D7 visa in Portugal: How to apply in 2026

Dreaming of a slower pace of life, year-round sunshine, and a cost of living that doesn't eat your savings? The D7 visa is Portugal's passive income visa, and it's still the most popular route for non-EU citizens to move there in 2026.

It's also a process with real pitfalls. Accommodation rules, expiring documents, and insurance requirements catch out applicants every year (and any one of them can get a visa rejected).

We sat down with Scott, founder of relocation service Visas.pt, to walk through how the D7 visa really works.

In this guide, you'll learn:

• What the D7 visa is and who it's for
• The 2026 income and deposit requirements
• Which documents you'll need (and when to get them)
• The health insurance rules at the visa and residency stages
• The path from visa to residency and citizenship
• The most common mistakes that lead to rejections

Brought to you by Feather, licenced insurance brokers helping expats in Portugal and beyond find the right insurance.

What is the D7 visa?

The D7 is Portugal's passive income visa. Unlike a work visa, it's designed for people who can support themselves without a job in Portugal (pensions, rental income, dividends, or investments).

It's often called the retirement visa, but that undersells it. Anyone with reliable passive income can apply: remote landlords, early retirees, people living off investments. If you have savings instead, you can convert part of them into an annuity or investment that pays out monthly. That counts too.

The D7 leads to full residency. After five years you can apply for permanent residency, and after ten years (up from five, following Portugal's 2026 citizenship reforms) you can apply for citizenship, and with it, the whole EU.

2026 Income requirements

The magic number is €920 per month, Portugal's minimum wage in 2026. If your passive income matches or beats that, you're eligible.

Two conditions apply. The income must be passive (a remote salary doesn't count), and it must be consistent, arriving every month, not in irregular lumps.

You'll also need to show you can support yourself on arrival. That means depositing roughly a year's income — about €11,000 for a single applicant, into a Portuguese bank account. The money isn't locked away; once your application is in, you can use it for rent and bills.

Bringing family? You can (and should) include them in the same application — waiting to reunite later now means years apart. The requirements increase by 50% for a spouse and 30% per child, for both monthly income and the deposit.

D7 application checklist

Here's what you'll need before your visa appointment at VFS or your local consulate:

• A NIF (Portuguese tax number): the first step for everything in Portugal, from renting to banking. You can get one remotely through a legal service.
• A Portuguese bank account: it must be a traditional bank, not a neobank like Revolut. Opening one from abroad usually requires a lawyer acting on your behalf.
• Proof of passive income: pension statements, rental contracts, or investment agreements, plus bank statements showing the money arriving.
• Proof of accommodation: a 12-month rental contract registered with the Portuguese tax authority. Hotels, Airbnbs, and letters from friends don't count (staying with family does). An offer on a property isn't enough either — the purchase must be complete.
• A criminal record check: apostilled, and only valid for three months. Since visa appointments in some US cities take three to six months to get, request this after your appointment is booked, not before.
• Health insurance: more on this below, because it's where a surprising number of applications go wrong.

Health insurance for the D7 visa

On paper, the rules are simple: four months of travel insurance for the visa application, then a full year of private health insurance once you apply for residency.

In practice, it's messier. Consulates interpret the rules differently. San Francisco, for example, has demanded 12 months of cover at the visa stage, against the official guidance. And whatever the consulate, your policy must cover the entire Schengen area with at least €30,000 in cover, including repatriation.

The most common trap? Buying a four-month travel policy, getting through the visa stage, then discovering it's worthless at your residency appointment, where AIMA (Portugal's immigration agency) requires comprehensive private health insurance. Some applicants are rejected over exactly this.

This is why we built Feather's expat health insurance to cover the whole journey:

• Visa-compliant from day one: you get the documents you need for your application right after signing up, with Schengen-wide cover and repatriation included.
• Valid at the residency stage too: it doubles as private health insurance in Portugal, so you don't need a second policy for AIMA.
• Monthly and flexible: because it rolls monthly, AIMA can't reject it for having "only 11 months left" (yes, that happens with fixed 12-month policies).
• Covers your dependents: one policy for the whole family, entirely in English.

One box checked for a full year, leaving you free to deal with the rest of the list.

Timeline: What to expect

Approval typically takes two to three months. You then have four months (and two entries) to relocate to Portugal and attend your residency appointment with AIMA.

That appointment can take up to a year to come around. You remain legal in Portugal while you wait, though travelling within Schengen gets complicated, a lawyer's letter confirming your status helps at borders.

Once approved, your residence permit runs two years, then renews in three-year blocks. After five years, you can apply for permanent residency (you'll need A2-level Portuguese). After ten, citizenship.

D7 mistakes to avoid

Four errors come up again and again:

1. Getting the criminal record check too early: it expires after three months, often before your appointment.
2. Unsuitable accommodation: unregistered leases and "I'll stay with a friend" arrangements get rejected.
3. Relying on travel insurance: it won't satisfy AIMA at the residency stage.
4. Fixed 12-month insurance policies: if months have already ticked by, AIMA may say it falls short of the one-year requirement.

Ready to start your move?

The first real step is getting your NIF. It's quick, remote, and commitment-free. The second is sorting insurance that works at every stage, so it's never the reason your application stalls.

Get a quote for Feather expat health insurance, sign-up takes minutes, and your visa documents arrive right after.