🇬🇷 Greece vs 🇵🇹 Portugal: Digital Nomad Visa Compared

Greece offers Digital Nomad Visa (Type D) + Residence Permit (Type I.8) - Law 5038/2023, amended by Law 5275/2026. Portugal offers D8 - Residence Visa for Remote Work. Every figure below comes from each country's own sourced, dated fiche - compare income, duration, tax, family rules, fees and processing time before you decide. Portugal's initial visa period runs longer than Greece's: 24 months versus 12.

🇬🇷 Greece🇵🇹 Portugal

Minimum income

3,500 EUR / month

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: NET-vs-GROSS conflict stays open, no tiebreaker found; one new source (freenance.io) claims GROSS and frames EUR 3,500 as "raised from EUR 2,500 in 2025," which does not match this fiche's tracked history and looks like a search-summary artifact, not a genuine change - not promoted. Attributed to the official mfa.gr page (403 on direct fetch) and corroborated by multiple specialist sources, though at least one 2026 secondary guide states this figure as GROSS rather than NET - the net/gross distinction could not be independently re-confirmed on the official page this pass and should be treated as unresolved. Family uplift: +20% spouse, +15% per child. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-05: multiple independent 2026 guides (remoteworkeurope.eu, globalcitizensolutions.com, lexidy.com, nomadsembassy.com) state the required bank-statement history proving this income rose from 3 to 6 consecutive months, effective 27 January 2026 - corroborated across 4 independent secondary sources but no primary decree/circular citation found, so this is added as a documentation-requirement detail, not a change to the EUR 3,500 figure itself.

source · verified 2026-09-24

3,680 EUR / month

EUR 3,680/mo = 4x the 2026 minimum wage; well corroborated but not read on an official page. UPCOMING, 2026-10-20: the Government's 2027 State Budget proposal (submitted 2026-10-08, reported by dnoticias.pt, abola.pt, postal.pt) sets the 2027 minimum wage at EUR 970 from 2027-01-01. If the decree-law is published as announced, 4x gives EUR 3,880/mo (savings benchmark ~EUR 11,640) - NOT yet in force, the 2026 figure stays the published value until the decree appears in Diario da Republica. A separate ~EUR 3,480 figure circulates as a lower threshold - confirm with AIMA. Also expected: 12x min wage in savings (~EUR 11,040). Family uplift: +50% for a spouse, +30% per dependent child. Re-checked 2026-07-17, unchanged. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged, reconfirmed across current 2026 guide sites.

source · verified 2026-10-20

Visa duration

12 months, renewable

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged, no new development. Type D visa: up to 12 months. Then Type I.8 residence permit: 2 years, renewable for successive 2-year periods. LAW 5275/2026 (~5 Feb 2026): the in-country conversion route was ABOLISHED - you must now obtain the Type D visa at a Greek consulate abroad BEFORE entering. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-31: the same reform also closed a second loophole - applicants who entered on a Type C (Schengen) visa or a visa-waiver could previously obtain the Type I.8 permit by showing a housing lease or property-purchase contract instead of the full consulate-first D-visa route; two independent legal-advisory sources (Bernitsas Law, siopi-law.gr) now describe this route as closed, consistent with the same law's abolition of in-country conversion. Reported/corroborated via search-indexed content, not a fetched primary source (mfa.gr/migration.gov.gr still 403).

source · verified 2026-09-24

24 months, renewable

D8 leads to a renewable residence permit; permanent residence remains a 5-year milestone. Citizenship is different: Portugal's Nationality Law reform (in force since 2026-05-19) raised the residency requirement for citizenship from 5 to 10 years (7 years for EU/CPLP nationals), with the clock now starting from residence-card issuance rather than application date. Re-checked 2026-07-17: the reform survived Constitutional Court preventive review (Acordao 1133/2025) with this timeline intact - the Court struck down four unrelated provisions (criminal-conviction bar, vague fraud clause, loss-of-nationality-as-penalty), not the residency clock. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-30: a citizen petition asking Parliament for transitional protections for people already mid-process under the old 5-year rule was discussed by a parliamentary committee on 2026-06-06 - no legislative change has resulted, still just a discussed petition, not actionable yet; the 10-year (7-year EU/CPLP) timeline stands unchanged. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged; the implementing-regulation deadline (missed ~2026-08-16/17) remains unmet with no publication found.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Tax regime

New tax residents may access a 50% income-tax exemption for up to 7 years (Art. 5C), but it is NOT automatic and generally does NOT apply to pure foreign-source remote income. Staying >183 days makes you a Greek tax resident, taxed on worldwide income at standard rates.

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged. Art. 5C (AADE) requires 5-of-6-years prior non-residence AND historically Greek-source income; specialist tax sources flag that a nomad working purely for foreign clients may not qualify. Do NOT present the 50% cut as an automatic benefit.

source · verified 2026-09-24

The old NHR regime closed to new entrants; the successor incentive is IFICI ("NHR 2.0", 2024), which is narrower and role-restricted. Do not assume a blanket tax break.

NHR replaced by IFICI in 2024; eligibility is restricted (generic remote workers/EOR setups typically do NOT qualify - IFICI targets certified startups, exporters >50% turnover, and R&D centres). Verify with the Portuguese tax authority (AT) before relying on any exemption. Re-checked 2026-07-17, unchanged. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged, no new IFICI ruling found.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Family (spouse / children)

Spouse + children admitted (+20% spouse (approx EUR 4,200/mo total), +15% per child (approx +EUR 525/mo))

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged, +20% spouse / +15% per child reconfirmed.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Spouse + children admitted (+50% income for a spouse, +30% per dependent child)

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged, no new development. Family can be included in the initial consulate application alongside the main applicant with no waiting period. Filing for family reunification SEPARATELY, after the sponsor already holds their D8 permit, now requires the sponsor to hold 2 years of legal residence first (Lei 61/2025, in force since 2026-04-22). A transitional grandfather period let already-resident sponsors skip that wait, but RE-VERIFIED 2026-07-27: it ran 180 days from the law's 2025-10-23 entry into force (Article 6), closing around 2026-04-22 - not 2026-10-19 as earlier reported and previously left unresolved here. That window is now CLOSED. Exemptions remain in force: minor children (and dependent adult children still in education) are exempt from the 2-year wait; a spouse/partner with 18 months of documented prior cohabitation gets a reduced 15-month wait instead. Confirm current status with AIMA.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Application fees

75 EUR

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged. This EUR 75 is the Type D VISA fee (+ EUR 150 per accompanying family member). SEPARATE and much larger: the Type I.8 RESIDENCE PERMIT fee, ~EUR 1,000 (+ EUR 150/family member). Guides routinely conflate the two stages. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-07: the post-Law-5275/2026 re-verification flag carried since 2026-07-05 is now resolved - the EUR 1,000 + EUR 150/family-member Type I.8 figure is independently reconfirmed unchanged post-reform by multiple current 2026 sources (Karabatsoulegal and GSL.org since 2026-07-29; consiliojus.com added this pass), with no competing post-reform figure surfacing across any pass since. Still not read on migration.gov.gr directly (403/EGRESS_BLOCKED every pass), so confidence stays "reported," not "official."

source · verified 2026-09-24

110 EUR

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: no resolution to the three-way conflict flagged 2026-09-21 (GrowIN's ~EUR 440 D8-renewal claim vs the ~EUR 247.30 general-concession figure vs this fiche's ~EUR 170-186 D8-specific estimate) - a fresh sweep (incl. a newly-located Portugal News piece dated 2026-03-04) again attributes ~EUR 440 only to the general "standard temporary permit" category and ~EUR 160-170 to D8 specifically, consistent with, not resolving, the open conflict; stays flagged pending direct AIMA page access. EUR 110 is the National Visa (Visto Nacional) administrative processing fee charged by the consulate for the D8 application - non-refundable if refused, and this is the figure well and consistently corroborated (incl. a search-engine snippet of the official vistos.mne.gov.pt/emolumentos page, which itself still 403s on direct fetch). It is NOT the total cost: after arrival, AIMA charges a separate residence-card (Titulo de Residencia) issuance fee, reported at roughly EUR 170 following a March-2026 fee-table revision, making total government fees commonly cited around EUR 320-400 - that AIMA figure is only attested by secondary sources, so it is deliberately left out of this single Money value rather than guessed. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-25: Portuguese press (Publico/SAPO, not independently fetchable) reports AIMA's March-2026 fee-table update may have raised the relevant residence-permit lines to roughly EUR 133 + EUR 307.20 (~EUR 440 total) for the general temporary-residence category, well above the EUR 170 figure tracked here - but several D8-specific guides published after March 2026 still cite ~EUR 155-180, so it is unresolved whether the March increase applies to the D8 line item specifically. The EUR 170 estimate stays as the best-attested D8-specific figure pending confirmation; do not treat EUR 440 as sourced for this visa yet. A reduced EUR 45 fee applies to children aged 6-12 and to nationals of a short list of EU-facilitation-agreement countries. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-30: found the first D8-specific guide published clearly after the March-2026 revision to state a concrete residence-card figure - idealista.pt/en (2026-03-31) cites a EUR 185.60 D8 residence-permit fee (plus a EUR 109.40 application fee), close to the pre-revision EUR 170 estimate and well below the EUR 440 general-category figure. Still secondary-sourced (no AIMA official page fetchable), but this is the strongest D8-specific evidence yet that the March revision's higher line items apply to other residence categories, not the D8 - EUR 170 stays the tracked estimate, now with added corroboration. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-21: a new outlet, GrowIN Portugal, explicitly names D8 among the categories ("work, D7, D8, family reunification and student") subject to the ~EUR 440 figure specifically for RENEWAL (not initial issuance) under Portaria 307/2023 - the most direct claim yet that the higher figure applies to D8, though single-sourced. Simultaneously, a separate, distinct cluster of sources (sociedadecivil.pt, diariodacidadania.com, EntreRios/sapo.pt, all citing AIMA's own statement that March 2026 was an index-linked annual update, not a hike) states the general concession fee as EUR 133 + EUR 114.30 (~EUR 247.30) - a third figure that matches neither GrowIN's EUR 440 nor this fiche's tracked ~EUR 170-186 D8-specific estimate, and the EUR 307.20 vs EUR 114.30 residence-title components don't reconcile with each other either (possibly renewal vs. initial-concession variants of the same line item, unconfirmed). Three mutually inconsistent current sources, none read directly on aima.gov.pt - does not meet the bar to change the published EUR 170-186 D8-specific estimate; flagged as an open three-way conflict for a future pass with direct AIMA access.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Health insurance

Required - Mandatory private health insurance covering care/hospitalization in Greece for applicant + family; minimum coverage amount not stated officially.

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Required - Health insurance valid in Portugal required for the application.

Re-checked 2026-07-17, unchanged. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Processing time

~10 days consular decision target (2-6 weeks in practice; longer since the 2026 consulate-only route)

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged. This estimate covers the initial Type D consular-visa stage. SEPARATE and later: the Type I.8 residence-permit stage, applied for after arrival, is a 'single permit' application under Law 5275/2026 (transposing EU Directive 2024/1233, in force since 6 Feb 2026), which sets a statutory 90-day decision deadline (extendable by 30 days in exceptional cases), plus a 2-month deadline (also extendable by 30 days) for the applicant to supply any missing documents, with the clock paused meanwhile. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-20: independently corroborated across several named law-firm sources (EY Greece, Zepos & Yannopoulos, PwC Greece, Bernitsas Law, Machas & Partners) all citing the statute directly - still not read on migration.gov.gr itself (EGRESS_BLOCKED), so confidence stays 'reported', but this is the strongest sourcing tier short of a direct page read.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Reported 6-9 months due to AIMA backlog (as of mid-2026)

RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-24: unchanged, still 6-9 months, no new AIMA staffing/backlog data point this pass. Re-checked 2026-07-17, unchanged; some sources report newer applications (2025 onward) getting AIMA appointments in roughly 3-6 months, but 6-9 months remains the more commonly cited range for the D8 track specifically. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-05: a public-sector union called for an overtime boycott over AIMA understaffing in early August 2026, with the government reportedly proposing ~300 new hires - a fresh signal consistent with the backlog risk already reflected in this estimate, not a change to the range itself. AIMA also opened online renewal for permits expiring Sept/Oct 2026 (and, per a 2026-08-03 update, Nov/Dec 2026) - an operational improvement worth watching, not yet reflected in a shorter published range. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-14: the 2026-08-04 report of AIMA's backlog dropping to ~30,000 is now confirmed real (Publico, 2026-08-02, corroborating a parliamentary statement) but confirmed NOT applicable to this estimate - it describes the closed Estrutura de Missao legacy unit, not the ongoing D8/general AIMA queue, which current sources still describe as running months-long. Estimate stays unchanged at 6-9 months; this question is now closed rather than open. RE-CHECKED 2026-09-08: The Portugal News (2026-09-03) reports AIMA grew its headcount 17% in 2026 (742 to 867 staff, targeting 915 by year-end) as part of the government's response to the understaffing/backlog pressure already reflected here - a forward-looking staffing signal, not yet reflected in a shorter published range by any source found this pass. RE-CHECKED 2026-09-09: the same Portugal News reporting is further specified - AIMA has resolved over 525,000 backlog files alongside the 17% headcount increase - a positive capacity signal, still not yet enough on its own to justify shortening the 6-9 month estimate. RE-CHECKED 2026-09-11: The Portugal News (2026-09-11) reports AIMA complaints have halved, though a union questions why - a further positive operational signal, still not translated into a shorter published processing-time range by any source found.

source · verified 2026-09-24

Figures marked TBD are not yet verified and are never shown as facts. Last full review: Greece 2026-09-24, Portugal 2026-09-24.