Moving to Portugal from Australia

Australian passport holders can visit Portugal visa-free for up to 90 days, but living there takes a residence permit. The self-funded residency routes we track start at an income of about $1,070 a month or an investment of about $233k, and our residency index rates Portugal 80/100 for Australian citizens (comparatively open). We estimate €2,686 a month for a couple living centrally in Faro and €2,913 in Lisbon. Portugal is in our high tax tier. Check the official requirements before you apply.

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Short stays
Visa-free 90 days
Australian passport
Residency
80/100
Comparatively open, our index
Tax tier
High
High personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €2,686/mo
Faro, our estimate

Living there long term

Our residency index: 80/100, comparatively open. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in Portugal is for Australian citizens, based on the routes Portugal publishes. Portugal offers genuinely accessible long-term residency through the D7 passive-income/sufficient-means visa, the D8 digital nomad visa, and the investment-based Golden Visa, each leading to permanent residency or citizenship after five years.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

  • Income: about $1,070 a month (Portugal D7 passive-income/sufficient-means visa, EUR 920/mo for a single applicant (indexed to the 2026 minimum wage); converted at EUR/USD 1.163; as of June 2026)
  • Investment: about $233k (Portugal Golden Visa cheapest route: EUR 200,000 cultural/heritage donation to a GEPAC-certified project in a low-density area (standard cultural donation EUR 250,000; investment fund EUR 500,000); converted at EUR/USD 1.163; as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, Australian passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in Portugal to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold Australian passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Lisbon

    89% match
    Est. cost
    €2,913/mo
    Avg temp
    17°C
    Safety index
    70/100

  2. 2. Porto

    88% match
    Est. cost
    €2,831/mo
    Avg temp
    15°C
    Safety index
    70/100

  3. 3. Braga

    87% match
    Est. cost
    €2,801/mo
    Avg temp
    15°C
    Safety index
    70/100

  4. 4. Funchal

    85% match
    Est. cost
    €2,732/mo
    Avg temp
    18°C
    Safety index
    70/100

  5. 5. Faro

    83% match
    Est. cost
    €2,686/mo
    Avg temp
    19°C
    Safety index
    70/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €2,686 a month in Faro to €2,913 in Lisbon. For comparison, we estimate €4,094 a month in Melbourne. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

Portugal is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax); Australia is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in Australia after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in Portugal

Lists with cities in Portugal

Moving to Portugal from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding Australian passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.