D8 Digital Nomad Visa

What the D8 is

Portugal's residence visa for remote workers. You work for an employer or clients outside Portugal and you are paid from outside Portugal. It comes in two forms: a temporary stay visa of up to a year, and a residence visa that leads to a renewable residence permit.

The residence version is the one that matters if you are thinking beyond a year, because only it builds towards permanent residence.

What you have to show

Income from outside Portugal at a multiple of the Portuguese minimum wage, evidenced over several months rather than asserted. An employment contract, or client contracts if you are self-employed. Accommodation, a Portuguese tax number, health cover and a clean criminal record.

The income test is on stability, not on a single strong month. Freelancers with variable income are refused more often than the headline threshold suggests, because the evidence does not demonstrate a floor.

Tax is not an afterthought

Spending more than 183 days in Portugal generally makes you tax resident there, on worldwide income. The non-habitual resident regime that made this attractive has been substantially narrowed. This is the part of the D8 most often skipped in the sales conversation, and it is the part with the largest financial consequence.

Take Portuguese tax advice before you apply, not after you arrive.

The route onward, and the change to it

Permanent residence becomes available after five years of temporary residence.

Citizenship is now a different and much longer story. Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, in force 19 May 2026, doubled the qualifying period to ten years for Indian nationals, and added a language, culture, history and civics test. Portugal is no longer a five-year passport, and any plan built on that is built on a repealed law.

Who it suits

A remote worker with a stable, documented income from outside Portugal who wants to live there. As a lifestyle move it is excellent. As a fast track to an EU passport it no longer works.

The two versions, and why the choice matters

The temporary stay visa is simpler and cheaper, and it builds nothing. Time on it does not count towards permanent residence.

The residence visa costs more, requires more evidence and leads to a renewable residence permit that does accrue towards the five-year clock. If there is any chance you will want to stay, take the second one. Converting later is not straightforward and sometimes is not possible without leaving.