IFICI Portugal: who can use the NHR successor now, and who cannot?
The Non-Habitual Resident regime ended in 2024. Its successor, IFICI, is far more narrowly defined. What you need to know as a foreign buyer in 2026.
Which fields of work does the successor to NHR cover, and is NHR still open?
IFICI covers research, science and high-tech work, including innovative start-ups, and NHR has been closed to new applicants since 2024. Anyone who obtained NHR status before the end of 2023 keeps it for the full 10-year term. Without an eligible activity, the pure tax advantage is gone; consult a Portuguese tax adviser when relocating.
What was NHR Portugal — and why is it gone?
The old NHR programme offered reduced tax rates on foreign income for ten years. Political pressure led to its abolition in 2023/2024, and new applications have fallen under the far narrower IFICI regime since 2024.
- NHR closed to new applicants since 2024: New NHR applications have not been possible since early 2024. Anyone who obtained the status before the end of 2023 keeps it for the full 10-year term.
- IFICI: research, science and high technology: Research, science, high technology and innovative startups — not relevant for most private buyers without an activity in Portugal.
- Without an IFICI-eligible activity the tax advantage is gone: Without an IFICI-eligible activity the pure tax advantage is gone; other reasons (quality of life, climate, EU) remain. Always consult a Portuguese tax adviser when relocating. Requirements for non-residents.
- Does NHR still exist in 2026 — and who can use IFICI Portugal instead? No — the classic Non-Habitual Resident regime (NHR) ended in 2024, and IFICI Portugal is now the only route for new applicants. IFICI is considerably narrower.
Where NHR targeted a broad range of newcomers with foreign income and retirees, IFICI is aimed mainly at qualified activities in research, science and certain high-value professions; pure lifestyle or retirement movers generally fall outside it.
Anyone who already holds a valid NHR status keeps it for its remaining term — new entrants can only come in through IFICI and its conditions. For the property buyer this means the former tax break is no longer an automatic argument for Portugal.
Whether the country pays off for you now depends on your specific type of income and status — that is tax advice. Financing a Portuguese property as a non-resident works independently of this, with a NIF and the bank's avaliação (valuation).
The old NHR programme (Non-Habitual Resident) offered reduced tax rates on foreign income — pensions, dividends, foreign salary — for ten years. It drew more than 50,000 foreigners to Portugal and pushed rents in Lisbon and the Algarve up sharply. Political pressure led to its abolition in 2023/2024. Anyone who applied for the status by the end of 2023 keeps it — all new applications have fallen under the far narrower IFICI regime since 2024.
IFICI Portugal — who can use it now
IFICI (Incentivo Fiscal à Investigação Científica e Inovação) has applied since 2024 and is far narrower than NHR. It is aimed at:
The tax advantage: a 20% flat rate on the qualifying activity, for ten years, plus exemption of most foreign income — with one important restriction versus the old NHR: foreign pensions are no longer exempt under IFICI; they are taxed normally. (A figure of "15%" circulates online in places — the correct rate is 20%.)
Research & science (Group 1): Highly qualified work in research, development and science — typically universities, research institutions, R&D departments.
High tech & start-ups (Group 2): Work in start-ups with a high innovation content — on an official list of occupational groups that is updated regularly.
Further recognised categories (Group 3): University lecturers at FCT-recognised research institutions, employees of PME Líder-certified companies and of certified audiovisual production firms.
Pure retirees & wealth managers (Who does NOT benefit): Precisely the main target groups of the old NHR (pensions, dividends without any activity) do NOT fall under IFICI. For them, ordinary Portuguese tax law applies.
Registration runs separately and must be confirmed through the tax return (Anexo L, Modelo 3) — with a fixed deadline (e.g. 15 January of the following year for a move in the previous year). Miss it and the advantage is lost for that year.
Is Portugal still worth it in 2026?
For pure property buyers without tax optimisation through residence: yes, still.
The loan-to-value ratios (80 %), purchase costs (around 10–11%) and the property market itself remain attractive and unchanged. But anyone who was looking for NHR-style tax advantages should check with a Portuguese tax adviser whether their personal activity is IFICI-compatible. For purely private buyers resident in Germany, practically nothing changes.
If you already hold NHR: what to watch now
An existing NHR status continues — but it is also running out. The term is capped at ten years and cannot be extended. Anyone who joined early should therefore know in which year the status ends and what applies afterwards: ordinary Portuguese tax law, with no transitional rule and no way to switch into the new regime.
Two points are regularly underestimated. First: the status hangs on residence in Portugal. Move your residence away in the meantime and you lose it, with no way to reapply. Second: the expiry of the status changes your personal tax burden, not the property — the annual IMI, the AIMI surcharge and the taxation of rental income follow their own rules and were never part of the NHR advantage.
For planning purposes: the end of the status is a date you know. Anyone holding the property with a mortgage should lay the remaining loan term and the end of the tax status side by side once — not because one triggers the other, but because the two together answer whether the property still fits the household afterwards.
For the financing, IFICI changes nothing
The obvious worry after NHR's abolition — "will I get worse terms now?" — misses the mechanism. A Portuguese bank classifies you by whether you are tax-resident in Portugal and where your income comes from. Which special regime you apply to that income is not the decisive figure for the credit decision.
In practice, the logic that applies to all non-residents therefore stands: loan-to-value framework and documentation as described under requirements for a Portuguese mortgage, rate structure and bonificación as under mortgage rates Portugal. Both are independent of whether you had NHR, use IFICI or claim no special regime at all.
What has shifted indirectly is the market: the influx the old regime triggered has weakened. For buyers that is if anything a relief — the framework of the financing itself was untouched by it.
What must be settled before moving your residence: The Portuguese side is only half the calculation. Anyone moving their residence from their home country should settle beforehand — not afterwards — with a tax adviser what consequences the departure has at home, how the double-taxation treaty allocates each type of income, and what happens to pension and health insurance. These points determine the actual burden far more strongly than the question of whether a special regime applies.
For a pure property purchase without a change of residence, on the other hand, nothing changes: you remain a non-resident, need the NIF, pay IMT plus stamp duty on the purchase and the running charges afterwards. The process is under how buying property in Portugal works, the terms under financing in Portugal.
This is not tax advice. The allocation in your case belongs with a Portuguese and a home-country tax adviser; we assess the financing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still enter the old NHR programme?
No. New NHR applications have not been possible since the start of 2024. Anyone who applied for and received the status before the end of 2023 can continue to use it for the full ten-year term.
Which occupational groups benefit from IFICI?
Research, science, high tech and start-ups with an innovation character. The official list is maintained by the Portuguese tax authority and may be adjusted. Not relevant for most private buyers without professional activity in Portugal.
Is moving residence to Portugal still worth it today?
Without an IFICI-eligible activity, the pure tax advantage is gone. Other reasons (quality of life, climate, EU membership) remain unaffected. For a change of residence you should always consult a Portuguese tax adviser.
Does IFICI affect the property market?
The strong foreign influx through NHR has eased. That reduces pressure on rents and, from a buyer's perspective, makes Portugal rather more attractive. Loan-to-value ratios and purchase costs remain unchanged.
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Content by Siegfried Perini — local brand representative since 2019, active in real estate since 1992, entered in the German intermediary register (§ 11a GewO) as a person directly involved in brokerage and advice. Point of contact for German-speaking buyers in Spain and Portugal. Brokerage by Olga Nikushkina, mortgage credit intermediary under § 34i German Trade Regulation (GewO); in Portugal through a locally licensed intermediary.