Moving to Portugal in 2026: taxation, visas, cost of living

Portuguese tax residence is acquired through presence: beyond more than 183 days³ over twelve months, a person is resident within the meaning of the IRS code. Having a home available under conditions suggesting an intention to keep it as a habitual residence constitutes a second connecting factor, independent of the day count.

The IRS scale is progressive. The first bracket is taxed at from 12.5%⁴ and the top marginal rate reaches 48%⁵. Beyond certain income levels, an additional solidarity surcharge applies.

Investment income

Dividends are subject to a final-discharge rate of 28%⁶, with a possible option to aggregate them into the progressive scale where that is more favourable.

For gains on securities, the holding period determines the treatment: the threshold is set at more than 365 days⁷. The distinction between short and long holding should therefore be built into the timetable of a disposal, not observed after the fact.

The IFICI regime, successor to the NHR

The Non-Habitual Resident regime is closed to new arrivals. The tax incentive for scientific research and innovation, the IFICI, provided for in article 58.º-A of the Tax Benefits Statute, has replaced it. It taxes category A and B income derived from eligible activities at a special rate of 20%⁸, for 10 years⁹ consecutive.

Access requires not having been tax resident in Portugal during the preceding from 5 years¹⁰, carrying out an activity on the exhaustive list in the legislation, and never having benefited from the NHR. Income from a preferential-tax jurisdiction remains taxed at the final-discharge rate of 35%¹¹.

A decisive point for retirees: under the IFICI, the general exemption for foreign-source income does not cover pensions. The regime is not the successor to the NHR for this group — it is not aimed at them.

The standard corporate income tax rate is 19%¹² for tax periods beginning in 2026, which is relevant to anyone considering basing an activity there rather than receiving passive income.

Law n.º 64/2025 has scheduled its reduction: 18%¹³ for periods beginning in 2027, then 17%¹⁴ from 2028. SMEs and Small Mid Caps within the meaning of decree-law n.º 372/2007 also benefit, since 2026, from a reduced rate of 15%¹⁵ on the first €50,000¹⁶ of taxable base, the excess remaining at the standard rate. The municipal and State derramas are added, and we do not quantify them.

For a French national, the visa question does not arise: freedom of movement removes the need for a residence permit. What follows concerns nationals of third countries, as well as dual nationals who would not use a European nationality.

The own-income visa

The so-called D7 visa is aimed at the settlement of retirees, religious persons and people living on their own income. The financial requirement is not specific to it: it derives from portaria n.º 1563/2007, which sets the means of subsistence required of third-country nationals, indexed to the guaranteed monthly minimum wage — €870¹⁷ for the reference year indicated by the administration.

The amount required depends on the composition of the household:

• first adult: 100%¹⁸ of that reference;
• each additional adult: 50%¹⁹;
• each dependent child: 30%²⁰.

The administration assesses not only a level but a regularity: the income must show a constant and stable flow, and its availability in Portugal must be established. A Portuguese bank account is required in support of the application.

The investment route

The residence permit for investment, provided for by the immigration regime, opens from a threshold of about €500,000²¹ depending on the option chosen. The scheme has been profoundly overhauled: acquiring housing for residential use no longer qualifies under the same conditions as before.

The updated list of eligible investment options and their respective thresholds is not reproduced here: the regime has changed several times and a copied list would quickly become outdated. It must be checked with the AIMA before any commitment.

The Portuguese market has seen a decade of sustained increases, fuelled by foreign demand and tourist rentals, to the point of becoming a domestic political issue: this is one of the reasons given for closing the NHR and reforming the investment regime.

Acquisition by a non-resident is not restricted in itself: there is no prior authorisation comparable to that of certain neighbouring countries. The Portuguese tax identification number — the NIF — is, however, a practical prerequisite for any transaction, as for opening a bank account.

We do not publish IMT or IMI rates. The finance portal pages we were able to consult on 26 September 2026 give the index of the IMT code but not the content of its article 17.º, which sets the rates. These rates also vary according to the nature of the property, its use and the municipality: they must be calculated case by case.

Two structural points deserve to be factored into the calculation of an acquisition, regardless of rates: holding taxes are municipal and therefore vary from one municipality to another; and acquisition by an entity established in a preferential-tax jurisdiction is treated more harshly, which rules out certain holding structures.

Portugal remains, in Western Europe, one of the countries where the general price level is below the eurozone average. This national average nevertheless conceals a considerable gap between Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve on the one hand, and the interior of the country on the other.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget. As of the date we consulted sources, we found no official Portuguese series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate; the figures in circulation come from self-reported databases that cannot be verified.

There is, however, a useful benchmark, and it is official: the guaranteed monthly minimum wage, which serves as the reference for the means of subsistence required of foreign nationals, stands at €870¹⁷ for the reference year cited by the administration. This figure does not measure an expatriate's cost of living: it measures the local wage floor, and gives the scale of the economy in which one comes to spend.

The item that departs furthest from this scale is housing in high-demand areas, where prices have largely aligned with international demand rather than with local incomes.

The order of the steps matters, because each one conditions the next.

1. Obtain the NIF, the tax identification number, which is a prerequisite for almost everything: bank account, lease, purchase, contracts;
2. open a Portuguese bank account, required in support of a residence visa application based on own income;
3. put together the visa file with the competent consular post, for nationals of third countries;
4. on arrival, complete the residence formalities with AIMA and register for tax purposes as a resident;
5. where applicable, apply for IFICI registration by 15 January of the year following the one in which residence is established.

This last date is the deadline most often missed: it cannot be made up, and the administration does not have to refuse the application for the benefit to be lost.

We do not publish processing times. Those of consular posts and of AIMA vary greatly depending on the location and the period, and we have no dated, quantified official source to cite.

Four points come up systematically in Portuguese cases.

• Retirees are no longer the intended audience. The RNH is closed and the IFICI does not cover foreign pensions: reasoning from the accounts of people who arrived in the previous decade leads to a mistake about the regime.
• The IFICI is an activity-based regime, not a residence-based one. It follows what one does in Portugal, and its list of eligible activities is exhaustive and subject to revision.
• The Portuguese passport opens about 191²² without a visa, but naturalisation is subject to its own conditions, separate from the length of stay granted by a permit.
• Leaving France is assessed on French criteria and under the applicable tax treaty. Obtaining a Portuguese permit and registering as a tax resident in Portugal is not enough, on its own, to establish that the household and the centre of economic interests have left France.

Finally, the frequency of reforms is itself a fact of the case: RNH closed, investment regime overhauled, IFICI regulated almost a year after its creation and then amended the following year. A ten-year plan rests on legislation that the Portuguese legislature has shown it knows how to reopen.