How to get a D2 visa for business and freelancing in Portugal
The D2 visa suits people coming to Portugal to run an active business or work as independent professionals: through atividade independente/ENI (registered self-employment) or a company, for example an LDA (a private limited company). In the end you get a national visa to enter, and once in Portugal you exchange it for an autorização de residência (residence permit) through AIMA (the migration agency).
First check that you really need a D2 and not a D8, D1 or D3
The D2 is not ‘a visa for any remote income’. The idea is this: you run a business or an independent professional activity connected with Portugal. For a freelancer it usually matters to show Portuguese clients, contracts, propostas de prestação de serviços (proposals or agreements for services), recibos verdes (the self-employed's electronic receipts) or other evidence of real activity.
If you work remotely only for clients outside Portugal, people more often look at the D8 — the digital nomad visa (a visa for remote work), but it has a different income threshold: it is tied to four Portuguese minimum wages. If you have an employment contract with a Portuguese company, that is usually a D1 or D3, not a D2.
Important: after the changes of 2024–2025 you can no longer really count on the old scheme of ‘arrive as a tourist, register as self-employed and file a manifestação de interesse (a declaration of intent to legalise your stay)’. For most people the D2 route now starts with a consular visa outside Portugal.
Choose a consulate and check its latest document list
You usually need to apply in your country of citizenship or where you have long-term legal residence: a residência/autorização de residência (residence permit), a long-term visa or another status that the particular consulate recognises. A tourist visa alone is often not enough.
Requirements differ from consulate to consulate: some look more strictly at the form of income, some require a conta bancária portuguesa (Portuguese bank account) specifically, some also ask for documents relating to your country of residence. So before you prepare your file, write to the consulate or visa centre and ask for the D2 checklist for the country where you are applying.
If you are not applying in your country of citizenship, check how long your local residence permit is valid. In one recent case the consulate in Ankara replied that the residence permit of the country of application must be valid for longer than the visa being applied for.
Get a NIF, open an account and arrange accommodation
Before applying you usually need a NIF — Número de Identificação Fiscal (tax number), a conta bancária portuguesa (account with a Portuguese bank) and proof of accommodation: a tenancy agreement, an invitation, sometimes a booking for several months — it depends on the consulate.
The bank account is now often the most stressful part. Some consulates require a Portuguese personal account specifically, but banks may want a Portuguese residence permit, a business plan, company documents, proof of the source of funds and tax information. For Russian citizens and those of some other countries, banks may take longer to check or refuse without a clear reason.
If you are opening an account for a business, be ready to explain what you do, where the money comes from, who your clients are and why Portugal. Sometimes the bank asks for a business plan even from a company that is already trading.
Choose your legal form: self-employment or a company
Freelancers most often use atividade independente/ENI (individual self-employment). It is registered with the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (the tax authority) as início de atividade (start of activity). After that you issue recibos verdes (electronic receipts) to your clients.
For an entrepreneur an LDA (a private limited company) may suit. In that case you prepare a certidão permanente (an extract from the commercial register), the pacto social (articles of association), the RCBE — Registo Central do Beneficiário Efetivo (register of beneficial owners), and documents for the company account and accounting.
Old cases where an almost empty company and a letter about ‘what we plan to do’ were enough are best not copied blindly now. In recent practice, for the D2 they increasingly want to see not just an idea but activity that is already clear: clients, money and a link to Portugal.
Gather evidence of your business, not just a polished business plan
A business plan is still required or highly advisable, but it should not be your only evidence. In it, show in simple figures: what you sell, to whom, why in Portugal, what your costs are, what income you expect, how you will pay taxes, and whether you need staff, premises or licences.
For a freelancer the strongest evidence is contratos de prestação de serviços (service agreements), propostas/letters of intent (proposals or letters of intent), invoices/recibos (bills and receipts), a portfolio, a website, correspondence with clients and proof of payments. It is especially good if your clients include Portuguese companies.
As for money, the guideline is no less than the salário mínimo nacional/RMMG (the Portuguese minimum wage) for the main applicant. In 2023 it was €760 a month, in 2024 €820 a month, and for 2026 the Portuguese minimum wage is €920 a month. But this is no guarantee: for a family the consulate may consider the income insufficient even if it is above the minimum.
Prepare your personal documents, translations and apostilles
You usually need a passport, the national visa application form, photos, a criminal record certificate from your country of citizenship and the countries where you have lived for a long time, consent for AIMA to check your Portuguese criminal record, insurance, and proof of accommodation and funds.
Documents not in Portuguese are often translated into Portuguese or English — as the consulate requires. Criminal record certificates, marriage and birth certificates and diplomas are apostilled or legalised if necessary, and then translated. Portuguese documents usually do not need an apostille for a Portuguese consulate, but it is best to check with the place where you apply.
If you have lived in another country for more than a year, the consulate may ask for a criminal record certificate from there too, even if it is not on the basic list.
Submit your file to the consulate or visa centre
Bring originals and copies to the appointment. It is best to arrange the file in sections: personal documents, money and accommodation, business/self-employment/company, clients and income, family. If you apply through BLS/VFS, visa centre staff do not always understand the D2 in depth: they accept documents against a checklist, and the decision is still made by the consulate and AIMA.
If a staff member says ‘yours is not right’ or ‘you won’t get a D2’, that is not yet a decision. You can calmly ask them to accept the documents as they are if you understand the risk and your file matches the checklist. But if the consulate has officially sent a request for more information, or pedido de elementos adicionais (request for additional documents), it is best to answer it point by point.
After you apply, the case may be sent to AIMA in Lisbon or Porto for review. Speed and approach vary noticeably between consulates.
Wait for the decision and answer requests for more documents
Timings vary a lot. In a recent D2 case the application was filed on 17 December, and approval came as early as January with no letters or calls. But there are opposite examples too: a person who applied for a D2 in August 2024 waited about six months because the case was being reviewed by AIMA Lisboa (AIMA in Lisbon).
If your status is stuck, you can write to the consulate after the period they themselves give. But the answers can be formal: the status in the consular system and the actual progress of the case at AIMA do not always seem to match.
If approved, you will be invited to have the visa put in your passport. Check the dates of validity, the number of entries, the remarks and whether there is information about an AIMA appointment.
Enter Portugal and check your AIMA appointment
In the past, when a D visa was issued you were often given a date at SEF (the old immigration service) straight away. SEF no longer exists; its residence permit functions are carried out by AIMA — the Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (agency for integration, migration and asylum), and an appointment is not always booked automatically.
If you have no appointment, you need to look at AIMA's current procedure for holders of residence visas. In 2026 people are discussing registration through the new AIMA portal: after a request, an invitation to a slot may take a long time to arrive, and judging by recent discussions the office is usually assigned for you — applicants may have no clear choice of office.
If you entered the Schengen area other than through the Portuguese border, check whether you have to make a declaração de entrada (declaration of entry) within 3 working days. This usually matters for foreigners who entered from another Schengen country and did not get a Portuguese border stamp.
Go to AIMA for your residence permit with updated business evidence
Bring to the AIMA appointment not only the old visa file but also recent documents: your passport with the visa, NIF, NISS — Número de Identificação da Segurança Social (social security number), comprovativo de morada (proof of address), the tenancy agreement, bank statements, insurance or an SNS number (the national health service), self-employment or company documents, contratos, recibos verdes, invoices and tax returns, if you already have them.
The D2 visa is the entry stage. The residence permit is granted separately, and AIMA checks whether the grounds still apply: the business or self-employment really exists, you live in Portugal, and you have funds and an address.
There is no old ‘two-year wait’ on the D2, as there was for many people through the manifestação de interesse. The logic is this: you arrived on a residence visa, so you go and exchange it for a cartão de residência (residence card) once you get a slot.
Once you have your residence permit, keep trading and prepare for renewal
If you are on atividade independente/ENI, issue recibos verdes, file your returns, and keep track of IVA (VAT), IRS (income tax) and Segurança Social (social security contributions). The self-employed usually get a reduced starting period for Segurança Social, but it is best to check the timeframes and obligations with a contabilista (accountant), because they depend on your início de atividade date and turnover.
If you have an LDA, you need a contabilista certificado (certified accountant), corporate reporting, bank documents, the RCBE and a company's usual obligations.
On renewal AIMA looks at your grounds again. Sometimes people renew under a different article, but this is not an automatic right: it depends on your documents, the law at the time and how the particular case is handled.
What it costs, according to community conversations
| D2 income | In conversations people mentioned €760 a month as the minimum in 2023 and €820 a month in 2024 for a single applicant; this is tied to the salário mínimo nacional/RMMG (minimum wage). For 2026 the minimum wage is €920 a month, but for a family the consulate may want more. | source |
| refusal over income | In one case a person showed €2,000 a month for themselves and their family on a D2, but was refused, and refused again on appeal, on the grounds of insufficient income. | source |
| income threshold, D2 | €820 a month | source |
| family income, D2 refusal | €2,000 | source |
| active income, D2 | $2,000 | source |
| minimum income, D2 | €760 a month | source |
| income for D2/D7 | €750/€1,000 | source |
What to bring
- Passport valid for longer than the visa
- National visa application form
- Photos meeting the consulate's requirements
- NIF — Número de Identificação Fiscal (tax number)
- Portuguese bank account and statement
- Proof of funds in the account
- Proof of regular income
- Tenancy agreement, invitation or other proof of accommodation
- Seguro de saúde (health insurance)
- Criminal record certificate from your country of citizenship
- Criminal record certificates from countries of long-term residence, if requested
- Consent for AIMA to check your Portuguese criminal record
- Business plan
- Contratos de prestação de serviços (service agreements)
- Propostas or letters of intent (proposals or letters of intent from clients)
- Recibos verdes, invoices or other proof of payments
- Declaração de início de atividade (proof of registration as self-employed), if you go as an ENI
- Certidão permanente (extract from the commercial register), if you go through an LDA
- Pacto social (the company's articles of association), if you have a company
- RCBE — Registo Central do Beneficiário Efetivo (register of beneficial owners), if you have a company
- Diplomas, certificates, portfolio, licences — if they matter for your profession
- Marriage certificate and children's birth certificates for family members
- Translations and apostilles for foreign documents, if the consulate requires them
Where people most often trip up
- The D2 is confused with the D8: remote clients outside Portugal are not always enough for a D2 on their own
- A business plan without real clients, contracts and money is now weak grounds
- A Portuguese bank account can become a vicious circle: the consulate asks for an account, and the bank asks for a residence permit
- Requirements depend on the consulate: the same file may be treated differently
- You must be applying legally in the consulate's country; tourist status is often not enough
- Family income may be judged insufficient even if it is above the minimum wage
- Old advice about SEF and automatic appointments is out of date: you now need to look at the AIMA process
- Through the new AIMA portal an invitation to a slot may take a long time, and the office is usually assigned without a clear choice
- The old manifestação de interesse for ordinary legalisation through self-employment has been closed; you cannot build a plan on it
- Criminal record certificates may be requested from every country where you have lived for a long time
- An accountant is almost unavoidable for an LDA, and for an ENI you need to understand IRS, IVA and Segurança Social
How it went for people
She registered as self-employed remotely and applied for a D2 on that work
A woman registered as self-employed in Portugal remotely and started working that way while still in Russia: she received payment for her services into a Portuguese account and issued recibos verdes (the self-employed's invoices). It was on the basis of this activity that she applied for a D2 visa, and everything was done with the help of a lawyer. In her view, if you are registered as self-employed, receiving payments and issuing invoices is legal, and it does not matter where you happen to be at the time.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.