced to two years or more, a vague “manifest fraud” test, a rule making pending applications meet the requirements as at their submission date, a clause allowing citizenship to be cancelled for “conclusively rejecting the national community”, and a penal-code provision stripping nationality as an accessory penalty.
The Court did not strike down the seven- and ten-year periods. They survived review. Parliament reformulated the rest, the President promulgated on 3 May 2026, and the law was published as Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 on 18 May, in force the following day.
Is it retroactive? The answer turns on one date
If you filed your naturalisation application on or before 18 May 2026, it is a pending administrative procedure and the old law — including the five-year rule — still governs it. That is the only protection written into the statute.
If you are already legally resident but have not filed, the new law applies to you. Your accrued residence still counts; the finishing line moved. Someone who arrived on a D7 in 2023 expecting to naturalise in 2028 is now, if they hold a US, UK, Canadian or South African passport, looking at 2033.
The distinction is the filing date, not the arrival date. The Ministry of Justice has said so plainly.
The second change, which almost nobody reported
In 2024, Portugal had introduced a rule counting your residence period from the date you applied for your residence permit, provided it was eventually granted. That was a deliberate fix for AIMA’s enormous backlog — it meant the years you spent waiting in a queue were not years stolen from your citizenship clock.
Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 revoked it. Article 15 now runs 1, 2, 3, 5 — paragraph 4 is gone, and the republished text contains no reference to the date of a residence-permit application anywhere. The clock now runs from when you actually hold legal status.
For anyone caught in the 2023–2025 backlog, that is two changes landing on the same person at once: the target moved from five years to ten, and the time spent waiting stopped counting. It is the specific grievance behind the collective complaint that 1,260 golden visa investors filed with the Portuguese Ombudsman in July 2026, threatening to sue the State.
One more thing the new law added: interpolated periods of residence are summed only within a maximum window — 9 years for CPLP and EU nationals, 12 years for everyone else. Long gaps in and out of Portugal can now fall off the back of the count.
What about the language and civics test?
The language requirement stays, and the new law adds to it: you must now also demonstrate, “by test or by certificate”, knowledge of Portuguese culture, national history and national symbols, knowledge of fundamental rights and duties and the political organization of the State, and make a solemn declaration of adherence to the fundamental principles of the democratic rule of law. CPLP nationals are presumed to satisfy the language element unless a deficiency is obvious — a real advantage for Brazilian applicants.
The language standard in practice has long been A2, demonstrated by the CIPLE exam. Note, though, that the A2 level is not stated in the new law’s text — it rests on the surrounding regulations — and as far as we could establish, the new culture and civics test instrument had not been published as of September 2026, despite the law setting a 90-day deadline for it that fell in August. If you are close to applying, check what test actually exists before you plan around one.
Is anything going to change it back?
A petition before Parliament asks for a genuine transitional regime — protecting people whose residence was approved but whose card had not been issued, and neutralising the effect of administrative delay. Golden visa investors have separately asked for post-hoc constitutional review of the counting rule.
As of 18 September 2026, both are requests, not law. Nothing has been enacted, no ruling exists, and you should plan on ten years. If that changes, it will be news.
What changed, and when
Portugal’s rules have moved more in three years than in the previous fifteen. The date beside each item is the one to check any guide against.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 7 Oct 2023 | Golden visa property and capital-transfer routes abolished |
| 29 Oct 2023 | SEF dissolved; AIMA created, inheriting the backlog |
| 1 Jan 2024 | NHR closed to new entrants |
| 4 Jun 2024 | Manifestação de interesse abolished — no more regularising from inside Portugal |
| 9 Sep 2024 | AIMA task force begins work on roughly 1.45 million pending cases |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Final NHR transitional registration deadline passes |
| 8 Aug 2025 | Constitutional Court strikes five provisions of the foreigners-law reform |
| 15 Oct 2025 | The last blanket extension of expired residence permits expires |
| 22 Oct 2025 | Foreigners-law reform published — Lei n.º 61/2025 |
| 15 Dec 2025 | Constitutional Court strikes five provisions of the nationality reform — but not the 7/10 years |
| 31 Dec 2025 | Task force closes; about 30,000 complex cases remain |
| 1 Mar 2026 | AIMA fees rise, reported at up to 33% |
| 19 May 2026 | Nationality law in force: 7 years CPLP/EU, 10 years everyone else |
You cannot arrive as a tourist and sort it out later
Until June 2024, Portugal had the manifestação de interesse: turn up, find work, register with social security, and regularise from inside the country. It was the single most-recommended route in expat forums and it no longer exists — the provisions were repealed on 4 June 2024 and the 2025 reform entrenched the visa-first rule.
There is now no in-country regularisation route for an ordinary non-EU national. If a page tells you to fly to Lisbon and start the process there, it is describing a repealed statute, and following it will leave you illegally resident.
Visiting: the 90/180 rule
Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and a long list of others enter the Schengen area without a visa for 90 days in any rolling 180-day period. That is 90 days across the whole Schengen area, not 90 days per country, and the 180-day window rolls — it does not reset on 1 January or when you leave. Overstaying is recorded and it is the fastest way to complicate every application you make afterwards.
Use those 90 days for what they are good for: a reconnaissance trip, opening a bank account, getting a NIF, and signing a lease. Do not use them as the first instalment of living there.
The D7: the retirement and passive income visa
The D7 is the residence visa for retirees, religious workers, and people who live on rendimentos próprios — their own income. The legal concept is the thing most guides skate over: passive income only.
Qualifies: state and private pensions, rental income, dividends, interest, royalties, annuities, intellectual property income, trust distributions.
Does not qualify: salary from an employer, and income from active freelancing. If you earn it by working, the D7 is the wrong visa. Consulates scrutinise the nature of the income, not only the amount.
The 2026 income thresholds
The requirement is not written as a euro figure anywhere. It is derived from a 2007 regulation that sets means of subsistence as percentages of the national minimum wage: 100% for the first adult, 50% for each additional adult, 30% for each child under 18. The 2026 minimum wage for mainland Portugal is €920 a month, up 5.7% on 2025.
| Household | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Single applicant | €920 | €11,040 |
| Couple | €1,380 | €16,560 |
| Couple + 1 child | €1,656 | €19,872 |
| Couple + 2 children | €1,932 | €23,184 |
| Each additional adult | +€460 | +€5,520 |
| Each child under 18 | +€276 | +€3,312 |
Two things to hold alongside those numbers. First, they are statutory minima, not what consulates actually approve on. Posts exercise discretion and want headroom, and a €920 income will not persuade a Lisbon or Cascais landlord to give you the lease you also need. Treat the figure as a floor you must clear comfortably, not a target. Second, the Portuguese minimum wage is paid fourteen times a year in employment contexts, and some consultancies annualise the D7 threshold at 14× rather than 12×, which produces €12,880 instead of €11,040. The regulation refers to the monthly figure. Work from €920 a month and be ready for either annualisation.
There is no statutory savings requirement. In practice consulates expect a funded Portuguese account with a visible buffer, commonly around a year of the threshold, because it corroborates the “own means” claim. Any specific savings number you read is practitioner guidance, not law.
What else you need
- A NIF, the Portuguese tax number — in practice obtained through a fiscal representative before you arrive.
- A funded Portuguese bank account in your name.
- Accommodation secured in Portugal — a 12-month lease, a deed, or a notarised undertaking from a host. This is a hard requirement, not a formality, and it is checked again at the AIMA stage.
- Criminal record certificates from your country of origin and of residence, issued within three months, apostilled and translated into Portuguese.
- Signed authorization for AIMA to check Portuguese criminal records.
- Travel and health insurance covering the visa period, including medical repatriation.
- Documented proof of the income and its source — pension award letters, tenancy agreements, dividend statements, tax returns.
- Passport valid at least three months beyond the intended stay, two photos, the national visa form.
Consulates differ in the detail and in whether they use VFS Global for intake. Download your own consulate’s current checklist rather than working from any list on the internet, including this one.
The D8: the remote work visa, and the version you do not want
Operational since October 2022, the D8 covers people working remotely for an employer or clients outside Portugal. Unlike the D7 it is explicitly for active income — you are working for the money.
There are two D8s, and one of them is a dead end
The temporary-stay D8 gives you up to a year, renewable, and never produces a residence permit. The residence D8 is a four-month entry visa that converts into a residence permit at AIMA.
Only the residence version counts toward permanent residence or citizenship, because the qualifying clock runs on holding a temporary residence permit, which the temporary-stay route never issues. If you have any intention of staying, you want the residence D8. People apply for the wrong one because the temporary-stay version looks simpler.
The threshold is four times the minimum wage, measured as an average over the last three months rather than as a single payment. For 2026 that is €3,680 a month, about €44,160 a year. Dependants are added on the same scale as the D7: +€460 for a second adult, +€276 per child.
Employees show an employment contract or a signed employer declaration confirming the remote arrangement, plus three months of pay evidence and often the employer’s incorporation documents. Freelancers show client contracts, invoices, company registration where relevant, and the same three months of income. It is an income test, not a savings test — a bank balance alone does not satisfy the D8. Everything else mirrors the D7: NIF, Portuguese account, accommodation, criminal record, insurance.
D7 or D8?
| D7 | D8 (residence) | |
|---|---|---|
| Income type | Passive only | Active — remote work |
| 2026 threshold, single | €920/month | €3,680/month |
| Salary accepted? | No | Yes — that is the point |
| Permit structure | 2 years, then 3 | 2 years, then 3 |
| Counts toward citizenship | Yes | Yes — residence version only |
The D7 threshold is four times lower, which is exactly why so many remote workers are steered onto it. That advice is wrong if the income is salary, and putting salary on a D7 application is a misrepresentation on an immigration form. If you have both a pension and a remote job, you can use the D7 — but on the passive component alone, and only if that component clears €920 a month by itself.
The other routes
- D2 — entrepreneur or independent professional. For starting or investing in a Portuguese business, or working as an independent professional under a services contract. Needs a business plan judged on its economic, social, scientific, technological or cultural relevance. The D2 is the right route when your income comes from your own Portugal-facing business; the D8 is for when the clients are abroad.
- D3 — highly qualified activity, including the EU Blue Card, for skilled employment with a Portuguese employer.
- Job-seeker visa — materially narrowed by the 2025 reform. Do not build a plan on the version described in older guides.
- D4 — student.
- Family reunification — tightened in 2025, with a waiting period before a resident can bring family. Golden visa investors’ families remain exempt from that wait, which is now one of the program’s few remaining advantages.
The golden visa, minus the property
On 7 October 2023 the Mais Habitação law abolished the routes that made the Portuguese golden visa famous: the €1.5 million capital transfer and both real-estate options. You cannot buy property for a golden visa any more. What survives:
| Route | Amount | Low-density reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Investment funds — Portuguese-law vehicles, non-real-estate, maturity of at least 5 years, at least 60% invested in companies based in Portugal | €500,000 | None |
| Job creation | 10 jobs | 8 jobs in low-density areas |
| Scientific research — transfer to institutions in the national science and technology system | €500,000 | Applies, amount not confirmed |
| Arts and heritage — artistic production or recovery of national cultural heritage | €250,000 | €220,000 |
| Company capital + jobs — into a Portuguese company, with 5 permanent jobs maintained 3 years | €500,000 | Applies, amount not confirmed |
The real-estate exclusion is enforced downstream, not just at the front door. AIMA’s own forms state that the investment cannot target real estate directly or indirectly, and the fund route requires the manager to certify both that the vehicle is non-real-estate and that 60% goes to Portuguese companies. Funds still being marketed as “golden visa eligible” with property in the portfolio are the live compliance risk in this market.
The stay requirement remains the lightest in Europe and is the program’s entire commercial logic: 7 days in the first year, then 14 days in each subsequent two-year period. The investment must be held at least five years, and the permit renews in two-year cycles.
Think hard before starting a golden visa now
The pitch was always “five years, seven days a year, then an EU passport.” Both halves of that broke in 2026. The qualifying period for most investors went to ten years, and the rule that let the long AIMA wait count toward it was revoked in the same act.
AIMA’s backlog is worst here by design — the clean-up task force explicitly handled lower-income applicants first and, in the words of the responsible minister, left “the richest for the end of the line.” Around 50,000 investor files were acknowledged as delayed in January 2025. Waits of three years are common and five-year cases have been reported. In July 2026, 1,260 investors filed a collective complaint with the Ombudsman and said they would sue the State. The residency is still real and the passport may still come — but the timeline is now roughly double what was sold, and the queue is the part nobody controls.
The process, and where it hurts
There are two stages and two decisions, and they are separate. The consulate, where you legally reside, decides on the visa. AIMA, in Portugal, decides on the residence permit. A visa is not a permit and the consulate’s grant does not bind AIMA.
- Apply at your consulate — or its VFS Global intake partner, which adds its own fee and its own appointment scarcity.
- Receive a residence visa valid four months, two entries — and, crucially, carrying a pre-assigned AIMA appointment date.
- Fly to Portugal and attend the AIMA appointment. Fingerprints, photograph, signature.
- The card is produced and posted to you.
- Renew. First permit runs 2 years, then renewals of 3 years at a time.
That pre-assigned appointment is the single biggest improvement of the last two years, and it is why the visa-first route is now the only viable one. The old “call at nine in the morning and hope” scramble for a first appointment is gone. Renewals moved to an online portal in late 2025, and in the standard case no longer require a physical visit; golden visa renewals were added to it during 2026.
What remains genuinely broken is the investor queue, and around 30,000 complex legacy cases left over after the task force closed at the end of 2025 — down from roughly 1.45 million when it started. We are not going to publish a processing-time figure for a standard first D7 or D8 permit, because no reliable source publishes one. Anyone quoting you a confident number is guessing.
Fees
A new AIMA fee table took effect on 1 March 2026, with rises reported at up to 33%.
| Item | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Temporary residence — reception and analysis | €133.00 |
| Temporary residence — grant or renewal | €307.20 |
| So, a first D7 or D8 permit | about €440 per person |
| Temporary residence — change of data | €114.30 |
| Permanent residence — grant | €351.10 |
| Permanent residence — renewal or change of data | €61.90 |
| Golden visa — reception and analysis | €842.80 |
| Golden visa — grant | €8,418.90 |
| Golden visa — renewal | €4,210.30 |
Two honest caveats. These figures come from two independent Portuguese sources that agree with each other, but AIMA’s own fee page was not reachable and the governing 2026 regulation could not be identified — confirm with AIMA before you budget to the euro. And we are deliberately not publishing a consulate visa fee: several Portuguese embassies issued notices in 2025 and 2026 announcing changes to national visa fees, the consolidated fee table could not be retrieved, and any figure carried over from an older guide is probably wrong. Check your own consulate’s page. Budget separately for VFS service fees, couriers, apostilles and certified translations, which together routinely cost more than the visa itself.
If your permit expires while you are waiting
From 2020 to 2025 Portugal simply decreed that every expired residence document stayed valid. That ended on 15 October 2025 and has not been renewed.
What replaced it: AIMA’s position is that a residence card remains valid for six months after its expiry date, and that filing a renewal request and paying the fee gets you a certificate valid 180 days. In practice it is not automatic — you must carry the QR-coded renewal submission receipt alongside the expired card as proof of legal residence.
This grace period is an interpretation, not a decree
AIMA grounds the six-month rule on a reading of a 2007 regulation. Portuguese immigration lawyers have publicly noted that no decree actually codifies it. It is thinner cover than the 2020–2025 decree-laws were, and airline staff and border officials outside Portugal may not recognize an expired card plus a QR code. Renew early, keep the receipt on your phone and in your wallet, and do not plan international travel around it.
Tax: the reason people came is gone
First, the point most guides bury: Portuguese tax residency and immigration residency are separate legal statuses with separate tests, assessed by different authorities under different statutes. Holding a residence permit does not automatically make you tax resident, and you can be tax resident without a permit.
You are tax resident if either of these applies. The first is the familiar one: present in Portugal for more than 183 days, consecutive or not, in any 12-month period beginning or ending in the year concerned — note that it is a rolling window, not a calendar year. The second is the one that catches people: present for a shorter period, but with a dwelling available to you on any day of that period, in conditions suggesting a present intention to keep and occupy it as your habitual residence. That test has no day count at all. An apartment you lease and keep available can make you tax resident on far fewer than 183 days.
NHR is closed
The non-habitual resident regime — flat 20% on qualifying Portuguese income, and 10% on foreign pensions — was revoked with effect from 1 January 2024. A transitional regime protected people already registered, people who met the requirements by 31 December 2023, and people who became resident during 2024 while holding one of a defined list of commitments signed by October or December 2023.
Every one of those deadlines has passed. The last registration deadline was 31 March 2025. As of September 2026, no new person can enter NHR. The only people on it are those already registered, running out the remainder of their ten years.
IFICI is not “NHR 2.0”, whatever it is being called
The successor regime is IFICI, the tax incentive for scientific research and innovation. It gives a 20% flat rate on Portuguese employment and self-employment income from the qualifying activity, and exemption with progressivity on foreign-source income in categories A, B, E, F and G, for ten years.
The catch is who qualifies. NHR was open to anyone becoming resident who had not been resident in the previous five years, whatever they did for a living. IFICI requires you to be performing a specific qualifying activity at a specific kind of qualifying entity, certified by a named agency — higher education and research within the national science and technology system, qualified posts at companies holding particular investment tax benefits or exporting more than half their turnover, R&D generating eligible expenses under the SIFIDE scheme, direct R&D roles at certified start-ups, and a handful of others. You must also never have benefited from NHR, and not have been tax resident in Portugal in the previous five years. Registration is by 15 January of the year after you become resident.
If you are retiring to Portugal, read this twice
A retiree cannot qualify for IFICI at all. There is no qualifying activity for someone who does not work. And the foreign-income exemption covers categories A, B, E, F and G — category H, pensions, is excluded. The tax authority’s own guidance says so.
So a non-CPLP retiree moving to Portugal in 2026 on a D7 and becoming tax resident will have foreign pension income taxed at ordinary Portuguese progressive rates, subject to the relevant double-tax treaty. Portugal’s upper brackets are high. The specific tax reason people retired to Portugal no longer exists, and any calculation you did based on a 10% pension rate needs redoing.
A remote worker on a D8 employed by a foreign company generally cannot qualify for IFICI either, because the qualifying activity has to be performed for a qualifying Portuguese entity. IFICI is not a digital nomad regime and was never meant to be one.
Double-tax treaties still apply and still do real work — particularly for Americans, who remain taxable by the United States on worldwide income regardless of where they live, so foreign tax credits and treaty articles decide the outcome rather than Portuguese rates alone. Get advice from someone who handles both jurisdictions, before you move rather than after.
Permanent residence and citizenship
Permanent residence still comes at five years of temporary residence. You also need no conviction carrying a prison sentence over a year during that period, means of subsistence, accommodation, and proof of basic Portuguese.
| Permanent residence | Citizenship | |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying period | 5 years | 7 years CPLP/EU · 10 years others |
| Live and work in Portugal | Yes | Yes |
| Live and work anywhere in the EU | No | Yes |
| Vote in national elections | No | Yes |
| Passport | No | Yes |
| Can be lost | Yes — prolonged absence, serious crime | Effectively no |
| Language | Basic Portuguese | A2 plus culture, history and civics |
The five-year milestone still exists — it just leads somewhere different now. Before 19 May 2026, five years let a non-EU resident choose between permanent residence and citizenship. Today five years gets you permanent residence, and citizenship is another two or five years beyond that. For most people reading this, permanent residence at year five is now the realistic target, and it is worth planning toward it deliberately rather than treating it as a consolation prize. What it does not give you is the right to move to Spain or Ireland and work. That is the thing the passport buys, and the thing that now costs ten years.
What most guides get wrong
- “Citizenship at five years.” Wrong since 19 May 2026. Seven years for CPLP and EU nationals, ten for everyone else. Only applications filed by 18 May 2026 keep the old rule.
- “Enter as a tourist and regularise from inside.” Wrong since 4 June 2024, when the manifestação de interesse was repealed. Following that advice leaves you illegally resident.
- “Buy property for a golden visa.” Wrong since 7 October 2023. Both real-estate routes and the €1.5m capital transfer were abolished, and the exclusion extends to property held indirectly through funds.
- “NHR is still available” — and its subtler cousin, “IFICI is the new NHR, so retirees are fine.” Both wrong. NHR closed to new entrants in January 2024 and the last transitional deadline was March 2025. IFICI requires a specific certified activity and explicitly excludes pensions.
- “The D7 accepts salary.” Wrong, and it is a misrepresentation on a visa application. The D7 is for passive income. Salary belongs on the D8, D2 or D3.
- “AIMA appointments are impossible to get” — and the mirror error, “you can just book one.” Both wrong now. New applicants do not book at all; the appointment comes pre-assigned with the visa. Renewals moved online. What is still genuinely broken is the investor queue and the legacy cases.
- “Your permit is automatically extended if AIMA is slow.” That regime ended on 15 October 2025. What replaced it is an administrative interpretation, not a decree.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get Portuguese citizenship in 2026?
Ten years of legal residence for most non-EU nationals, including Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and South Africans. Seven years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries — Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and the rest of the CPLP — and for EU citizens. The change took effect on 19 May 2026 under Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026. If you filed a naturalisation application on or before 18 May 2026, the old five-year rule still governs it.
I already live in Portugal. Does the new rule apply to me?
Yes, unless you had already filed your naturalisation application by 18 May 2026. Residence you have already accrued still counts — it is not a reset — but the finishing line moved from five years to ten. There is also a second change: the rule that counted your time from the date you applied for your residence permit was revoked, so years spent waiting in the AIMA queue no longer count toward citizenship.
How much income do I need for a D7 in 2026?
€920 a month for a single applicant, €1,380 for a couple, plus €276 for each child under 18 — derived from the 2026 minimum wage. But that is a statutory floor, not what consulates approve on, and it must be passive income: pensions, rents, dividends, interest, royalties. Salary does not qualify. It also sits well below what Portugal actually costs to live in, which is the number worth planning against.
Can I still get the NHR tax regime?
No. NHR closed to new entrants on 1 January 2024 and the final transitional registration deadline passed on 31 March 2025. Its replacement, IFICI, requires you to be doing a specific qualifying job at a certified Portuguese entity, and it excludes pension income from its foreign-income exemption. A retiree cannot qualify for it at all.
How will my pension be taxed if I retire to Portugal now?
At ordinary Portuguese progressive rates, if you become Portuguese tax resident, subject to the applicable double-tax treaty. The 10% flat rate on foreign pensions was an NHR benefit and NHR is closed. This is the single biggest change to the financial case for retiring to Portugal, and it is the one most existing guides have not caught up with.
Can I move to Portugal as a tourist and apply once I am there?
No. The manifestação de interesse route was repealed on 4 June 2024 and the 2025 foreigners-law reform entrenched the visa-first rule. There is no in-country regularisation route for an ordinary non-EU national. You apply at the consulate covering where you legally live, and you arrive with the visa already in your passport.
Is the golden visa still worth doing?
It still delivers EU residency on seven days a year of physical presence, which nothing else in Europe matches. But the property routes are gone, the surviving routes start at €250,000 for cultural donation and €500,000 for funds, the grant fee alone is €8,418.90, the queue has run three years and longer, and the citizenship payoff moved from five years to ten while the rule letting the wait count toward it was revoked. In July 2026, 1,260 investors took the delays to the Ombudsman. Go in with the current timeline, not the one in the brochure.
What happens if my residence card expires before AIMA renews it?
AIMA treats the card as valid for six months past its expiry date, and filing a renewal gets you a certificate valid 180 days. You must carry the QR-coded renewal receipt with the expired card. Be aware that the blanket decree extensions of 2020–2025 ended on 15 October 2025, and the current grace rests on AIMA’s interpretation of a 2007 regulation rather than on any decree — so renew early and be cautious about international travel on an expired card.
Should I aim for permanent residence instead of citizenship?
For many people now, yes. Permanent residence still arrives at five years and secures your life in Portugal. Citizenship is what buys the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, and for non-CPLP nationals that now costs ten years. Plan for permanent residence at five, and treat the passport as a longer project rather than the reason for the move.
Sources
- Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, de 18 de maio (Diário da República), republishing Lei n.º 37/81 — the 7/10-year periods, the transitional rule, and the revocation of the application-date counting rule.
- Tribunal Constitucional, Acórdão n.º 1133/2025 (15 December 2025) and Acórdão n.º 785/2025 (8 August 2025).
- Ministério da Justiça, guidance on the nationality law in force from 19 May 2026.
- Lei n.º 23/2007 as amended by Lei n.º 56/2023, Decreto-Lei n.º 37-A/2024 and Lei n.º 61/2025; Decreto Regulamentar n.º 84/2007.
- Portaria n.º 1563/2007 (means of subsistence) and Decreto-Lei n.º 139/2025 (2026 minimum wage, via DGERT).
- AIMA golden visa application documents; AIMA notices on renewals and on post-expiry validity, October 2025.
- Lei n.º 82/2023 art. 230 and art. 236 (revocation of NHR and its transitional regime); Estatuto dos Benefícios Fiscais art. 58.º-A and Portaria n.º 352/2024/1 (IFICI); Autoridade Tributária IFICI guidance; CIRS art. 16.º (tax residency).
- Reporting on AIMA fees (March and April 2026), the golden visa backlog (January 2025, October 2025) and the investors’ Ombudsman complaint (July 2026).
- Checked 18 September 2026. Deliberately not published here, because they could not be verified from a primary source: the consulate visa fee, the 2026 IRS rate bands, AIMA processing times for a standard first permit, and the regulation governing the 2026 AIMA fee table. Portuguese immigration law has changed three times in three years and this page is not legal advice — confirm anything you are about to act on with your consulate, AIMA, or a Portuguese lawyer.
