Portugal · Work authorisation

Residence visa for remote work / digital nomads (D8)

Issued by The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), for the residence permit once you are in Portugal. It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
2
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

If you are outside Portugal, the Portuguese consulate or embassy responsible for where you live issues the entry visa first — AIMA takes over once you have entered. AIMA became Portugal's immigration authority on 29 October 2023, succeeding the dissolved Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).

2026 figure

Salary floor

EUR €3,680 a month

Vistos Portugal states the floor as four times the guaranteed minimum monthly wage (RMMG), averaged over your last three months of income. DGERT states the RMMG for 2026 as €920 under Decree-Law No. 139/2025, effective 1 January 2026 — four times that is €3,680. Confirm the current RMMG with the consulate before you rely on the resulting figure.

A figure without the year it belongs to and the condition attached to it is how someone rules themselves out of a permit they qualify for. Both are above.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

No qualification is asked for on the document list checked. What the consulate asks you to prove is the remote activity itself and the income from it: for subordinate remote work, an employment contract or an employer's letter confirming the working relationship; for independent remote work, a company agreement, a service contract, or evidence of services rendered to one or more clients.

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Gather proof of the remote activity: an employment contract or an employer's letter for subordinate work, or a company agreement, service contract or evidence of services rendered for independent work.
  2. Show average monthly income over your last three months of at least four times the guaranteed minimum monthly wage, plus a document proving your tax residence.

Register and start working

  1. Apply for the national visa at the Portuguese consulate or embassy responsible for where you live, if you are outside Portugal.
  2. Once in Portugal, request the residence permit from AIMA within the visa's four-month validity, which allows two entries into the country.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

National visa, standard fee
€110
AIMA reception and review of the temporary residence permit application
€133.00, or €99.80 for in-person and digital service — AIMA's fee table groups this route under the same 'residence permit for professional activity' bracket as subordinate and independent work, rather than pricing it separately

Timeframes

Visa decision at the consulate or embassy
Legal maximum of 60 days from a complete application — the general rule for residence visas, not published separately for this route
Window to request the residence permit once in Portugal
4 months from the visa's issue date

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Portugal and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

7 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Portugal opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

Check my path →All Portugal permits