What is Portugal’s D8 Visa?

Robert S. Says:

What is Portugal’s D8 Digital Nomad visa, and how does one get it?

Global Intelligence Letter Editor Jeff Opdyke Says:

Thanks for the question, Robert.

The D8 Digital Nomad visa is a new visa Portugal launched in fall 2022. It provides Portuguese residency for one or two years, depending on which version of the visa you pursue.

The D8 is aimed exclusively at digital nomads who can earn their income from anywhere in the world they want to be. As such, the D8 visa requires you to prove you can work remotely and earn at least a certain amount of income.

For 2023, the minimum is set at €3,040 (about $3,300) per month. You must show three months of income at or exceeding that level through bank account statements

The one-year version of the visa is intended for nomads who simply want to spend up to a year living and working in Portugal before moving on. The two-year version is for those who want to settle in Portugal and ultimately pursue Portuguese citizenship and a local passport, which is a European Union passport.

How do you get one?

The best approach is to contact a visa agency in Portugal. I used Global Citizen Solutions in Lisbon to obtain my D8 Visa. It can be challenging to get the visa on your own, because requirements like obtaining a local bank account and the Portuguese version of a Social Security number are very challenging to achieve outside of Portugal—particularly if you don’t speak Portuguese.

Hope that helps.

P.S. You might enjoy this article I recently wrote for IL about my new hometown in Portugal.

Learn more about Visas and Residency in Portugal here.

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