How long can Brits stay in Portugal?

The rule in Portugal, in one paragraph

As a UK passport holder visiting Portugal — including Madeira and the Azores — you can stay up to 90 days within any rolling 180-day period as a tourist. The 180-day window moves forward every day; there's no annual reset. Days spent in any other Schengen country count against the same total. Portuguese borders are now part of the EES biometric system, so day-count is automated at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, and Funchal airports.

The three main long-stay routes

D7 — passive-income visa

The most popular route for British retirees moving to the Algarve. Designed for non-EU citizens with stable passive income (pensions, dividends, rental income, royalties). Current threshold: monthly income above the Portuguese minimum wage (around €870/month for the main applicant, plus 50% for a spouse and 25% per child). Other requirements: clean criminal record, proof of accommodation in Portugal, private health insurance. Application is at the Portuguese consulate in London. Initial visa one year, then renewable for two-year periods up to a path to permanent residency after five years.

D8 — digital nomad visa

Launched October 2022. For non-EU remote workers earning at least four times the Portuguese minimum wage (around €3,480/month). Two variants — a temporary stay visa (up to one year) and a residence visa (renewable for up to five years). The residence variant gives the same path to citizenship as D7. Increasingly popular with mid-career remote tech workers from the US and UK.

Golden Visa (ARI) — post-2023 changes

The Golden Visa programme survives, but the real-estate investment route was closed in October 2023. Buying a Lisbon apartment no longer qualifies. The remaining routes are:

• Investment in qualifying Portuguese venture-capital funds (€500,000 minimum)
• Capital transfer to certain research or cultural-heritage projects
• Job creation (10+ full-time jobs)

Existing Golden Visa holders retain their rights and renewal pathway. New applicants pursuing the property route are out of luck.

The NHR tax regime — closed to new applicants

The Non-Habitual Resident regime — Portugal's signature 10-year flat tax incentive that pulled thousands of retirees and remote workers into the country — closed to new applicants on 31 December 2023. A narrower successor scheme (often called "NHR 2.0" or IFICI) exists for specific high-value-added professional activities, but the broad pension-friendly benefits are gone for new arrivals. Existing NHR holders keep their benefits until their 10-year period ends.

Worked example: a Brit splitting time between Algarve and the UK

Consider a couple owning a villa in Lagos. Without applying for D7, the maximum they can spend in Portugal per calendar year on the tourist rule:

• March–May: 89 days in Portugal, return to UK on the 89th day
• June–August: outside Schengen, waiting for window to refresh
• September–October: roughly 30 more days, depending on the rolling window

Total: about 120 days per year on the tourist cap. To do more, the D7 is the cleanest route — and the costs (visa fees, lawyer, translations, apostilles) come to around £2,500–4,000 for a couple, recouped quickly versus the annoyance of constant border math.

How to actually track your days

The European Commission's official short-stay calculator is the authoritative tool. Use it before booking extended stays.

For everyday tracking, Passport Pilot is the iPhone app we make — logs every trip, computes the rolling 90/180 window, and one-tap exports to the EU calculator for verification. Free download. There are other trackers; we mention ours because we built it. For decisions that matter, cross-check against the EU calculator.

Quick answers

How many days can a UK citizen spend in Portugal without a visa?

90 days within any rolling 180-day period, as a tourist. The cap is shared with the rest of the Schengen Area — days in Spain, France, Italy, etc. all count against the same 90.

What is the Portuguese D7 visa?

A passive-income residence visa for non-EU citizens with stable income (pensions, dividends, rental income). Currently requires monthly passive income above the Portuguese minimum wage (about €870/month). One of the most popular routes for British retirees relocating to the Algarve. Once granted, the 90/180 rule no longer applies to time in Portugal.

Is the Portuguese Golden Visa still available?

Yes, but with significant changes since October 2023. The real-estate investment route was closed — buying property no longer qualifies. The remaining qualifying routes are venture capital fund investment (€500,000), scientific research donations, and certain job-creation investments. Existing Golden Visa holders retain their rights.

What about the digital nomad visa?

Portugal's D8 visa, introduced in October 2022, allows remote workers earning at least four times the Portuguese minimum wage (about €3,480/month) to reside in Portugal while working for non-Portuguese employers or clients. Initial period one year, renewable for up to five.

What happened to the NHR tax regime?

The Non-Habitual Resident regime (10 years of 20% flat tax on Portuguese-source professional income, plus various foreign-income exemptions) closed to new applicants on 31 December 2023. A successor scheme (IFICI / 'NHR 2.0') exists but is narrower — restricted to specific high-value-added professions. Existing NHR holders keep their benefits for the remainder of the 10-year period.

What if I overstay in Portugal?

AIMA (formerly SEF) records the overstay against your passport. Penalties range from administrative warnings to fines of up to €700 for short overstays, and entry bans recorded in the Schengen Information System for longer ones. Portuguese enforcement has historically been gentler than German or Dutch, but with EES biometrics, day-count is automated.

Does Madeira or the Azores count as Schengen?

Yes. Both autonomous regions are part of Portugal and therefore part of the Schengen Area. Days spent in Funchal or Ponta Delgada count exactly like days in Lisbon or Faro.

Splitting your year between Portugal and the UK? Passport Pilot also tracks the UK Statutory Residence Test alongside Schengen days, so you can see both regimes' day-counts at once. No account, no analytics, no Tarsoul servers — your trips never reach us.