Portugal is launching a new visa for digital nomads. Who can get it and what is required for this?
Portugal has launched a new visa for digital nomads. Thanks to it, since the 30th of October, freelancers and remote workers will be able to live and work permanently in this country.
Who can get a new visa? All those who work remotely and come to Portugal NOT from the EU or the European Economic Area. If you work remotely, but for hire, your company must be outside Portugal. You need to earn approximately €3288 per month to obtain such a visa — this is four times the minimum wage in the country (€822/month).
How to get a visa? You need to provide an employment contract and documents of tax residency, as well as to confirm your income for the last 3 months. You can apply at the Portuguese consulate in your country or at the Portuguese immigration agency Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras.
What are the alternatives? D7 visa — it was developed for pensioners, but in general it is used by everyone who wants to live and work abroad. There are a number of nuances: this visa is designed for people who receive passive income, for example, from rent or investments; this income must exceed the local minimum wage (€822), and also the owners of such a visa need to stay in the country a certain number of months a year.
A more expensive alternative is the «Golden Visa». Having invested at least €350,000 in the country, you can get Portuguese citizenship. However, the Portuguese authorities have recently decided to slightly adjust the rules for issuing these visas: now residence permits will not be issued for real estate in Lisbon, Porto, Algarve and on the coast.
In general, the remote work trend has been gaining popularity all over the world after the pandemic — since 2020, more and more countries have begun to introduce special visas for freelancers and remote workers. These countries include Croatia, Iceland, Greece, Malaysia, and Mexico. In the near future, such a visa will also be launched in Spain.
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