Portugal's D7 visa for Brits: income test and AIMA

If your money arrives whether or not you get out of bed, from a pension, rent or investments, the D7 is probably your way into Portugal.

The short version

The D7 is the residency visa for retirement or for people living from passive income, applied for from the UK [3].
The 2026 test is based on the minimum wage of EUR 920 a month (about £765) for the first adult, plus 50% for a second adult and 30% for each child [2].
The visa fee is EUR 110 (about £90), and you apply through VFS in London, Manchester or Edinburgh [3].
The visa lasts four months; in that time you go to AIMA to apply for a residence permit [3].
After five years you can apply for permanent residence, which needs basic Portuguese [4].

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = EUR 1.2002).

Who the D7 is for

Portugal's visa portal lists the D7 as the residency visa "for retirement purposes, religious purposes or for people living from passive income" [3]. In plain English, it suits:

Retirees living on a UK State Pension, a workplace or private pension, or an annuity.
Landlords with rent coming in from a property back home.
People living off savings and investments, such as dividends and interest.

What it isn't is a remote work visa. If your income is a salary from a UK employer or fees from clients, the digital nomad route is the honest fit, and it has a much higher bar. See Portugal's digital nomad visa (D8).

If you moved to Portugal before 1 January 2021, you don't need any of this: you're covered by the Withdrawal Agreement and should hold a Withdrawal Agreement residence card from AIMA instead [1].

The income test in 2026

The official yardstick is the Portuguese minimum monthly wage, which the visa portal gives as EUR 920 in 2026, net of social security deductions [2]. The first adult needs 100% of it, each further adult 50%, and each child under 18 or dependent adult child 30% [2]. Residency visas generally need the money to cover at least 12 months.

Household	Per month	Per year
One adult	EUR 920 (about £765)	EUR 11,040 (about £9,200)
Couple	EUR 1,380 (about £1,150)	EUR 16,560 (about £13,800)
Couple and one child	EUR 1,656 (about £1,380)	EUR 19,872 (about £16,560)
Couple and two children	EUR 1,932 (about £1,610)	EUR 23,184 (about £19,320)

These are minimums, not targets. The consulate looks at whether your income is regular and reliable, and the visa portal says the consular post can ask for more documents at its discretion [5]. Lisbon rents have climbed sharply, so a couple scraping past EUR 1,380 a month would find life in Príncipe Real or Estrela a stretch. Our guide to the cost of living in Lisbon has the sums.

How UK income counts

For a retiree, the UK State Pension does a lot of the heavy lifting. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week [6], roughly £12,550 a year, or about EUR 15,060, which on its own clears the single-person threshold. And because Portugal is in the European Economic Area, your State Pension keeps rising every April while you live there, unlike in Australia or Canada [6].

The visa portal asks retirees for a "document certifying retirement amount", and passive-income applicants for proof of "revenue from movable and immovable property; intellectual or financial assets" [5]. In practice that means your State Pension award letter, pension statements, tenancy agreements with bank statements showing the rent, and dividend or interest statements. Savings can help show you'll be fine, but a steady income is what the D7 is built around.

The paperwork

The general documents for every national visa are [5]:

The national visa application form, signed, and two passport photos.
Your passport, valid for at least three months after your planned return, plus a copy of the photo page.
A criminal record certificate from ACRO, with the Hague apostille, for applicants aged 16 or over.
Travel insurance covering medical costs and repatriation. The visa portal says this can be waived under a bilateral agreement, and names the UK S1 as an example, which matters for UK State Pensioners [5].
Proof of means: the pension and income documents above.

Many Brits also get a NIF (the Portuguese tax number) and open a Portuguese bank account before applying, and arrive with a lease or a property lined up. These aren't on the official D7 list we checked, but you'll need a NIF and an address for almost everything once you land [1], and showing where you'll live makes the application stronger. If something is in English, check whether the consulate wants a translation.

Booking and fees

Long-stay visas from the UK go through VFS centres in London, Manchester and Edinburgh [3]. The visa fee is EUR 110 (about £90), and appealing a refusal costs EUR 75 (about £62) [3]. Portugal's official target for deciding a residency visa is 60 days [3], so start at least three months before you want to move, and don't hand in notice on a UK tenancy until the visa is in your passport.

Landing: the AIMA appointment

A D7 residency visa is valid for two entries over four months [3]. Within that window you attend AIMA, the immigration agency, to apply for your residence permit, give your fingerprints and photo, and pay the fee. Expect a bit of a faff: AIMA has had well-publicised backlogs since it replaced SEF in 2023, and Lisbon's offices are the busiest in the country.

While you wait, keep your passport, visa and any AIMA paperwork together. The FCDO notes that it's a legal requirement in Portugal to carry a valid residence document [1]. Once the card arrives, you're exempt from the EU's Entry/Exit System checks at the border, and time on it doesn't count towards the 90 days in 180 [1].

Then do the first-month jobs: register at your local health centre for a utente number with your residence certificate, passport and NIF [1], and, if you're a State Pensioner, register your S1 so the UK covers your Portuguese healthcare [1]. NIF, NISS and AIMA explains the numbers.

Renewals, permanent residence and citizenship

Your temporary residence permit has to be renewed before it runs out, and AIMA handles renewals online. At each renewal, expect to show that you still meet the conditions, including the income. Keep the income flowing into a Portuguese account and keep your tax affairs in order: AIMA asks for proof that you're up to date with tax and social security for permanent residence [4].

After five years of temporary residence you can apply for permanent residence [4]. You'll need basic Portuguese (an A2 certificate is one of the accepted proofs) and a clean record [4]. A permanent card is issued for five years at a time and renewed [4].

Citizenship is a longer road than it used to be. Since 19 May 2026, Brits need 10 years of legal residence to naturalise, counted from when the residence permit was granted rather than from when you applied [7]. Portuguese citizenship for Brits explains the new rules.

Tax: what changes when you move

Living on a D7 usually means becoming tax resident in Portugal. Under the Portuguese tax code you're resident if you spend more than 183 days there in any 12-month period, or if you have a home there that you seem to intend as your habitual residence [8]. The old non-habitual resident regime (NHR), with its low rates for foreign pensions, closed to newcomers when Portugal's 2024 budget law revoked it [8]. Its successor, IFICI, is aimed at scientific and innovation jobs, not at pensioners; see After NHR: Portugal's IFICI tax regime.

On the UK side, tell HMRC you've left, on form P85 or through the SA109 pages of your Self Assessment return [9]. The UK–Portugal double taxation agreement aims to stop you paying tax twice on the same income [1]. Rent from a UK property stays taxable in the UK, and some UK pensions may be taxed differently under the treaty, so a tax adviser who knows both countries can check your case. If anyone suggests moving a UK pension to a Portuguese scheme, that needs regulated financial advice, and an overseas transfer charge may apply.

Want to compare notes with others who've just done their D7? Our community group for Brits in Portugal has plenty of them.

Portugal's D7 visa for Brits: the income test, the paperwork and the AIMA appointment