I have a representation of a franchise company. The contracts are under my name, however, I have assigned a person as the manager here. And I don’t need to attend the restaurant. Moreover, the contract terms and conditions support my right not to attend the restaurant. My question is, can I show the income of the restaurant as a passive income and apply for the D7 visa? If not, what is a better course of action?
When the income comes from a labor contract or services agreement, it shall not be considered as passive income because the contract shall foresee a scope of activities against the remuneration. As such, in such cases, the recommendation is to apply for the Digital Nomad Visa for Portugal - D8.
The Portuguese D7 visa is a residence visa for foreigners who live on a stable passive income, retirees or income earners who want to live in Portugal, and the stable income to be presented can come from retirement, as well as income from real estate, intellectual property (copyright), financial investments, dividends, etc. The income from franchise representations is very variable, and it's not considered as passive income, whereas you have to operate as a normal business to earn income or return on your investment. However, with the information provided and considering your contract allows you not to be present at the restaurant, there might be a possibility to explore the route of a “remote work’’ based residency in Portugal.
The Portuguese government introduced a special type of visa in 2007: the D7 Visa. It is also known as Retirement Visa or Passive Income Visa. This residence visa allows any non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who has a reasonable net regular passive income to apply for residency in Portugal. This income can be from pensions, transferable equity, real estate, intellectual property, or financial investment.There must be a degree of previsibility regarding the flow of the income, and, unfortunately, the ownership of a restaurant does not provide enough assurance that the income will remain constant. In this sense, the income from a restaurant does not qualify as regular passive income for effects of the Portuguese D7 visa.
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