Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa vs Portugal's D7 (2026): The Buy and Actually Live There Routes

Published on: June 19, 2026

Most coverage of moving to Spain or Portugal is dominated by Golden Visas. That coverage is now badly out of date for the people who actually want to live in their property rather than park money in it. Spain ended its Golden Visa on 3 April 2025, and Portugal removed the real estate route from its own Golden Visa back in 2023.

For the buyer who wants to spend most of the year in a home in Andalusia or the Algarve, the relevant routes were never the investor programmes. They are the two great passive-income residency visas of southern Europe: Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV) and Portugal's D7. Both are designed for people with stable income from outside the country who intend to live there. This is a direct 2026 comparison. If you are still weighing the countries themselves, it sits alongside our wider look at Portugal vs Spain for foreign buyers.

Income thresholds here are indexed, to the IPREM in Spain and to the minimum wage in Portugal, and consular practice varies from one office to the next. Confirm the current numbers with an immigration lawyer before you apply.

What each visa is for

The Spain Non-Lucrative Visa is a residence permit for non-EU nationals who can support themselves from passive income or savings without working in Spain. The word non-lucrative is literal: the visa does not permit you to take local employment. It suits retirees, the financially independent, and remote-income households who can document that their money comes from pensions, rentals, dividends, or savings.

The Portugal D7 is a residence visa for non-EU nationals with stable passive income, often called the passive income or retirement visa. In practice it is more flexible than the NLV, because D7 holders are generally allowed to carry out some professional activity in Portugal once resident, where the NLV does not allow local work at all.

Both require you to actually live there. Neither is a part-time arrangement. Spain expects NLV holders to make Spain their main home, and Portugal's D7 carries minimum physical presence requirements.

The money: income thresholds for 2026

This is where the two routes differ most sharply.

Spain's NLV is tied to the IPREM, Spain's public income index, which remains 600 euros per month in 2026 because Spain has not passed a new national budget that would raise it. The main applicant must show 400% of the IPREM, which works out to 2,400 euros per month, or 28,800 euros per year. Each additional family member adds 100% of the IPREM, which is 600 euros per month, or 7,200 euros per year. You can prove this through income, savings, or a combination, and in practice consulates increasingly favour applicants who show a comfortable buffer rather than exactly the minimum.

Portugal's D7 is tied to the Portuguese national minimum wage rather than to IPREM, and the figure is lower. The main applicant must show passive income at least equal to the minimum wage, which in 2026 sits in the region of 870 to 920 euros per month depending on the year's published rate. The usual uplift is an additional 50% for a spouse and 30% for each dependent child. Because the minimum wage is set annually, confirm the exact in-force figure before you apply.

The headline is simple: Portugal's income bar is meaningfully lower than Spain's. For a single applicant, Spain asks for roughly 28,800 euros a year, while Portugal asks for around 10,000 to 11,000 euros a year. For households on a fixed pension, that gap is the single biggest practical difference, and it is one reason Portugal features so heavily among the best countries to retire abroad.

Side by side

The citizenship gap

If a European passport is part of your plan, Portugal is the standout. Portugal now requires ten years of legal residence before a citizenship application (seven for EU and CPLP nationals), under the nationality law in force since May 2026. Spain's general route to citizenship is ten years, with a notable exception: nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, and Portugal can apply after just two years, and they are not required to renounce their original nationality.

For most non-EU applicants, including citizens of the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, Portugal’s May 2026 nationality reform made this a ten-year route on both sides. It is one of the strongest arguments in the D7's favour.

Tax: the part that actually decides it for many

Income thresholds get the attention, but tax often matters more once you are resident. In both countries, spending more than 183 days a year generally makes you a tax resident, which means your worldwide income comes into scope. Spain layers on wealth tax in several regions, which can matter for higher-net-worth households and should be modelled before you move, and it is worth reading alongside Spain's proposed 100% tax on non-EU buyers. Portugal replaced its long-running Non-Habitual Resident regime with a successor framework, IFICI, sometimes called NHR 2.0, which is narrower and aimed at specific qualifying activities. The tax treatment of a pension or investment income can differ substantially between the two countries and between regions within Spain, so this is the area where professional advice pays for itself.

So which one

Choose the Spain NLV if your priority is Spanish lifestyle and infrastructure, you have comfortably more than 28,800 euros a year in documented passive income, you do not need to work locally, and a European passport is not the main goal. Spain offers deeper city choice, world-class healthcare, and large established communities. If the investor route was your original plan, our note on Spain Golden Visa alternatives covers where buyers have moved since the programme closed, and you can browse current Spanish listings directly.

Choose the Portugal D7 if your income is more modest, you want the option to do some professional activity, and Portugal’s lifestyle and residency terms fit your plan (citizenship now takes ten years for most nationalities). The lower income bar and the shorter naturalisation timeline are the D7's defining advantages, and you can explore Portuguese listings to see what that income buys in the Algarve and beyond.

Both routes assume one thing that the Golden Visas never did: you genuinely intend to live there. If that is true, these are the visas built for you.

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper to qualify for, the NLV or the D7?
Portugal's D7, by a clear margin. Its income bar is tied to the Portuguese minimum wage and works out to roughly a third of what Spain's NLV requires for a single applicant, so for a household on a fixed pension the D7 is far easier to qualify for.

Can I work on these visas?
The Spain NLV does not allow local work at all, the clue is in the name. The Portugal D7 is more flexible and generally permits some professional activity once you are resident, which is one of its main practical advantages.

Which gives EU citizenship faster?
Portugal, comfortably. Since Portugal’s May 2026 reform, the D7’s citizenship path is ten years for most nationalities (seven for EU and CPLP), broadly level with Spain’s general route. Spain only matches that for nationals of Ibero-American and a handful of other countries, who can apply after two years.

A note from JanusHermes

We cover this because most buyers who want to live in their home, not just invest, were chasing the wrong programme entirely, fixated on Golden Visas that no longer fit. JanusHermes is a cross-border real estate platform, not an immigration or tax firm. If you want the wider picture, our comparison of Portugal vs Spain for foreign buyers and our guide to the best countries to retire abroad are good next reads. Explore listings across 50+ markets on JanusHermes.

Disclaimer. This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute immigration, tax, legal, or financial advice, nor does it create any professional or advisory relationship. Income thresholds, consular practice, residency rules and tax regimes for both Spain and Portugal are set by their respective governments and change frequently; the figures here were believed accurate as of June 2026 but may since have changed and vary in practice between consulates. Confirm the current rules with a qualified immigration lawyer, and where tax is involved a qualified tax adviser, in the relevant country before applying or relocating. JanusHermes is a property information and listing platform, not an immigration or tax firm, and accepts no liability for any action taken in reliance on this content.

A note on the numbers: where no source is named, the market figures in this article (prices, yields, costs) are indicative estimates compiled from publicly available market data and industry reporting at the time of writing. Markets move and rules change, so treat them as a starting point and verify current figures with official sources before acting on them.