Portugal highly qualified (D3) and Tech Visa

The visa covers higher-education teaching, highly qualified activity and cultural activity. You need one of: a work contract, promise of contract or service contract; an invitation from a higher-education or vocational training institution; a statement of responsibility from a certified company; an invitation from an entity carrying out a cultural activity recognised as of national interest; or an invitation from a research centre.

For highly qualified employed work, the contract or promise must run for at least six months. For a regulated profession you need proof that you may practise it in Portugal; for an unregulated one, proof of high professional qualifications for that sector.

AIMA translates the legal thresholds into monthly figures: an employed highly qualified worker must earn at least 1.5 times the national average gross salary, EUR 2,157 a month, or three times the social support index (IAS). For occupations in ISCO major groups 1 and 2 that the government lists as particularly short of workers, the threshold drops to 1.2 times the average salary, EUR 1,725.60 a month, or twice the IAS, EUR 1,018.52. AIMA’s figures use the 2023 average salary and the 2024 IAS.

EUR 110 for the visa. The residence permit itself is charged by AIMA: EUR 133.00 for receiving and analysing the request plus EUR 114.30 for granting a temporary permit (in-person rates in the fee table updated 26 February 2026; 25% less through a digital channel).

By law the consulate decides a residence visa within 60 days and a temporary stay visa within 30 days, so apply well before your start date.

Tech Visa, in force since 1 January 2019, speeds up visas and permits for highly qualified workers hired by companies certified by IAPMEI, mainly in technology and innovation. The company issues a statement of responsibility, valid six months, that replaces proof of means, tax and Social Security status and criminal record. The worker must be at least 18, not a permanent EU resident, earn at least 2.5 times the IAS on a contract of at least 12 months, speak Portuguese, English, French or Spanish at the level the job needs, and hold an ISCED level 6 qualification, or level 5 with at least five years of specialised experience.

AIMA issues the highly qualified activity permit (art. 90) for two years, renewable for three-year periods, on the basis of the visa, passport, criminal record, address declaration, tax and Social Security registration, an authenticated copy of your qualifications and the employer’s declaration of the salary. Because the permit falls under article 90, your spouse and children can apply for family reunification without the two-year waiting period that Lei 61/2025 introduced for most other permits.

Lei 61/2025 also let holders of ordinary work permits who already met the article 90 criteria convert their permit within 180 days of 23 October 2025.

A refused national visa can be challenged by a complaint to the consulate within 15 days, a hierarchical appeal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs within three months, or an action before the Administrative Court of Lisbon within three months. The routes are not mutually exclusive, and each appeal procedure costs EUR 75 (except for visas following a family reunification approval). Since Lei 61/2025, a visa is also refused to anyone who entered or stayed in Portugal illegally and is subject to an entry ban.