Country-wide policy
The 2017 Migration Law and the Right to Regularise From Inside
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.
Topics it changes
- Visiting as a tourist
- Residency on passive income
- Residency as a retiree
- Residency through work
- Residency through investment
- Residency as a student
- Residency through ancestry
- Residency through marriage
- Residency under a regional treaty
- Becoming a citizen
- When you become a tax resident
- Bringing your belongings
- Opening a bank account
What it requires
- Residence applied for on one of the grounds listed in the law or its regulation
- The conditions of that particular ground met; migratory status at the time of the application is not itself a bar
- Registration with the Federal Police, which produces the Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório
At a glance
- Law
- Lei nº 13.445, de 24 de maio de 2017
Sanctioned on 24 May 2017, the date carried in the law's own title as Decreto nº 9.199, de 2017 cites it in the ementa that regulates it.
- Regulation
- Decreto nº 9.199, de 20 de novembro de 2017
The decree's epígrafe as published: 20 November 2017, six months after the law it regulates.
- Applying from inside Brazil
- Allowed regardless of migratory status
- Residence card
- Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório, valid nine years
- Registration deadline for a temporary-visa holder
- Ninety days from entry
- Categories abolished
- Visto permanente and the 1980 statute's temporary visas
The 1980 statute is Lei nº 6.815, de 19 de agosto de 1980, the Estatuto do Estrangeiro, repealed by article 124, inciso II of Lei nº 13.445, de 2017.
What the law says
«Regulamenta a Lei nº 13.445, de 24 de maio de 2017, que institui a Lei de Migração.»Our translation - not official
Regulates Law No. 13,445 of 24 May 2017, which institutes the Migration Law.
The regulation names the statute it implements, with the statute's date. The two are of the same year and are read together throughout this page.
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
«DECRETO Nº 9.199, DE 20 DE NOVEMBRO DE 2017»Our translation - not official
DECREE No. 9,199, OF 20 NOVEMBER 2017
The regulation's own heading, which is where its number and date come from.
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
«Poderá ser concedida autorização de residência independentemente da situação migratória.»Our translation - not official
A residence authorisation may be granted regardless of migratory status.
One sentence, and it is the single biggest structural difference between Brazil and its neighbours on this site.
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 autorização de residência poderá ser concedida independentemente da situação migratória, desde que cumpridos os requisitos da modalidade pretendida.»Our translation - not official
The residence authorisation may be granted regardless of migratory status, provided the requirements of the intended category are met.
The regulation repeats the statute and adds the obvious qualification: you still have to meet the conditions of the ground you are applying on.
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 imigrante de visto temporário que tenha ingressado no País deverá proceder à solicitação de registro no prazo de noventa dias, contado da data de ingresso no País, sob pena de aplicação da sanção prevista no inciso III do»Our translation - not official
An immigrant with a temporary visa who has entered the country must apply for registration within ninety days, counted from the date of entry into the country, on pain of the sanction provided for in item III of the
The sentence ends "caput do art. 307", which is the fine for missing the deadline. Registration is what turns a visa into a residence card, and it is a deadline rather than a formality.
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 Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório terá a validade de nove anos»Our translation - not official
The National Migration Registration Card shall be valid for nine years
The card's validity and the residence's duration are different things. A two-year residence does not produce a two-year card.
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
«Lei nº 6.815, de 19 de agosto de 1980 (Estatuto do Estrangeiro)»Our translation - not official
Law No. 6,815, of 19 August 1980 (Statute of the Foreigner)
Article 124 opens "Revogam-se" and this is its second item. The permanent and temporary visas went with the 1980 statute that created 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