Residency routes from the UAE
Six ways to live legally in Europe or beyond without a job offer waiting for you: passive income, self-employment, remote work, or a points-based permission to come and look for work. They are not interchangeable — the route that fits is the one your income and your paperwork can actually evidence.
The residency desks
Each page sets out who the route is for, what income or qualification has to be evidenced, the documents, and what happens after the visa is issued.
How a residency application works
Nearly every route on this page has the same two stages, and the second one is the stage people forget. First a consulate issues a visa that lets you enter. Then, once you are in the country, a domestic immigration authority issues the residence permit that actually lets you stay. Missing the second appointment undoes the first.
For Portugal, that means a residency visa valid for four months and two entries, during which you apply to AIMA for the residence permit itself. Portugal’s visa portal does not use the market labels "D7" and "D8": it publishes the routes as a residency visa for people living on passive income, and a residency visa for professional activity carried out remotely. We use both namings so you can find the route and then read the right rules for it.
The income test is the part that decides most applications, and it is published. Portugal measures means of subsistence against the monthly minimum wage — Portugal, means of subsistence — with the remote-work route requiring proof of an average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times that figure. Spain sets its non-lucrative threshold as a multiple of the IPREM index, and its teleworker route as a multiple of the minimum wage. Malta publishes a flat annual figure. Brazil publishes a monthly figure or a savings alternative. Portugal, documents for a residency visa
- Route selection. We match your income type — pension, rent, dividends, remote salary, freelance clients, a business plan, a recognised qualification — against what each country will accept as evidence, and say which routes are realistic and which are not.
- Evidence build. Income statements, contracts, bank records, tax documents and insurance, assembled in the form the consulate asks for and covering the period it asks for.
- Legalisation and translation. UAE-issued documents usually need attestation and certified translation before a European consulate will read them. This is the step that quietly adds weeks if it starts late.
- Local numbers and accounts. Where the route needs them first — a tax number, a social security number, a local bank account — we handle them as their own piece of work rather than as an afterthought.
- Visa appointment, then the residence permit. The consular application, and then the second stage in-country: the permit appointment, the biometrics and the card. We tell you the deadline for it before you fly.
The six routes compared
The published requirement, in the authority’s own terms. Where a country expresses a threshold as a multiple of an index rather than a figure, the multiple is what is shown — the figure moves when the index does.
| Route | Who it is for | Published financial or qualifying test | Leads to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal — passive income (market name "D7") | Pensioners and people living on rent, dividends or other regular passive income | Means of subsistence measured against the monthly minimum wage, with an uplift per additional adult and per child | Portuguese residence permit issued by AIMA |
| Portugal — D2 entrepreneur | Independent professionals, and people setting up or investing in a business in Portugal | Business plan and evidence of the activity, plus means of subsistence | Portuguese residence permit issued by AIMA |
| Portugal — remote work (market name "D8") | Employees and freelancers whose employer or clients are outside Portugal | Average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the monthly minimum wage | Portuguese residence permit, or a temporary-stay visa for under a year |
| Spain — non-lucrative, and teleworker | Non-lucrative: live on income you already have, no work in Spain. Teleworker: remote work for companies outside Spain | Non-lucrative: 400% of the IPREM index, plus 100% per dependent. Teleworker: a multiple of the minimum wage, plus a degree or three years’ experience | Spanish residence authorisation; the teleworker route is handled by the large-companies unit |
| Germany — Opportunity Card | Qualified people who want to come and look for work before they have an offer | Recognised qualification, or at least 6 points on the published scale | Up to one year to find qualified work, extendable by up to two years once found |
| Malta and Brazil — nomad permits | Remote workers with a foreign employer, foreign clients, or a shareholding in a foreign company | Malta: a published minimum gross yearly income. Brazil: a published minimum monthly income, or bank funds as an alternative | Malta: a permit for one year, renewable at the agency’s discretion. Brazil: VITEM XIV |
Sources: Portugal visa portal; Spain, Royal Decree 557/2011; Spain, international teleworking unit; Make it in Germany, Opportunity Card; Residency Malta, Nomad Residence Permit. Each country’s own page is the authority on its numbers, and each service page below links to it.
What we do, and what we do not
What we do
- Say which route your income and paperwork can actually evidence, before you commit to one.
- Build the evidence file in the form and for the period the consulate asks for.
- Handle attestation, legalisation and certified translation of UAE documents.
- Arrange the tax number, social security number and bank account where the route needs them.
- Tell you the in-country residence-permit deadline before you travel, not after.
What we do not do
- Promise residency, a permit or a passport. No agent decides these.
- Advise on tax residency or on a foreign tax regime — that is a tax adviser’s work in the destination country.
- Sell an investment, a property or a "citizenship by investment" scheme.
- Present income we have not seen evidenced, or a plan we do not believe.
More on both: How it works and Why AL HUDHUD.
Guides for this desk
The routes, the numbers you have to get in Portugal, and what happens between the visa and the residence card.
- Portugal D7 vs D8 Visa: Which One Fits You?
- Portugal Residency After the Visa: AIMA Appointment and Residence Permit
- How to Get a Portuguese NIF from Dubai
- Portuguese NISS Explained: Social Security Number for New Residents
- Opening a Portuguese Bank Account from the UAE
- Portugal Remote Work Visa: What You Actually Have to Prove
- Registering with the SNS in Portugal as a New Resident
- The German Opportunity Card Points System, Criterion by Criterion
- Qualification Recognition in Germany: Who Needs It and How Long It Takes
- Moving from the UAE to Portugal: the Order of Steps
Common questions
What is the difference between the Portuguese D7 and D8 visas?
The income behind them. The route the market calls D7 is for people living on passive income — a pension, rent, dividends. The route the market calls D8 is for people actively working remotely for an employer or clients outside Portugal, and it carries a higher published income test: an average monthly income over the last three months of at least four times the Portuguese monthly minimum wage. Portugal’s own visa portal does not use either label.
Does the visa let me stay, or do I need something else?
You need something else. A residency visa is an entry document — for Portugal, valid four months with two entries — and while it is valid you apply in-country to AIMA for the residence permit that actually lets you live there. The same two-stage shape applies in Spain and Germany. The deadline for the second stage is short, and missing it is the most common self-inflicted failure on these routes.
Can my family come with me?
On most of these routes, yes — as a family application, with the income test rising for each additional person. Portugal adds an uplift per additional adult and per child; Spain adds a percentage of the index per dependent. Malta’s nomad permit admits family members alongside the main applicant. The exact uplift is on each service page.
Is the Germany Opportunity Card a work visa?
No. It is permission to be in Germany and look for qualified work, issued for up to one year, either because your qualification is recognised or because you reach at least six points on the published scale. If you find qualified work and a regular residence permit cannot yet be issued, an extension of up to two further years is possible. Make it in Germany, Opportunity Card
Do I have to give up my UAE residence?
Holding a residence permit abroad does not by itself cancel a UAE residence visa, but a UAE residence visa has its own rules about time spent outside the country, and tax residency is a separate question again from immigration status. We will tell you plainly where the immigration answer ends and a tax adviser’s begins.
How long does the whole thing take?
The consular stage has a published or estimated window per country; the parts that vary most are the ones before it — attestation, certified translation, and getting a tax number or bank account where the route needs one first. In practice the document preparation, not the consulate, is what sets the date you can apply.
What does it cost?
Quote on request. Consular fees are published by each country and are on the service pages; attestation and translation are charged at cost; our fee depends on the route and the size of the file, and is agreed in writing first.
Last reviewed 28 September 2026 against the official sources linked above. Government fees, forms and timelines change. Figures here are the published ones on the date above; always read the authority’s own page before you rely on a number. AL HUDHUD prepares and submits files - the authority decides them, and no agent can promise an outcome.
Enquire about a residency route
Tell us your income type and where you want to live, and an advisor calls you back with the routes that fit, the evidence each one needs, and an itemised quote. Free, no obligation.