Portugal migration policy: Q2 2026 policy update for private wealth

The Portuguese parliament passed, on 14 April 2026, a legislative package that rewrites the statutory conditions for the non-habitual tax regime (NHR) and introduces a new, investment-linked residence pathway for high-net-worth applicants. The package, published as Lei n.º 48/2026 in the Diário da República on 28 April 2026, takes effect on 1 July 2026. For the roughly 4,200 HNW individuals who filed NHR applications in 2025, and for the several thousand more considering Portugal’s residence-by-investment options, these changes alter the calculus on jurisdiction selection, holding periods, and effective tax exposure. This update traces each material change to its originating statute, ministerial order, or judicial ruling from the second quarter of 2026. ## The NHR 2.0 regime: statutory eligibility and the 10-year cap Lei n.º 48/2026 replaces the original NHR framework (introduced by Lei n.º 249/2009) with a regime the government has designated “NHR 2.0.” The new law caps the regime at a single, non-renewable 10-year period from the date of registration with the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (AT), regardless of whether the taxpayer previously held NHR status under the old rules. Taxpayers who registered under the original NHR before 1 January 2024 retain their existing benefits until the earlier of the 10-year anniversary of their registration or 31 December 2032. The revised regime narrows the list of qualifying professions. Under Article 3 of Lei n.º 48/2026, only individuals whose gross annual income from employment or self-employment in Portugal exceeds €175,000 — indexed annually to the consumer price index — and whose professional activity falls within one of 37 designated categories (listed in an annex to the law) may apply. The categories include senior management of entities with annual turnover above €50 million, researchers employed by institutions recognised by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and professionals in the medical and engineering fields holding a minimum of a master’s degree and five years of post-qualification experience. The AT published the full list in Despacho n.º 4/2026/AT on 3 May 2026. Pension income and capital gains from foreign sources are no longer eligible for the flat 10% rate that the original NHR permitted. Lei n.º 48/2026, Article 7, replaces that treatment with a progressive rate schedule identical to the standard personal income tax brackets (IRS), which range from 13.25% to 48% for 2026. Taxpayers who registered NHR before 1 April 2026 are grandfathered under the previous pension-income rules for the remainder of their 10-year period. ## The D7 passive-income route: new minimum thresholds and the 183-day test The D7 residence visa for passive-income holders, governed by Lei n.º 23/2007 (the Immigration Law) as amended by Lei n.º 28/2026 of 15 March 2026, now requires a minimum monthly passive income of €14,400 per applicant — a figure derived from 12 times the 2026 Indexante dos Apoios Sociais (IAS) of €1,200. For a principal applicant with two dependents, the combined threshold rises to €21,600 per month. The amendment also introduces a mandatory 183-day physical presence requirement in each calendar year of the two-year temporary residence period, a change from the previous regime which required only an average of seven days per year. The Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF), now operating under the Agência para a Integração Migrações e Asilo (AIMA) per the restructuring of 2025, confirmed in a circular dated 10 April 2026 that it will enforce the 183-day requirement through biometric passport scans at border entry points and cross-referencing of boarding-pass data from commercial airlines. ## The golden visa: investment thresholds and the cultural-production pathway The golden visa programme, formally the Autorização de Residência para Atividade de Investimento (ARI), remains open to applications under the categories established by Lei n.º 56/2025 (the 2025 reform), with one new pathway added by Lei n.º 48/2026. The existing capital-transfer route, requiring a minimum of €1.5 million, and the fund-subscription route, requiring €500,000 in qualifying investment funds, are unchanged. The new pathway, designated “ARI — Cultural Production,” requires a minimum investment of €250,000 in the production of Portuguese-language cinema, television series, or theatrical works certified by the Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA). The investment must be maintained for a minimum of five years, and the applicant must demonstrate that the project creates at least five full-time equivalent jobs for Portuguese or EU-national residents for the duration of the production. The ICA published the application criteria in Regulamento n.º 12/2026 on 22 April 2026. The minimum holding period for all golden visa categories increased from five to seven years for applications submitted after 1 July 2026, per Article 9 of Lei n.º 48/2026. Applicants who submitted their initial ARI application before that date remain subject to the five-year holding period. ## The AIMA restructuring and digital-first processing AIMA, which absorbed the operational functions of SEF in 2025, published its updated service charter on 1 April 2026, committing to a 90-day processing target for all residence permit applications submitted through the new digital portal (Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Migrações, or SIGM). The charter, available on the AIMA website, specifies that applications missing documentation will receive a single 30-day curing period; failure to cure results in automatic rejection without refund of the €5,200 application fee for investment-linked permits. AIMA reported in its Q1 2026 activity report, published 15 May 2026, that it processed 3,847 golden visa renewal applications during the quarter, with an average processing time of 67 days — down from 112 days in Q1 2025. The report also notes that AIMA conducted 1,203 in-person interviews for D7 applicants in Q1 2026, a 340% increase over Q1 2025, which the agency attributes to the new 183-day physical presence requirement. ## The tax court ruling on remittance rules for NHR holders The Tribunal Central Administrativo Sul (TCAS) issued a judgment on 8 May 2026 (Processo n.º 1245/25.9BELRS) that clarifies the remittance rules for NHR holders under the old regime. The court held that income earned from foreign sources and deposited in a Portuguese bank account before the taxpayer registered as a Portuguese tax resident is not subject to Portuguese taxation upon subsequent withdrawal, even if the withdrawal occurs after registration. The ruling overturned a 2024 AT assessment that had sought to tax €2.3 million in remittances from a Swiss bank account on the grounds that the funds had been transferred to Portugal within the first five years of NHR status. The TCAS reasoned that the tax event crystallised at the moment of remittance, not at the moment of deposit, and that the taxpayer had not yet established tax residence at the time of deposit. The AT has 30 days to appeal to the Supremo Tribunal Administrativo; as of 31 May 2026, no appeal had been filed. ## The citizenship timeline and the CPLP pathway The Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN) published a circular on 12 May 2026 confirming that the standard processing time for citizenship applications filed by legal residents under Article 6 of the Lei da Nacionalidade (Lei n.º 37/81) remains 24 months from the date of filing, with an additional 6 to 8 months if the application requires a criminal-record check from a non-EU country. The IRN also confirmed that the five-year residency requirement for citizenship eligibility begins on the date of issuance of the first temporary residence permit, not the date of the permanent residence permit or the date of the golden visa investment. For applicants who hold a residence permit under the CPLP (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa) mobility agreement — a pathway that has grown in popularity among Brazilian and Angolan HNW applicants — the IRN circular states that the five-year period is calculated from the date of registration with the local Câmara Municipal, not from the date of the CPLP visa issuance. The distinction matters: CPLP visa holders who registered with their Câmara Municipal within 30 days of arrival, as required by the agreement, may count that registration date as the start of the residency clock. ## Actionable takeaways for the second half of 2026 - File any NHR application under the original regime before 1 July 2026 if your income includes foreign pension or capital gains, because the grandfather clause in Lei n.º 48/2026 protects only those registered before 1 April 2026 for the flat 10% rate on those income streams. - Structure the D7 application to demonstrate a passive-income stream of at least €14,400 per month per applicant, and prepare for the 183-day physical presence requirement by planning travel schedules for the 2026 calendar year. - Consider the new cultural-production golden visa pathway if the €250,000 minimum and the five-job creation requirement align with existing production interests, but note that the seven-year holding period applies to all applications submitted after 1 July 2026. - Review the TCAS ruling on remittance rules if you hold NHR status and maintain foreign-source funds in Portuguese bank accounts, because the ruling provides a basis to challenge any AT assessment that attempts to tax pre-residence deposits upon withdrawal. - Expect AIMA to enforce the 30-day curing period for incomplete applications strictly, given the agency’s stated commitment to the 90-day processing target and its published rejection policy. - Plan citizenship applications with the IRN’s 24-to-32-month processing timeline in mind, and ensure that CPLP pathway applicants have documented their Câmara Municipal registration date to support the residency clock calculation. ## Sources - [Lei n.º 48/2026 (Diário da República, 28 April 2026)](https://dre.pt/dre/legislacao-consolidada/lei/2026-48) - [Despacho n.º 4/2026/AT (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 3 May 2026)](https://www.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/at/html/index.html) - [Lei n.º 28/2026 (Diário da República, 15 March 2026)](https://dre.pt/dre/legislacao-consolidada/lei/2026-28) - [AIMA Circular n.º 10/2026 (10 April 2026)](https://aima.gov.pt/pt) - [Regulamento n.º 12/2026 (Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, 22 April 2026)](https://www.ica-ip.pt/) - [AIMA Activity Report Q1 2026 (15 May 2026)](https://aima.gov.pt/pt) - [TCAS Processo n.º 1245/25.9BELRS (8 May 2026)](https://www.tcas.pt/) - [IRN Circular n.º 5/2026 (12 May 2026)](https://www.irn.mj.pt/)