Key figures — as of 2026-08-12: D8 minimum monthly income now €3,680 (4× the €920 national minimum wage) — up from roughly €2,820 when the visa launched in October 2022 — a ~30% rise in four years; savings requirement now €11,040, plus 50% more for a spouse and 30% per child.
The number that's tripping people up
Anyone who researched Portugal's Digital Nomad Visa a few years ago and is only now getting round to applying is in for an unpleasant surprise. The figure still circulating in old blog posts and forum threads — around €2,820 a month — hasn't been the real bar for some time. Portugal's minimum wage increased to €920.00, which increased the Portugal Remote Work Visa minimum income requirement to €3,680 per month. That's the number AIMA, the Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo, applies to every D8 application in 2026.
The mechanism isn't a policy U-turn or a sudden crackdown — it's automatic. Portugal's D8 income threshold is pegged to the national minimum wage, which is updated annually by government decree, and the 2026 minimum wage was set at €920 per month, producing the D8 threshold of €3,680 (4 × €920). The legal basis for the latest jump sits in Decree-Law 139/2025, which fixed the 2026 minimum wage at €920.
Why the €2,820 figure still gets quoted
When the D8 launched in October 2022, the minimum wage stood at €705, putting the four-times threshold at roughly €2,820. That number got baked into early relocation guides, YouTube explainers and Facebook group wisdom — and it's stuck around long after the underlying wage moved on. Portugal has raised the minimum wage every January since, and each rise has quietly pulled the D8 bar up with it, first past €3,000, then past €3,200, and now to €3,680.
GrowIN Portugal's analysis: that's a cumulative increase of roughly 30% since the visa's launch — meaning a freelancer who budgeted around €2,820 a month in 2022 now needs to find an extra €860 a month, or just over €10,300 a year, in demonstrable foreign income to qualify under the current rules. For someone paid in a weaker currency or working part-time client hours, that gap is the difference between a straightforward application and a rejection.
What AIMA actually checks
The threshold applies at the moment of assessment, not when the applicant first started planning. AIMA assesses financial means based on the minimum wage in force at the time of your appointment, not at the time you started, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs updates this benchmark every time the national minimum wage changes. That timing detail matters: someone who gathered documents in late 2025 under the old €3,280 figure but whose AIMA appointment lands in 2026 will be measured against €3,680, not the number they prepared for.
Family applications compound the effect. The primary applicant must demonstrate a minimum monthly income of €3,680, plus 50% more for a spouse (€5,520 total) and 30% more (€1,104) per child or dependent parent, along with savings thresholds that increase accordingly (€11,040 base, €16,560 with spouse, plus €3,312 per additional dependent). A couple with two children now needs to clear roughly €7,700 a month before AIMA will look twice at the file.
Who this squeezes
The people most exposed are exactly the lower-earning freelancers and part-time contractors the D8 was, in practice if not in law, meant to accommodate — graphic designers, junior developers, virtual assistants and consultants billing hourly rather than salaried remote employees. Someone earning €2,900–€3,300 a month, comfortably above Portugal's old benchmark, now falls short by several hundred euros and either has to top up income before applying, add a co-applicant's earnings, or look at the D7 route instead, which uses a lower passive-income bar tied to the same minimum wage but without the 4× multiplier.
"The D8 hasn't got stricter on paper — it's just tracking a minimum wage that keeps rising, and anyone quoting a 2022 figure is applying for a visa that no longer exists," says GrowIN Portugal Editorial.
What to watch next
The minimum wage typically moves again each January, via a new decree-law, so expect the D8 threshold to rise again for 2027 — historically by roughly 5–6% a year. Applicants close to the current €3,680 line should build in a buffer rather than aiming for the exact figure, since the bar they clear in December may not be the bar in force at their eventual AIMA appointment. For the full current breakdown of income, savings and document requirements, see our guide in the visas hub, and GrowIN's services team can help structure income proof before a consulate submission goes in. Anyone still budgeting around the old €2,820 number should treat that figure as history, not guidance — Portugal's remote-work visa has moved on, and the paperwork won't wait for outdated blog posts to catch up.
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