Portugal Golden Visa 2025 Update — Investment Thresholds & Options

This page previously conflated the Golden Visa with the D7 visa, and stated a "30-year renewable" term that does not match either program. They are two separate routes into Portuguese residency, and neither works the way that description suggested.

The Golden Visa (ARI) since the 2023 reform

Portugal's Autorização de Residência para Investimento (ARI) — the "Golden Visa" — no longer accepts real estate purchase as a qualifying investment; that route was removed by the 2023 housing-reform law (Lei n.º 56/2023, "Mais Habitação"). The routes that remain include:

• Investment funds: at least €500,000 into a fund regulated by the CMVM (Portugal's securities regulator), where the fund does not invest predominantly in real estate.
• Job creation: incorporating a company that creates 10 jobs, generally valued at investment of at least €500,000 in that context.
• Scientific research donation: at least €500,000 to a public or private institution within the national scientific research system.
• Cultural/artistic donation: at least €250,000 in support of artistic production or national heritage, reduced to €200,000 for projects in officially designated low-density areas.

Applications are processed by AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo), which replaced the former SEF in 2023.

The Golden Visa is not the D7 visa

The D7 is an entirely different, much cheaper route — a residency visa built around passive income rather than a lump-sum investment, aimed at retirees and people with pensions, rental income, or investment income rather than at investors seeking a specific asset class. The minimum passive income for the main applicant is pegged to Portugal's national minimum wage, which rose to €920 a month in January 2026 — not the €1,245 figure previously stated on this page, which does not match the current wage-indexed calculation. A spouse or additional adult adds 50% of that figure, and each dependent child adds 30%; applicants must also generally show a financial reserve of around 12 months of the reference amount (roughly €11,040 for a single applicant at the 2026 rate) in a Portuguese account.

How long residency lasts, and the path to citizenship

Golden Visa holders receive an initial two-year residence permit, renewable for a further three years, with permanent residency or citizenship becoming a possibility from five years of holding the permit — genuinely long, but nothing like "30-year renewable."

Citizenship itself got harder to reach in 2026. A nationality law reform, effective for applications submitted on or after 19 May 2026, extended the general residency requirement for naturalisation from 5 years to 10 years, with a reduced 7-year requirement for citizens of EU member states and CPLP (Portuguese-speaking) countries. The reform also tightened how the residency clock is counted — only periods covered by a valid residence permit count, starting from the date the permit itself is issued — and added a Portuguese-culture and civic-knowledge requirement to the naturalisation process.

FAQ

Q: Can I still get a Golden Visa by buying an apartment in Portugal? A: No. Real estate purchase was removed as a qualifying Golden Visa investment by the 2023 housing reform; the remaining routes are funds, job creation, research donation and cultural donation.

Q: Is the D7 visa cheaper than the Golden Visa? A: Generally yes in capital terms — the D7 requires ongoing passive income above a wage-indexed threshold rather than a lump-sum investment of €200,000–€500,000, though it comes with its own income-proof and residence obligations.

Q: If I already hold a Golden Visa, does the new 10-year citizenship rule apply to me retroactively? A: The 2026 reform applies to naturalisation applications submitted on or after 19 May 2026 — check your specific residence-permit dates and application timing against a Portuguese immigration lawyer rather than assuming either the old or new rule automatically applies to your case.

Sources

Figures verified as of 30 July 2026:

• Lei n.º 56/2023 ("Mais Habitação") (removal of the real estate route from the ARI/Golden Visa)
• AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo) (successor to SEF; ARI investment routes and thresholds — funds, job creation, research and cultural donations)
• Portuguese national minimum wage, January 2026 update (€920/month baseline for the D7 visa income requirement, with 50%/30% additions for a spouse and dependents)
• 2026 Portuguese nationality law reform (residency-for-citizenship requirement extended from 5 to 10 years generally, 7 years for EU/CPLP nationals, effective for applications from 19 May 2026, as reported by multiple immigration-law advisories including Clark Hill and Lexidy)