Labour residence for work as a seafarer aboard a cruise ship operating on the Brazilian coast.
Brazil
Brazil sits in South America. Its immigration system runs 80 distinct routes — led by work, humanitarian protection and family, each set out in official law. All 80 cite an official government source, shown on the route with the date we last read it. Who actually qualifies depends on your full profile.
- Immigration routes
- 80across 18 route categories, each set out in official law
- Source-cited routes
- 80 of 80cite an official government source, with the date we last read it
- Largest category
- Work18 of the 80 routes — see them under Work below
- Region
- South America
- Capital
- Brasília
- Population
- 212,812,405
- Official language
- Portuguese
- Currency
- BRL
- Time zone
- 4 zones
Immigration routes
All 80 routes, grouped by purpose — 80 of 80 cite an official government source directly.
Work
18 routes
Labour residence for paid employment under a Brazilian employment contract.
Labour residence for service as an administrator, manager, director or executive with management powers.
Labour residence for an office, function or attribution for which federal law requires residence in Brazil.
Labour residence for work as a foreign news correspondent.
Labour residence for representation of a foreign financial institution or equivalent entity.
Labour residence for work aboard a foreign fishing vessel leased by a Brazilian company.
Labour residence for work as a seafarer aboard a foreign-flag vessel or platform.
Labour residence for work under a qualifying international cooperation agreement.
Labour residence for representation of a private non-profit legal entity.
Labour residence for a qualifying professional internship or professional exchange.
Labour residence for technical assistance under a qualifying service arrangement.
Labour residence for technical service or aid supplied to the Brazilian Government.
Labour residence for technology-transfer activity under a qualifying agreement.
Labour residence for professional training at a Brazilian affiliate, subsidiary or matrix.
Labour residence for training in the operation or maintenance of machinery or equipment produced in Brazil.
Labour residence for training in culture or methodology within a transnational group whose matrix is Brazilian.
For a migrant in Brazil who completed a Brazilian degree or stricto-sensu postgraduate programme and seeks residence for work.
Investment
2 routes
For an individual investing qualifying foreign capital in a Brazilian legal entity under the productive-investor rules.
For an individual using own foreign funds to acquire completed or under-construction urban real estate in Brazil.
Talent & merit
2 routes
For research, teaching or academic-extension activity performed under a Brazilian employment relationship.
For research, teaching or academic-extension activity in Brazil without a Brazilian employment relationship.
Study
2 routes
For a foreign student enrolled in a regular course in Brazil and able to support the stay.
For a foreign-university student undertaking a qualifying internship, study exchange or research exchange in Brazil.
Family
9 routes
Residence for the dependent ascendant up to the second degree of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the child of a Brazilian or resident of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the dependent descendant up to the second degree of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the person who has a Brazilian under guardianship, curatorship or custody of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the parent of a Brazilian child or a child holding Brazilian residence of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the qualifying sibling of a Brazilian or resident of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the spouse or legally recognised partner of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
Residence for the stepchild of a Brazilian or resident of a qualifying Brazilian or resident sponsor.
For an eligible family member joining a person recognised as a refugee in Brazil.
Independent means
1 route
For a retired person or pension recipient able to transfer the published monthly foreign income to Brazil.
Digital nomad
1 route
— No eligibility summary published for this route yet
Residence-based status
5 routes
For a CPLP temporary resident applying during the final ninety days of the two-year residence.
For a holder of qualifying labour residence seeking renewal or alteration to indefinite residence under RN 30.
For a Mercosur temporary resident requesting indefinite residence before the two-year status expires.
For an RN 36 property investor who completed the initial residence and maintained the qualifying investment.
For a former family-reunification resident who lost the relationship or condition that supported the original residence and has lived in Brazil for the required period.
Free movement
6 routes
For a CPLP national already in Brazil, regardless of the migration condition used to enter.
For a CPLP national abroad who qualifies as an academic, researcher, highly qualified technician, teacher, entrepreneur, cultural agent or recognised exchange student.
For an Argentine national applying under the bilateral Brazil-Argentina residence agreement.
For a Uruguayan national applying under the bilateral Brazil-Uruguay permanent-residence agreement.
For a national of a Mercosur Residence Agreement state or associated state seeking two-year residence in Brazil.
For a national of Guyana, Suriname or Venezuela who is in Brazil and seeks residence under the neighbouring-country policy.
Youth mobility
1 route
For an eligible national using a reciprocal working-holiday agreement with Brazil.
Cultural, religious & volunteer
3 routes
Residence for artistic activity under a fixed contract without a Brazilian employment relationship.
For a minister of religion or member of a qualifying institute, congregation or religious order carrying out religious activity in Brazil.
For unpaid volunteer service with a qualifying Brazilian public or private non-profit entity.
Short stay & visit
6 routes
Short visitor entry for business meetings, commercial contacts or corporate events.
Short visitor entry for service as qualifying international transport crew.
Short visitor entry for unremunerated or event-based artistic or sports participation.
Short visitor entry for study, research, teaching or academic cooperation for a short stay.
Short visitor entry for short volunteer activity.
Short visitor entry for tourism or visiting family and friends.
Humanitarian protection
15 routes
For an eligible family member in Brazil seeking extension of the effects of a recognised refugee's status.
Framework for future humanitarian admission of designated nationals or linked stateless persons affected by severe instability, conflict, disaster or grave rights violations.
For a person granted political asylum by the President who registers the decision with the Federal Police.
For a person recognised as a refugee by CONARE who registers the recognised status with the Federal Police.
For a person recognised by the Ministry of Justice as stateless who registers that status with the Federal Police.
Individual request for territorial or diplomatic political asylum, with provisional residence while the request is pending.
For a person residing in Brazil who is not considered a national by any state under its law.
For a person in Brazil with a well-founded fear of persecution, no effective nationality protection, or exposure to a serious and generalised human-rights violation.
— No eligibility summary published for this route yet
For a Cuban national who participated in the Mais Medicos programme and applies under the 2019 migration-policy route.
For a Dominican national who filed a refugee-status request by 29 July 2019 and meets the residence procedure.
For a Senegalese national who filed a refugee-status request by 6 December 2019 and meets the residence procedure.
For a migrant identified as a victim of trafficking in persons, slave labour or a rights violation aggravated by migration status.
For a foreign or stateless person under eighteen who is unaccompanied or abandoned and is in Brazilian territory or at the border.
For a national covered by the former Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine or Haiti humanitarian regimes who was already in Brazil by 31 December 2025.
Ancestry & return
1 route
For a person who previously held Brazilian nationality and does not wish, or does not meet the requirements, to reacquire it.
Medical treatment
2 routes
For a person whose presence is medically justified as the companion of a patient treated in Brazil.
For a patient receiving documented medical treatment in Brazil with a viable financing and subsistence plan.
Sports
3 routes
For a professional athlete or sports worker employed in Brazil under the sports-employment resolution.
Residence for sports activity under a fixed contract without a Brazilian employment relationship.
For a foreign young person aged fourteen to seventeen undertaking a qualifying sports activity in Brazil.
Transit
1 route
For a traveller passing through Brazil to an onward destination.
Other & special
2 routes
Case-specific labour-residence review for an unusual situation submitted to the National Immigration Council.
For a foreign-trained doctor selected by the Ministry of Health to participate in the Mais Medicos programme.
Official sources
- Brazil Federal Police — ImmigrationGovernment
- Portal Imigracao TrabalhoGovernment
- Imprensa NacionalGovernment
- mercosur.intGovernment
- PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICAGovernment
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