Becoming a Brazilian Citizen
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Argentina on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Argentina to Brazil · Becoming a citizen
Four years of residence, civil capacity, no criminal conviction and the ability to communicate in Portuguese. The four years drop to one for anyone with a Brazilian child or a Brazilian spouse or partner, and a separate extraordinary route grants naturalisation after fifteen uninterrupted years with no language requirement at all. Portuguese is proved by documents rather than by an exam designed for the purpose: a Celpe-Bras certificate, a Brazilian degree, a pass in the bar exam, or a Brazilian school record all count, and nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries are excused from proving it. Naturalisation takes effect on publication in the official gazette, and within a year of that the new citizen has to register with the electoral court, because voting in Brazil is a duty.
At a glance
- Ordinary naturalisation
- Four years of residence
- With a Brazilian child, spouse or partner
- One year of residence
- Extraordinary naturalisation
- Fifteen uninterrupted years and no criminal conviction
The constitutional route; it carries no language requirement
- Nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries
- One year of uninterrupted residence and good standing
Set by the Constitution itself, which excuses them from the ordinary conditions
- Language
- Proved by document, not by a dedicated exam
- Effect
- On publication of the act in the official gazette
- Electoral registration
- Within one year of the grant
Requirements
- Civil capacity under Brazilian law
- At least four years of residence in Brazil, reduced to one year for a person with a Brazilian child, or a Brazilian spouse or partner not separated from them
- The ability to communicate in Portuguese, judged against the applicant's own circumstances
- No criminal conviction, or rehabilitation
- An application filed through the federal government's electronic platform, decided by the ministry of justice
- Registration with the electoral court within a year of the grant
Country-level policy
Lei 13.445/2017 replaced the 1980 foreigners' statute and changed the thing that shapes every other answer about Brazil: residence can be applied for from inside the country, regardless of the status you are in. Both the statute and its regulation say so in terms. A visitor may turn a visit into residence by request and registration; an irregular overstayer may apply on any ground whose conditions they meet. That is why Brazil has no equivalent of Paraguay's consular visa for residency or Chile's rule that residence is applied for from abroad. The same law abolished the permanent and temporary visa categories, replacing them with residence authorisations of determinate or indeterminate term - which matters because two instruments that still govern real decisions, the revenue's residence test and older agency pages, were never rewritten.
Brazilian residence is lost after more than two years out of the country without a justification offered. It is a rule about continuous absence, not a presence quota, and the difference decides real cases: two separate absences of eighteen months each break nothing, while a single stretch of twenty-five months does. Residence is also lost when the reason it was granted stops being true, and the holder is required to tell the Federal Police when that happens. The one category with an explicit presence obligation instead is the real-estate investor, who must spend at least fourteen days in Brazil every two years and, by doing so, is taken outside the absence rule altogether.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Argentina
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Será concedida a naturalização ordinária àquele que preencher as seguintes condições:»Our translation - not official
Ordinary naturalisation shall be granted to a person who meets the following conditions:
Shall, not may: where the four conditions are met the statute gives no discretion.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«ter residência em território nacional, pelo prazo mínimo de 4 (quatro) anos;»Our translation - not official
to have residence in the national territory for a minimum period of 4 (four) years;
About this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«comunicar-se em língua portuguesa, consideradas as condições do naturalizando;»Our translation - not official
to communicate in the Portuguese language, taking into account the circumstances of the person being naturalised;
Comunicar-se rather than a level, and consideradas as condições do naturalizando qualifies it further. The test is capacity to communicate, judged in context.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«O prazo de residência fixado no inciso II do»Our translation - not official
The residence period fixed in item II of the
The sentence continues "caput do art. 65 será reduzido para, no mínimo, 1 (um) ano" and then lists the conditions: a Brazilian child, a Brazilian spouse or partner, relevant service to Brazil, or professional, scientific or artistic distinction. The quotation stops where the publisher's markup breaks the sentence around the word caput.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«A naturalização extraordinária será concedida a pessoa de qualquer nacionalidade fixada no Brasil há mais de 15 (quinze) anos ininterruptos e sem condenação penal, desde que requeira a nacionalidade brasileira.»Our translation - not official
Extraordinary naturalisation shall be granted to a person of any nationality settled in Brazil for more than 15 (fifteen) uninterrupted years and without criminal conviction, provided they apply for Brazilian nationality.
Two conditions only: fifteen uninterrupted years and no conviction. No language requirement and no civil-capacity requirement are attached to this route.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«os que, na forma da lei, adquiram a nacionalidade brasileira, exigidas
aos originários de países de língua portuguesa apenas residência por um ano
ininterrupto e idoneidade moral;»Our translation - not official
those who, in the manner provided by law, acquire Brazilian nationality, with only one year of uninterrupted residence and good moral standing being required of those originating from Portuguese-speaking countries;
The constitutional shortcut for Portuguese-speaking countries. Apenas - only - means these two conditions replace the ordinary ones rather than sit alongside them.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«O requerimento de naturalização será endereçado à Coordenação de Processos Migratórios, devendo ser apresentado por meio de sistema eletrônico específico disponível na plataforma GOV.BR.»Our translation - not official
The naturalisation application shall be addressed to the Migration Processes Coordination, and must be submitted through a specific electronic system available on the GOV.BR platform.
The decision is delegated to a coordinator inside the justice ministry, not taken by the minister; the Federal Police only takes applications where the electronic system is not yet available locally.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here, and this is where portarias and traffic resolutions first appear in authoritative form.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated law: it publishes acts as enacted and never merges amendments, so an article number read here is the amending instruction rather than the resulting article. It also rate-limits and blocks automated readers, so it is not dependable as a primary fetch target.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«proficiência em língua portuguesa para estrangeiros obtido por meio do exame Celpe-Bras, realizado pelo Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira - INEP;»Our translation - not official
proficiency in Portuguese for foreigners obtained through the Celpe-Bras examination, administered by the Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Educational Studies and Research - INEP;
One of nine accepted proofs. The others include a Brazilian higher-education or postgraduate diploma, a pass in the bar exam, a Brazilian school record, an ENCCEJA certificate and a revalidated medical degree.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here, and this is where portarias and traffic resolutions first appear in authoritative form.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated law: it publishes acts as enacted and never merges amendments, so an article number read here is the amending instruction rather than the resulting article. It also rate-limits and blocks automated readers, so it is not dependable as a primary fetch target.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«A comprovação de atendimento ao requisito previsto neste artigo está dispensada aos requerentes nacionais de países de língua portuguesa.»Our translation - not official
Proof of compliance with the requirement set out in this article is waived for applicants who are nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries.
About this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here, and this is where portarias and traffic resolutions first appear in authoritative form.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated law: it publishes acts as enacted and never merges amendments, so an article number read here is the amending instruction rather than the resulting article. It also rate-limits and blocks automated readers, so it is not dependable as a primary fetch target.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«No prazo de até 1 (um) ano após a concessão da naturalização, deverá o naturalizado comparecer perante a Justiça Eleitoral para o devido cadastramento.»Our translation - not official
Within 1 (one) year of the grant of naturalisation, the naturalised person must appear before the Electoral Court for due registration.
Voting is compulsory in Brazil, so naturalisation brings an obligation as well as a right.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«A naturalização produz efeitos após a publicação no Diário Oficial do ato de naturalização.»Our translation - not official
Naturalisation takes effect after the publication of the naturalisation act in the Official Gazette.
About this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The statute says residence, not permanent residence, and sets no requirement that the four years be spent on any particular permit.
The naturalisation routes for children are separate and shorter: a child who settled in Brazil before turning ten can be naturalised provisionally, and converts that to a definitive naturalisation by asking within two years of reaching majority.
A naturalised Brazilian is barred from a short list of offices reserved by the Constitution to the Brazilian-born, among them President, the presiding officers of both chambers, the Supreme Court, the diplomatic service and commissioned rank in the armed forces.
- consolidatesLei nº 13.445, de 24 de maio de 2017 - Lei de Migração
Presidência da República - Portal da Legislação (Planalto)
About this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- consolidatesConstituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988
Presidência da República - Portal da Legislação (Planalto)
About this source
Publishes the compiled text of laws and decrees with amendments woven in and superseded wording struck through on the same page.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what is in force without reading the strike-throughs: the page stacks every historical wording of an article above the current one, so quoting the wrong layer produces a repealed rule that still passes a verbatim check. It is also not the point of legal effect; that is the gazette.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- issuesPortaria MJSP nº 623, de 13 de novembro de 2020
Imprensa Nacional - Diário Oficial da União
About this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here, and this is where portarias and traffic resolutions first appear in authoritative form.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated law: it publishes acts as enacted and never merges amendments, so an article number read here is the amending instruction rather than the resulting article. It also rate-limits and blocks automated readers, so it is not dependable as a primary fetch target.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source