Eligibility & Requirements
Role, qualifications, and host-entity tests that AIMA and consular posts use to decide whether an activity counts as highly qualified.
Explore Your EligibilityResidence in Portugal for highly qualified work
The Portugal HQA Residency provides qualified professionals with a pathway to Portuguese residency based on their professional role, the organization supporting them, and the strength of their application.
What is the Portugal HQA Visa?
The Portugal HQA Visa offers non-EU nationals a route to residency built on research and development activity rather than a straightforward capital investment. Instead of purchasing property or parking funds in an investment vehicle, an applicant typically partners with an accredited Portuguese research institution, forms a Portuguese company they own outright, and directs a multi-year R&D project through that company, with the option to commercialize whatever the research produces. Eligibility depends on meeting the program's qualifying criteria for the applicant's role and activity, not on the size of a passive investment.
Learn moreEligibility, cost, process, and family coverage
Costs & Investment
Government fees, salary floors, and professional costs. This route is not a capital-investment visa and does not use Golden Visa subscription amounts.
Discuss Your Residency OptionsApplication Process
Document assembly, consular or in-country filing, biometrics, and residence-card issuance, in the order most files actually move.
Discuss Your Residency OptionsBringing Your Family
How a spouse and dependent children can be included, what proof of family relationship is required, and when they receive their own residence cards.
Discuss Your Residency Options
A Residency Path Rooted in Research
Portugal's HQA visa is designed around collaboration with the country's universities, not passive investment, connecting qualified professionals to real research activity.
If the HQA visa is not the right route
HQA is built for qualifying professional activity in Portugal. The Golden Visa is a capital route. The D7 is a passive-income residence permit. Use the comparison pages if the role, the capital, or the income profile points to a different file.