You can get a Portuguese residence permit without investing in real estate, funds, or a business — based on your own stable income. This is what the D7 residence visa offers. It’s designed for retirees and people living on their own income. The visa-free financial benchmark for the main applicant in 2026 is €920 per month.

Who D7 Is For

D7 is a residence visa for applicants who can prove regular income of their own. In practice, this mostly means income from capital and assets: pensions, rental income from property, dividends, interest, royalties, and other regular receipts whose origin and stability can be documented.

It’s important to distinguish D7 from D8. If the main source of funds is a salary or payment for remote work for a foreign company or clients, D8 — the visa for remote workers and digital nomads — applies instead. D7 is suitable if you have independent income that doesn’t require day-to-day work.

How the Process Works

First, you obtain a D7 visa through the Portuguese consulate, which is placed in your passport. It’s needed to enter the country and apply for the residence permit itself. After arriving in Portugal, you receive a plastic resident card. The first card is issued for two years, then renewed for the following three years.

Status can be granted to the whole family: a spouse or partner, minor children, and — if certain conditions are met — other financially dependent family members.

Financial Requirements

The visa-free financial benchmark for 2026 for the main applicant is €920 per month, which is the minimum wage in Portugal. For a second adult family member, add 50% of that amount — €460 per month — and for a child, another 30%, or €276.

For example, for a family of two adults and one child, the basic benchmark is €1,656 per month.

But the consulate doesn’t just check whether the minimum sum is met. You need to show the origin of the funds, the regularity of receipts, and prove that this resource is genuinely enough to live on in Portugal. Having the required amount doesn’t automatically mean a strong financial file. Besides income, you need to confirm you have housing in Portugal. For Russian citizens, the financial part of the file requires especially careful preparation due to banking compliance and additional checks on the origin of capital.

Taxes After Relocating

D7 implies actually living in Portugal, so in practice the applicant becomes a tax resident of the country and must declare worldwide income here, including income earned outside Portugal. In 2026, the standard IRS income tax scale on mainland Portugal is progressive — from 12.5% to 48% depending on the amount and category of income. That’s why, when choosing D7, it’s important to factor in the future tax burden in advance, not just the residency requirements.

A queue at an immigration service window in a crowded government office with waiting visitors

Traveling Around Europe

Once you have a Portuguese residence card, you don’t need a separate Schengen visa for each trip. You can go to France for the weekend, vacation in Spain, attend a business meeting in Germany, or travel around Italy within the single Schengen area. In other Schengen states, you can stay for 90 days within any 180-day period.