Proof of Funds for a Portugal Visa: Americans and Britons

Portugal does not publish one sum for a long-stay visa. It measures the funds you must show against the guaranteed monthly minimum wage, 920 euros in 2026, counted per person in your household and assured for the period the 2007 order sets, which is at least 12 months for most residence visas.

This guide reads what the official pages say about funds and how they are shown, so you can see what a consulate may ask before you gather statements. It is an overview, not legal advice, and your consulate decides what it accepts. We read the pages on 18 October 2026. The latest change we can point to is that article 52 of the Foreigners Law, which makes means of subsistence a condition for a visa, was last amended by article 4 of Law 62/2026 of 10 September 2026, in force from 11 September 2026. We did not establish what that law changed in the article; point (d), which we quote, reads on the consolidated text that means of subsistence are “definidos por portaria dos membros do Governo responsáveis pelas áreas das migrações e da solidariedade e segurança social” (defined by an order of the members of the Government responsible for migration and for solidarity and social security). The reference wage of 920 euros dates from Decree-Law 139/2025 of 29 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026.

The rules for each visa are in the visa guides, starting with the overview of Portugal’s residence routes. Here we only follow the money. If you are still weighing a bank, the bank account guide covers what Banco de Portugal says about opening one.

What does Portugal count as “means of subsistence”?

The Foreigners Law (Law 23/2007) says in article 52 that a visa for residence, temporary stay or short stay goes only to a third-country national who, among other conditions, “disponha de meios de subsistência, definidos por portaria”: has means of subsistence defined by a ministerial order. That order is Portaria 1563/2007 of 11 December, which the Diário da República shows as in force.

The order defines the term as “os recursos estáveis e regulares que sejam suficientes para as necessidades essenciais do cidadão estrangeiro e, quando seja o caso, da sua família”, in other words stable and regular resources enough for the essential needs of the foreigner and, where relevant, the family, including food, housing, health care and hygiene. Two words in that wording are worth noting: stable and regular.

The ministry’s visa portal says the same in plainer words: proof that you have sufficient means of subsistence to live in Portugal, “or that he will be able to aquire such means upon arrival”, is a mandatory requirement for a long-stay visa application.

How is the amount worked out?

The order and the ministry’s page use the same rule. The reference is the guaranteed monthly minimum wage, net of social security contributions, with a per-person weighting in each household.

The ministry gives 920 euros for 2026, citing Decree-Law 139/2025 of 29 December. The DGERT page on the 2026 minimum wage, last updated on 26 May 2026, confirms the decree-law and the effective date of 1 January 2026. The order’s own preamble says the weighting follows the modified OECD scale.

A couple would therefore be at 1,380 euros a month by this arithmetic, and a couple with one child at 1,656 euros. These are our sums on the published percentages. The ministry’s and the order’s pages do not print them, and they do not say the result is the amount to show, only that the criterion is determined “by reference” to the wage.

One caution on the figure. The AIMA page on means of subsistence, which we read the same day, still gave 870 euros as the minimum wage “fixed for 2025” under Decree-Law 112/2024. The ministry’s page and the DGERT page give 920 euros for 2026. The AIMA page, as we read it, had not been updated; we used the later figure.

Which amounts and periods apply to which visa?

The order sets the period the means must be assured for, visa by visa. This table sums up article 5 (residence visas) and what the ministry’s pages say. Where a row points to a guide, that guide covers the visa itself.

Three points about this table. First, “for a period of at least 12 months” is how the order words the duration of the means; it does not say whether you show a stock of money covering 12 months or an income. For retirees and people on income the ministry lists documents about income. We found no page that turns this into a savings balance, so if your plan rests on savings, ask the post how it wants them shown.

Second, for a family travelling together the ministry says the means of the accompanying relatives are those “enough to cover the needs of the residency visa applicant and the accompanying relatives during the required period of stay or for the period of 12 months, whatever is lesser”, under article 2(2) of the order.

Third, the ministry’s page for the highly qualified employee expresses the salary threshold in the social support index (IAS), not in minimum wages. We did not read a page giving the IAS value, so we leave that threshold out here.

For a short Schengen stay the order uses fixed amounts instead: 75 euros per entry plus 40 euros per day of stay, per person, as printed in the 2007 text. Article 13 of the order says its amounts are updated each year by the percentage rise in the minimum wage, and we found no page printing a current figure, so do not rely on those numbers. The Schengen 90/180 rule guide covers short stays.

What documents show the funds?

The ministry’s page on documents for a residence visa lists “proof of financial resources, as defined by decree of the competent government members” in the general file, then specific papers by purpose:

• Retirement: “Document certifying retirement amount.”
• Passive income: “Document certifying revenue from movable and immovable property; intellectual or financial assets.”
• Employee or worker: a work contract or promise of a contract; the ministry says funds from a contract or promise must be counted, and that proof may be given through a term of responsibility from the hosting entity.
• Remote work: a work contract or an employer declaration (employees), or a company contract, a service contract or a document showing services to one or more entities (independent workers); proof of average monthly income for the last three months; and a document attesting fiscal residence.

The AIMA page on means of subsistence is more detailed on form. It lists, according to the case: the work contract or promise and the pay receipts of the last three months; the service contract or promise, the declaration of start of activity and the receipts of the last six months; a pension or retirement certificate “emitida pela entidade oficial do país concedente” (issued by the official body of the country that grants it) with an authenticated declaration; and, for income from financial investments, a document issued by the entity that processes the payment, with an authenticated declaration. That page is the one that still carries the 2025 wage, so treat the amount as superseded and the list of documents as an indication of what AIMA recognizes, not as the consulate’s list.

Neither the ministry nor AIMA, on the pages we read, defines how many months of bank statements to bring or what balance is enough.

What do the US and UK consulates ask on top?

Several checklists also ask for a place to live: see proof of accommodation for the visa application.

For Americans, the posts apply the ministry’s lists, with local additions. The Newark consulate’s page for national visas lists in its general documents proof of financial resources in accordance with the legal requirements set by the Portuguese immigration authorities, and a Portuguese tax number (NIF) with “extrato bancário comprovativo / declaração de abertura ou existência de uma conta bancária portuguesa”, a bank statement or a declaration that a Portuguese bank account was opened or exists. The page says its lists of specific documents were updated in June 2025. This is the only consulate page we read that names a bank statement for a long-stay visa. The San Francisco, Boston and New York pages we read do not have that line. They may still apply it, so ask your post before you open an account or order statements.

The Newark and San Francisco pages also ask, for short Schengen stays, for the three most recent bank statements as proof of means. That is a different visa and a different test from the residence visa file.

For Britons, the London consulate’s page says visa applications are made exclusively through VFS Global and sends you to the ministry’s visa portal for the documents. The Manchester page does the same, with VFS in Manchester and Edinburgh. The ministry’s lists above are therefore the reference for a UK applicant; neither consulate page adds a funds rule. Do not read that as “no one will ask”. We read the consulates’ pages, not VFS’s checklist, which would not load in a way we could read (the page only offered a visa type menu).

To place the NIF and the account in the sequence of a real application, see the guides on applying from the United States, applying from the United Kingdom and the Portuguese NIF.

How do I show it in practice?

What the pages support is a checklist, not a formula.

1. Pick your visa and read its row above. The period (12 months for most) and the type of proof (income documents or a contract) depend on it.
2. Count your household. Use the 100%, 50% and 30% weights on the 2026 wage of 920 euros, and treat the result as a floor to check against, not as a promise of approval.
3. Prepare the income papers the ministry and AIMA name. A pension certificate from the paying body, a document from the entity that pays investment income, or the employment or service contract.
4. Add the account evidence your post asks for. If your post is Newark, the NIF and a statement or declaration of a Portuguese account. If it is another post, ask in writing.
5. Ask what the post accepts as authenticated. AIMA’s page speaks of authenticated declarations; the ministry has a page on document authentication, which we did not read for this guide.

Funds are one part of the file; the ministry’s general documents, including travel insurance and a criminal record certificate, come with it.

More guides on this site: keeping your US or UK accounts while living in Portugal; cards, MB Way and everyday payments.

Does the proof end when the visa is issued?

No. The order says the means must be shown again at later stages. For a residence permit, article 7 asks the applicant to show, at grant or renewal, that he “mantém a disponibilidade ou a possibilidade de adquirir legalmente” the means (keeps the availability, or the possibility of legally acquiring them). For independent workers it says the amounts are determined using the criteria of the personal or corporate income tax codes. The order adds that sufficiency can be measured by the social benefits a person receives from the social security system. Permanent residence and long-term resident status each ask for means assured for at least 12 months.

That is why the funds you show at the consulate are linked to the rest of your first years. The renewal guide covers the permit, and the first month paperwork guide covers what comes right after arrival.

Official pages read for this guide, all on 18 October 2026: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ visa portal pages on means of subsistence (English and Portuguese) and on residence documents; Portaria 1563/2007 on the Diário da República and the consolidated Foreigners Law on the Lisbon prosecutor’s legislation site; the AIMA page on means of subsistence; the DGERT page on the 2026 minimum wage; and the visa pages of the Portuguese consulates in Newark, San Francisco, Boston, New York, London and Manchester. VFS Global’s document checklist and the Banco de Portugal pages were not used for the amounts.