# Minimum Wage Hits €920 in 2026 as Remote-Income Gap Widens

> Portugal's minimum wage rose to €920 in 2026, but the gap with the €3,680 income foreign remote workers need for a D8 visa keeps growing.

- Source: https://www.growinportugal.com/news/minimum-wage-rises-to-920-but-gap-with-foreign-remote-salari-2026-08-11
- Publisher: GrowIN Portugal (https://www.growinportugal.com)
- Published: 2026-08-11
- Last reviewed: 2026-08-11
- Language: en

> **Key figures — as of 2026-08-11:** National minimum wage rose to **€920/month gross** (€818.80 net) on 1 January 2026, up from €870 — a 5.7% increase set by Decree-Law 139/2025 — with a government roadmap targeting €1,020 by 2028 — while the D8 Digital Nomad Visa income threshold, fixed at 4× the minimum wage, climbed to **€3,680/month**, meaning the euro gap between the two figures widened from €2,610 to €2,760 a month year-on-year.

## A €50 Rise That Local Workers Will Barely Feel

Portugal's minimum wage went up to €920 a month on 1 January 2026, a €50 jump from the €870 rate in 2025. The national minimum wage in Portugal is €920 per month as of January 1, 2026, established by Decree-Law No. 139/2025, representing a €50 increase from the 2025 rate of €870, a rise of approximately 5.7%. Because Portuguese salaries are paid in 14 instalments rather than 12, that headline figure translates to an annual minimum income of €12,880 once the Christmas and holiday bonuses are counted. Portuguese labour law entitles all employees to receive not 12 but 14 monthly salary payments per year: the regular 12 months of wages, plus a 13th month payment and a 14th month payment.

Net pay after the standard social security deduction lands at €818.80 a month. The Guaranteed Minimum Monthly Wage stands at €920 gross on mainland Portugal in 2026, translating to €818.80 net after the 11% Social Security deduction. Compared with last year's take-home pay, that's roughly €44.50 more in the bank each month. Portugal raises the statutory minimum wage to €920 on 1 Jan 2026, meaning workers pocket an extra €44.50 each month. For anyone renting in Lisbon or Porto, where a one-bedroom flat can easily swallow half a minimum-wage packet, that increase disappears fast.

## Why the Digital Nomad Threshold Moves in Lockstep — And Pulls Further Ahead

Here's the part that matters for foreigners weighing up whether to move to Portugal on local pay versus remote income: the D8 Digital Nomad Visa's financial bar is legally pegged to the minimum wage, at four times its value. 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 threshold AIMA and consulates now apply to non-EU applicants proving they earn enough from abroad to qualify. With the minimum wage rising to €920 per month in 2026, the income threshold for the D8 visa is €3,680 per month, or approximately €44,160 per year. Applicants bringing a spouse or children face a further uplift — roughly 50% more for a partner and 30% per child. As of 2026, this corresponds to €3,680 per month for the main applicant, with a 50% increase for a spouse and a 30% increase for each dependent child.

Because the multiplier is fixed at 4×, the *ratio* between the two figures never changes — but the *euro gap* does, and it's growing every time the minimum wage rises. In 2025, a minimum-wage worker earned €870 while the D8 threshold sat at roughly €3,480, a gap of €2,610. This year, the gap between what a Portuguese minimum-wage employee brings home and what a foreign remote worker must prove to live here legally has widened to €2,760 a month — a €150 increase in the space of one wage adjustment. Multiplied across a year, that's an extra €1,800 separating the two income realities before either group has paid a cent of rent.

## Two Very Different Portugals, Side by Side

The most recent INE data shows average gross monthly earnings of €1,741, with Lisbon commanding the highest averages at approximately €2,215 gross per month. Set against that, the €3,680 D8 threshold is more than double the national average salary and still comfortably below what many remote professionals earn from US, UK or northern European clients — which is precisely why Portugal keeps attracting them. A software contractor billing in dollars or pounds can clear the D8 bar with room to spare and still find Lisbon rents, restaurants and healthcare far cheaper than London or Amsterdam. A cleaner, waiter or shop assistant on the new €920 floor is absorbing the same rent increases and grocery bills with €44.50 more a month than last year.

"A €50 rise in the minimum wage barely moves the needle for local workers, while the income bar for foreign remote earners keeps climbing in step — and the euro gap between the two keeps widening," notes GrowIN Portugal Editorial.

## What to Watch Next

The government's roadmap points to further €50 annual increases through 2028, when the minimum wage should reach €1,020. This increase is part of a longer-term government roadmap to gradually raise the minimum wage to €1,020 by 2028. Each rise will automatically push the D8 threshold higher too, so anyone planning a nomad visa application in 2027 or 2028 should budget for a bigger income requirement, not the same one. Foreigners already on payroll in Portugal, meanwhile, should check whether collective bargaining agreements in their sector set a floor above the statutory minimum, and revisit the [visas hub](/visas/) before assuming last year's income figures still apply. AIMA applies whichever threshold is in force on the date of your appointment, not the date you first gathered your documents — a detail worth confirming directly with your consulate or AIMA before submitting.

## Sources

- [The Portugal Post](https://theportugalpost.com/posts/portugal-fixes-920-minimum-wage-in-2026-workers-gain-firms-brace)
- [Global Citizen Solutions](https://www.globalcitizensolutions.com/portugal-digital-nomad-visa/)
- [AIMA — Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo](https://aima.gov.pt)
- [Boundless HQ](https://boundlesshq.com/blog/average-salary-in-portugal/)

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© GrowIN Portugal. Cite as: GrowIN Portugal, "Minimum Wage Hits €920 in 2026 as Remote-Income Gap Widens", https://www.growinportugal.com/news/minimum-wage-rises-to-920-but-gap-with-foreign-remote-salari-2026-08-11