Visa · Residency · Regulation · Cases
Written by our in-house lawyers and advisors, updated monthly. Every piece comes with a one-click free assessment and official-resource links.
D7 vs D8 vs Golden Visa — How to Choose Your Portugal Visa in 2026 (Comparison + Decision Guide)
Retirees and passive-income earners go D7, remote workers go D8, and those with capital who don't want to live here go Golden Visa — but reality is rarely that simple. Here's one comparison table and one decision tree to see your route in 3 minutes.
Portugal Golden Visa (ARI) 2026 — The Complete Guide to Routes, Process, Cost and Citizenship
Since the 2023 reform the real-estate route is gone, and the Golden Visa now runs mainly through qualifying funds and a few other paths. This guide covers the current investment routes, eligibility, stay requirement, process, costs and the 5-year path to citizenship — and who the Golden Visa is actually right for.
Portugal's IFICI Tax Regime Explained — Life After NHR
The NHR (Non-Habitual Resident) regime is closed to new applicants, replaced by IFICI (the tax incentive for scientific research and innovation, often called "NHR 2.0"). Here's what IFICI is, who qualifies, and how it differs from the old NHR — especially that pensions are no longer favoured.
The Real Cost of Moving to Portugal in 2026 — D7 / D8 / Golden Visa Broken Down
How much do you actually need to move to Portugal? This guide splits the cost into five buckets — official fees, third-party hard costs, legal fees, investment principal and post-arrival living — with directional ranges for the D7, D8 and Golden Visa to help you budget.
How Long Does a Portugal Visa Take? D7 / D8 / Golden Visa / Family Reunification Timelines
From starting prep to holding a residence card — the D7 takes ~6–9 months, the D8 ~4–6 months, the Golden Visa ~12–18 months and family reunification ~9 months. This guide breaks each route down by phase and explains what makes it faster or slower.
How to Get an AIMA Appointment — and Does a Lawyer Really Help?
AIMA appointments are hard to get, the process is fiddly and the language barrier is real. Here's how slots actually open up, what to bring, and what a lawyer accompanying you can genuinely do for you.
D7 Visa 2026 — Income Thresholds and Document Checklist
The D7 is the go-to route for retirees and anyone living on stable passive income. Here are the income requirements for the main applicant, spouse and children, plus an up-to-date document checklist to self-check before you file.
Case · A Retired Beijing Couple Lands in Cascais on a D7
A retired couple from Beijing built a solid file from their pensions plus rental income back home. From first enquiry to receiving their D7 residence cards took about 8 months. Here's the full timeline — including three points where it nearly came unstuck.
Case · A Remote Engineer from Shanghai Lands in Lisbon on a D8
A senior front-end engineer working remotely from Shanghai, paid €4,200/month by an overseas company, relocated to Lisbon on the D8 digital-nomad visa. From visa prep to AIMA biometrics took 5 months — most of it spent restructuring the employment contract.
Case · A Shenzhen SaaS Founder Lands in Lisbon on a D2 and Registers an Lda
A SaaS founder from Shenzhen moved his European entity to Portugal, applied for a D2 visa as the founder, and registered an Lda in Lisbon as the EU operating company. Over nine months, the visa and the company advanced on two parallel tracks.
Case · Applying for Portugal's Golden Visa via the Qualified-Fund Route
An asset-allocation-focused client applied for the ARI Golden Visa through the €500,000 qualified-fund route. With lawyer, fund manager and bank coordinating, it took about 14 months from due diligence to entry visa.
Case · After the Main Applicant's D7, Spouse + Parent Land via Family Reunification
A year after the main applicant landed on a D7, his wife and mother applied for residence cards through family reunification (Reagrupamento Familiar). Here are the three things people most often overlook — proving a parent's "dependency," a spouse's freedom to work, and the timing of a child's schooling.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Documents, thresholds and outcomes follow the latest official Portuguese rules; Shijia Portugal Service Group makes no guarantees on outcomes.
