What's the main difference between Portugal's D7 and D8 visas?

The D7 is for passive income — pensions, dividends, rent, royalties — and requires roughly 920 euros per month in 2026. The D8 is for active income earned remotely, such as salaried remote work or freelancing for non-Portuguese clients, and requires a much higher threshold of roughly 3,680 euros per month in 2026, which is four times Portugal's minimum wage.

Can I use the D8 visa if my income comes from a Portuguese employer or client?

No. The D8 is specifically for remote income earned from outside Portugal. If your income comes from a Portuguese employer or Portuguese clients, that is considered local employment, which is a different visa category entirely, not the D8 digital nomad route.

Is there a fixed minimum investment for the D2 entrepreneur visa?

No. The D2 has no single statutory minimum investment figure the way some golden-visa-style programs do. What you need is a credible business plan plus personal funds to support yourself, commonly cited around 920 euros per month, and sources vary on a savings buffer often quoted near 11,000 euros — confirm the current figure with your consulate, since this is the area where guidance differs most between sources.

Portugal D2 vs D7 vs D8 Visa: Which One Fits Your Income in 2026?

Portugal runs three different visa doors that all lead to the same residence permit, and choosing the wrong one is one of the most common — and most avoidable — reasons applications get rejected. The right door depends entirely on where your money comes from, not on which visa sounds most appealing.

The one-sentence version

Passive income (pensions, dividends, rental income, royalties) → D7.
Active remote income (salaried remote job or freelance work for non-Portuguese clients) → D8.
Running a business in Portugal → D2.

Mixing these up is the single most common rejection reason immigration consultants report: a D7 application built on freelance income, or a D8 application built on a Portuguese client, gets flagged because the income simply doesn’t match the category.

D7: the passive-income visa

Portugal’s D7 was originally designed for retirees and others living on passive income — pensions, investment dividends, rental income, royalties. Reported 2026 threshold: roughly €920/month, tracking Portugal’s minimum wage. Active remote-work income does not count toward this threshold, and claiming it does is a standard, avoidable rejection reason.

D8: the digital nomad visa, for active remote income

The D8 is Portugal’s purpose-built digital nomad visa, covering active income earned remotely — a salaried remote job or freelance/consulting income — as long as your employer or clients are outside Portugal. The 2026 threshold is set at four times the minimum wage: roughly €3,680/month, following Portugal’s January 2026 minimum-wage rise to €920. This is roughly four times the D7 threshold, reflecting that it’s meant for working-age remote professionals rather than retirees.

The trap to avoid: if any meaningful share of your income comes from a Portuguese employer or Portuguese clients, that’s local employment, not remote work — it doesn’t satisfy D8 and needs a different visa category entirely.

D2: the entrepreneur / business visa

The D2 is for people planning to start or run a business in Portugal rather than draw income from abroad. Unlike D7 and D8, there’s no single clean monthly-income figure — you need:

A credible, specific business plan, and
Personal funds to support yourself (commonly cited around the same €920/month reference point as D7), plus
Some capital behind the business itself — sources disagree on the exact savings buffer, with figures cited anywhere from roughly €5,000 (often a share-capital reference point, not a legal minimum) up to around €11,000 for a single applicant.

Because the D2’s financial bar is the least standardized of the three, confirm the current expectation directly with the Portuguese consulate handling your application rather than relying on a single blog figure — this is the area where sources conflict most.

Shared requirements across all three

Family add-ons: roughly +50% for a spouse and +30% per dependent child, on top of the base threshold, cited consistently across D7 and D8 guidance.
Savings buffer: a reserve around €11,000 for a single applicant is commonly expected alongside the monthly income test, for D7 and D8.
Path to residency: all three lead to a renewable residence permit and, eventually, permanent residency/citizenship eligibility — though the exact citizenship timeline has been in flux, with some 2026 reporting pointing to an extension from 5 years toward a 7–10 year range pending legislative confirmation. Verify the current citizenship timeline before treating any visa choice as a fixed path, since this detail is actively changing.

Decision checklist

Where does your income come from — your work, or your assets? Assets → D7. Work → D8 or D2.
If it’s work income, is the employer/clients Portuguese or foreign? Foreign → D8. Starting your own Portugal-based business → D2.
Does your monthly income clear the relevant threshold (€920 for D7, ~€3,680 for D8)? If not, you may not currently qualify for that route regardless of preference.
For D2, do you have a genuine, specific business plan — not just an intention to “figure it out” once you arrive? Consulates weigh plan credibility heavily.

Common mistakes

Applying for D7 on freelance income. Passive and active income are not interchangeable for this visa.
Applying for D8 with Portuguese clients or a Portuguese employer in the mix. That’s local employment, not remote work.
Treating D2’s savings figure as fixed. It varies more than D7/D8 by source and by consulate — confirm locally.

Read the full requirements for whichever route fits in our dedicated guides: the Portugal D7 visa guide, the Portugal D8 digital nomad visa guide, and the Portugal D2 entrepreneur visa guide. For a wider country comparison, see our digital nomad visas 2026 round-up.

Sources

This is preparation guidance, not legal advice. Income thresholds, savings buffers, and citizenship timelines change — confirm every figure with the Portuguese consulate or AIMA before applying. Join the VisaMet waitlist for updates on Portugal’s residency visa programs.