Hello everyone,
Regarding the D7 visa - I know that if I use D7 visa I’ll have to stay in Portugal at least 6 months per year.
My question is - does it also imply to my family? Do they also have to stay 6 months per year?
Thanks!
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The D7 visa allows you to enter Portugal to apply for a residence permit. The residence permit has requirements on the maximum time you can be outside of Portugal. With a residence permit you can only spend 6 consecutive months, or 8 months total, outside of Portugal within the total valid period of the permit.
The first residence permit, called the temporary residence permit, has a valid period of 2 years (was 1 until this year). The next permit, called the residence permit, has a valid period of 3 years (was 2 until this year). After 5 years you can request a permanent residence permit. With that you can spend 24 months continuous or 30 months total within a 3 year period.
If family members have residence permits, the same limits apply. If they don’t have permits and their visas expired, then they’d be violating Portugal law.
Hi Dan,
Thanks a lot for the important information!
This contradicts the information I’ve found on several websites (which say the the residency requirement is “per year” but also seem to contradict each other). Is there an original source where I can find this information? Thanks!
Yes. It’s the law.
Article 85 - Cancellation of the residence permit
…
2 - Without prejudice to the application of special provisions, the residence permit may also be canceled when the person concerned, without reasonable reasons, is absent from the country:
a) Being the holder of a temporary[1] residence permit, six consecutive months or eight interpolated months, during the total period of validity of the authorization;
b) Being the holder of a permanent residence permit, 24 consecutive months or, in a period of three years, 30 interpolated months.
However,
3 — Absence beyond the limits provided for in the previous number must be justified by means of a request submitted to the SEF before the resident leaves the national territory or, in exceptional cases, after his/her departure.
(Site is in Portuguese. Chrome browser translates)
[1 ]According to the law, there are only 2 types of residence permits - temporary and permanent. Temporary ones now have valid periods of 2 or 3 years. See Article 74. Item 2 in the Comments section provides more explanation.
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Thanks for clarifying! That sounds pretty cut and dry. So these other sites, some of which appear to be immigration services, are just … wrong?
I believe the inaccurate info on such sites is because they’re either too lazy or unable to verify the information they see on other sites offering the same services they want to offer. Instead they copy it for their own use.
In 2018 when I was trying to find answers to technical questions about taxation, financial representatives, and visa requirements literally none of the posted answers linked to official sources or to companies, e.g. tax advisors, whose reputations required they get it right. The increase in the numbers of people seeking such answer in FB groups was followed by businesses popping up to guide you through the process, answer your tax questions, do your Portugal taxes, or do some of the visa requirement steps for you - all for a fee. By then I’d figured out to search the law in Portuguese so I knew some of these services didn’t know what they were talking about. Got kicked out of one group for daring to post the law contradicting the position taken by the person who started the group - who then as now still states that position in the group’s ‘How-to’ files for getting a visa or a residence permit.
Thanks for clarifying. That explanation sounds all too believable - and frustrating! I do wonder whether there are any disparities between the letter of the law as written, and how it is applied in practice. Would love to hear from more DNs whether they ran into any issues trying to meet this requirement.
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I think the discrepancy occurs because the temporary residence visa used to be valid for one year. They switched to two and three year visas just a couple of years ago, so the language about absences seems awkward. The websites touting these services may not have a lot of actual clients in the program so don’t know or care about accurate details.