Moving to Brazil

Here is some information to get started on understanding the different types of visas available to stay in Brazil either temporarily (up to 6 months) or permanently, allowing you to visit us and/or join us.

Law 6.815 determines the conditions for foreigners to visit, immigrate to and stay living in
Brazil.

There are 7 categories of Brazilian visas: Transit, Tourist, Temporary, Permanent, Courtesy, Official and Diplomatic. Each type of visa may be extended to legal dependents.

Note that unlike for some countries the possession or property of assets in Brazil does not guarantee granting of any kind of visa. The mandatory preconditions to obtain a visa are basically to be more than 18 years old and to meet the health requirements determined by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

• Transit visa: for foreigners who must pass through Brazilian territory to reach their destination countries (valid for a stay of up to ten days, non-extensible, and only one entry).

• Tourist visa: for foreigners coming to Brazil for recreation or visits – paid activities are forbidden. The maximum extent of the tourist visa is 90 days, which may be extended by another 90 days. Note that the Brazilian policy is based on reciprocity so the exact requirements to get this visa depend on your country of origin  (i.e. the more requirements a country imposes to issue visas to Brazilian tourists, the more requirements a national of that country will have to meet to obtain the visa).

• Temporary visa: for foreigners who come to Brazil for:

1. A cultural trip or in a learning mission
2. For business purposes
3. As an artist or an athlete
4. As a student
5. As a correspondent of newspapers, magazines or other news agency
6. For businesses or artistic/sports events the visa will allow staying of up to 90 days while in the other cases, the period of the visa will depend on the duration of the object of the visit.

(More information about work visas may be found on the website of the Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego).

Temporary visas may be extended. Note that in some cases the approval of the Ministry of Labor is necessary for the granting of the visa.

• Permanent visa: for foreigners who want to live in Brazil.

Immigration visas may be granted to: individuals for family reasons, professors and researchers with contracts, participants of seminars and students, investor and retired people.

Temporary visas may be transformed into permanent visas under certain conditions.

The regulations can be found on the website of the Ministério da Justiça.

• Courtesy, official and diplomatic visas: the regulation about these visas is done by the Ministry of Foreigner Relations.

Another option to consider is volunteering work: Brazil does not require visas for foreigners who would like to participate into volunteering work. This is regulated by law 9.608.

The law determines that:

The voluntary service is a non-paid work, which won't create any labor relationship between the volunteers and the institutions (i.e. no possibility of lawsuits) .The volunteer and institution must sign an agreement describing the object of the service and its conditions .The volunteer may be indemnified by expenses effectively incurred during the voluntary service
Under specific conditions, the government may help paying a financial aid to volunteers (ex-convicts, unemployed youngsters, etc.)

Least but not last...

• Overstaying: The cheapest and quickest option is to just simply get in the country and live your life.

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