These two routes answer one question differently: are you moving to Portugal now, or keeping the option open? The D7 is for people relocating today, it needs no investment, just stable passive income of around €920 a month, and in exchange you actually live in Portugal and become tax resident here. The Golden Visa costs €500,000 into regulated funds (or a €250,000 cultural donation) but asks for roughly a week a year, no relocation and no Portuguese tax residency. Cheap-but-committed versus expensive-but-flexible. Decide which side of that line you are on and the choice makes itself.
Every week I speak to families who have been told the D7 is “the cheap Golden Visa”. It is nothing of the sort, and choosing between them on price alone is how people end up tax resident in a country they only meant to visit. I guide Portugal Golden Visa applications for a living and I have helped plenty of people conclude the D7 suits them better, so here is the comparison I’d give a friend.
The two routes at a glance
| D7 (passive income) | Portugal Golden Visa | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | No investment. Prove stable passive income: from €920 a month for a single applicant in 2026 (100% of the minimum wage), plus 50% for a spouse and 30% per child | €500,000 into CMVM-regulated funds, or a €250,000 cultural donation |
| Physical presence | You genuinely live in Portugal: absences over 6 consecutive months (or 8 in total per permit period) can cost you the permit | About 7 days a year on average, 14 days per two-year period |
| Tax residency | Yes, in practice: living here more than 183 days makes you Portuguese tax resident | No, not unless you choose to move |
| Work rights | Full residence rights, including work | Full residence rights, including work, if you ever choose to use them |
| Family | Spouse and dependants via family reunification, income requirement rises accordingly | Spouse, dependent children and dependent parents on one application |
| Permanent residency | From year 5 | From year 5 |
| Citizenship | From year 10 under the 2026 law, provided you keep genuinely living here | From year 10 under the 2026 law, without ever relocating |
| Who it suits | Retirees and passive-income earners relocating to Portugal now | Families who want the option of Portugal, and an EU passport path, without moving yet |
What the D7 genuinely gets right
If you are certain you are moving to Portugal, the D7 is hard to argue with. There is no six-figure investment: you show stable passive income, pensions, rents, dividends, interest, at or above the Portuguese minimum wage, which from January 2026 means about €920 a month for a single applicant, half as much again for a spouse and 30% more per child. Beyond savings requirements and some paperwork, your capital stays wherever it is working today. You get full residence rights, your family joins you, and after five years you reach the same permanent residency milestone as a Golden Visa investor.
The honesty part: the D7 is a commitment, not an option. The permit expects you to actually live in Portugal, extended absences can cost you it, and once you are here more than 183 days a year you are a Portuguese tax resident, with your worldwide income inside the Portuguese system. For many of my retired clients that is a perfectly good outcome, especially with IFICI planning done before the move rather than after. But it must be a decision, never a side effect.
What the Golden Visa genuinely gets right
The Golden Visa answers a different question: what if you want Portugal in your family’s future without moving there today? For €500,000 into a regulated fund, or a €250,000 cultural donation, you hold full legal residency at roughly a week a year of presence. Your job, your business, your tax base stay exactly where they are. And the years still count: permanent residency from year five, citizenship eligibility from year ten, on the same clock as someone who relocated, without the relocation.
That flexibility is what the money buys. Nobody should pretend €500,000 versus €920 a month is a trivial difference; the question is whether committing your life to Portugal now would cost you more than the investment does.
The tax residency line, the real divider
Here is the sentence that settles most of these conversations. The D7 makes you a Portuguese tax resident; the Golden Visa does not. If your income is modest and portable, that can be fine or even favourable. If you have significant investment income, a business sale on the horizon, or US tax complexity layered on top, becoming tax resident in the wrong sequence can cost far more than a fund subscription. This is exactly where I bring in the regulated tax specialists I work with before you commit to either route, sequencing first, paperwork second.
Which one is right for you?
- Choose the D7 if you are genuinely relocating now, your income is mainly passive and comfortably above the thresholds, and you have had proper tax advice about becoming Portuguese tax resident.
- Choose the Golden Visa if you want the EU foothold and the citizenship path while continuing to live, work and pay tax where you are today.
- Talk it through first if you are somewhere in between, moving in two or three years, splitting the year, or bringing complex finances. The right answer is often about sequence, not either-or.
