NHR Is Closed — Meet IFICI, Portugal’s “NHR 2.0” (2026 Guide)

Search results are full of 2023-era NHR advice, so let’s be current: the Non-Habitual Resident regime — 10 years of 20% employment-income flat rate and foreign-income exemptions — closed to new applications on 31 March 2024. If you registered before that date, your NHR runs its course. If you’re moving in 2026, the relevant regime is IFICI.

What IFICI actually gives

IFICI — the Incentivo Fiscal à Investigação Científica e Inovação — grants a flat 20% IRS rate on Portuguese-source employment and self-employment income for 10 years, with no surcharge. The trade: it does not create the old NHR’s foreign-income exemptions. Foreign pensions, dividends and rents follow ordinary rules (with treaty and remittance nuances). It is a brain-gain incentive, not a general expat tax shelter.

Who qualifies

• Researchers and higher-education staff within the national science system
• Roles on the ministerial ordinance list: tech, engineering, and other high-added-value professions
• Employees of certified innovative/startup companies and industrial-property holders moving activity to Portugal
• Applicants must not have been Portuguese tax residents in the previous 5 years, and must request the status in the application window after becoming resident

How to apply, and the honest assessment

The request goes to Finanças after you register as resident — via the AT portal, with employer/role documentation — and the window is annual, so timing matters. For genuinely eligible professionals IFICI is a serious 10-year advantage; for retirees and passive-income movers it is largely irrelevant, and planning should focus on ordinary structuring instead. A 30-minute eligibility check before the move prevents a year of wrong assumptions.