I’m looking at residency options in Europe that could be converted to citizenship later. Portugal’s D7 visa stands out.
I work at a remote company as a contractor. I would like to know if I’m eligible for a D7 visa. I can easily meet the income threshold for D7 to lead an independent life in Portugal. I don’t have anyone depending on me.
Any thoughts or suggestions about my possibility of getting accepted for a D7 visa? Are there any other better options?
Nigel
You could look historically to get an idea of what is most popular and this would be a good starting point.
From this “chart”, you can see that Italy, Spain, France are very popular.
Thanks, but those countries seem to be very expensive.
Yes you are. The best source for D7 info is the document ‘2021 Visas and Permits’ found in the Files section of the ‘Americans & FriendsPT’ facebook group. The document is kept up to date. Quote from it:
Often referred to as a long-stay, passive income or resident visa, the D7 visa for those who are retired, not working (financially independent), self-employed (remote/digital nomads), employed/working remotely for a company outside of Portugal, or living on passive income from investments, real estate rentals, social security, pensions, and/or a business.
I read your post in the Introduce yourself thread. You said you want to have second home. Are you aware of the limits on how long you can be outside of Portugal during the valid period of a residence permit?
Thanks! It’s weird that the agencies I contacted are telling me its only for retired people living off their funds.
I looked it up. Looks like I can’t be away for more than 2 years at a time.
I’m okay with that. I’m done with my life here in India and would be more than happy to stay in a better country with a responsible and accountable government.
The 2 years restriction applies only to those with a permanent residence permit. You can’t apply for one until you’ve been a resident for 5 years.
Residence permits have a absence from Portugal restriction. During the valid period of the permit you can be absent from Portugal for 6 months in a row, or 8 months otherwise. So, for a permit with a 2 year valid period, you must stay in Portugal for 16 months (24-8=16) or 18 months (24-6). For a permit with a 3 year valid period, you must stay in Portugal for 28 months (36-8) or 30 months (30-6)
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.
…
(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.
Thanks! That is really helpful. It looks like I will be able to meet those conditions.
The hardest part is finding a visa consultant in my locality who can verify and assist me with the applications. After the lockdowns, I will be trying to get hold of one.
I’m also considering Latvia’s Business investment since it looks much easier. Also, I wouldn’t mind living in a colder place.
I don’t know if this will affect your plan. Portugal has been granting D7 visas to Americans during the pandemic. I also don’t know if they’ve been granting visas in your country.
Don’t think you need a visa consultant in india. You do need a bank account in Portugal and a lease agreement for a rental. I’m planning to apply for this from Bangalore when vfs opens. Do let me know if you want to connect and exchange notes.
@Stuthi I am also waiting on the embassy to start accepting D category visas. But first, I am gonna try to visit Portugal on a Schengen visa ( probably from another EU country ) and explore the cities and locations I have in mind.
The visa acceptance rate in Portugal is pretty bad when compared to other EU countries. I guess it will be even more difficult for Indians now because of covid restrictions.
So I would rather visit Portugal once before making the commitment to open a bank account and transferring the required amount to proceed with the D7 application process. I hope a visit to Portugal would also help with the D7 application.
If you want to discuss further on this or have any leads, feel free to send me a message.
Can anyone with experience confirm whether this interpretation is in fact correct? All of the websites I’ve read suggest that you need to spend a minimum of 6 months PER YEAR, not per residence permit. Being required to stay for 28 months during the 3-year residence permit would surely be prohibitive for digital nomads who want to spend more than 2 months per year traveling abroad or visiting family?
dancebert posted the law. that is how it is. this is well documented on the AFIP FB forum.
The D7 being discussed here is not a digital nomad visa. It is a residence permit meant for people who want to move to Portugal and stay there. The regime has been around a really long time now.
Portugal doesn’t really have a digital nomad visa per se. There’s some stuff you can do but it’s not straightforward like other programs.
In this thread I quoted the law in May '21 - and included a link to the text of the law as proof.