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D7 vs D8

A direct comparison of Portugal's two most popular routes, decided by where your money comes from.

The short answer

Choose the D7 if your income arrives without you working — pension, rent, dividends. Choose the D8 if you actively work remotely for employers or clients outside Portugal. The D8 asks for roughly four times the income the D7 does, because it is assessed against a higher multiple of the minimum wage.

Deciding test

Is the income earned by working this month?

D7 basis

1x minimum wage

D8 basis

4x minimum wage

Both lead to residence

Yes (D8 residence variant)

The one question that decides it

Do you have to do work this month for the money to arrive? If yes, you are on the D8 side. If no, you are on the D7 side. Everything else follows from that.

Side by side

	D7	D8
Income type	Passive, recurring	Active, earned remotely
Income basis	Minimum wage, main applicant	4x minimum wage, main applicant
Typical applicant	Retiree, landlord, investor	Remote employee, freelancer
Key evidence	Pension/rental/dividend records	Contracts, invoices, payslips
Work in Portugal	Not the purpose of the route	For foreign clients only
Leads to residence	Yes	Yes, in the residence variant

Where people get it wrong

Remote workers sometimes try the D7 because the income threshold is lower. Salary is not passive income, and presenting it as such weakens the file. Retirees sometimes look at the D8 because it seems more modern; there is no advantage in it if the income is passive.

Mixed situations

Plenty of people have both: a pension and some consulting, or rental income and freelance work. Apply on the route that matches your dominant, best-documented income, and present the rest as supporting stability rather than as the basis of the application.

Cost of living changes the answer too

A D7-level income goes much further in Braga or Coimbra than in central Lisbon. Run the cost of living calculator alongside the income requirement before deciding that a threshold is comfortable.

Questions people actually ask

Can I switch routes later?: Changing your basis of residence in Portugal is possible in some situations but is not automatic. Choose the route that matches your real income from the start.
Which is faster?: Processing times are driven by the consulate and your document readiness, not by the route itself.