Residency Through Work
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Colombia 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 Colombia to Brazil · Residency through work
Work residency in Brazil is the employer's application, not the worker's, and it is decided against a published ladder of qualifications: a master's degree, or a postgraduate course of at least 360 hours plus a year of experience, or a degree plus two years, or a technical qualification plus three, or twelve years of schooling plus four. The permit runs up to two years and is tied to the employer that obtained it - the model employment contract the resolution annexes says in terms that the worker may not work for anyone else. The law itself is broader than the practice: it waives the job-offer requirement altogether for an immigrant holding a higher-education degree, a relaxation the resolutions do not implement.
At a glance
- Initial term
- Up to two years
- Qualification tier most applicants use
- Higher education plus two years in the profession
- Alternative tier without higher education
- Twelve years of schooling plus four years of experience
- Exceptional tier
- Five years of professional experience
- Employer
- Fixed by the permit
The compulsory contract clause forbids working for any employer other than the one that obtained the residence
- Job offer waived
- For an immigrant holding a higher-education degree or equivalent
This sits in the migration law; the resolution that governs applications does not carry it
Requirements
- A job offer from a legal entity operating in Brazil, evidenced by an individual employment contract or a services contract
- Qualifications and experience matching the activity, proved by the employer against one of the published tiers
- An employment contract containing the compulsory clauses annexed to the resolution, including the employer's undertaking to pay for repatriation
- The general residence-application documents and the processing fee
In detail
The authority in the text is not the authority in the queue
Resolução Normativa nº 02/2017 is still the instrument that sets the qualification tiers, and it says throughout that the Ministry of Labour decides. Decreto 12.657/2025 rewrote the regulation so that these conditions are now set by a joint act of the ministries of justice and foreign affairs, and the justice ministry's own page tells applicants to file through MigranteWeb. Anyone reading the resolution alone would write to the wrong ministry.
Renewal is promised and not delivered
Article 5 of the resolution says renewal will be governed by a specific resolution. Eight years later there is none in the ministry's index. In practice the general rule in the regulation applies: the authority that granted the first two years may renew for up to two more or convert the residence to an indefinite term.
Country-level policy
Two fees cover almost every residence application: R$ 168,13 to process it and R$ 204,77 to issue the residence card. They are set in the annex to the 2017 regulation, and the interesting thing is that the Federal Police and the justice ministry both charge exactly those amounts nine years later. Instrument and agency agree, which is not what we found in Paraguay. The regulation allows the amounts to be adjusted and nobody has adjusted them, so in real terms the fee has fallen by more than half. Citizens of the Portuguese-speaking community are exempt from the processing fee under a 2002 treaty, but not from the card fee - the treaty excepts the cost of issuing documents, and the Federal Police applies exactly that carve-out.
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.
For eight years the detailed conditions of almost every Brazilian residence category were set by resolutions of the national immigration council. Decreto 12.657/2025 went through the regulation and replaced the council with joint acts of the ministries of justice and foreign affairs, article by article - work, investment, study, family, religious activity, volunteering and the residual migration-policy ground all now point at a different rulemaker. The decree did not repeal the existing resolutions, so they remain in force until they are replaced. The practical consequence for a reader is that every figure on the investor, retiree, digital nomad and work pages sits on an instrument whose author no longer has the power to issue it, and any of them may be reissued without notice.
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 Colombia
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
«o visto temporário para trabalho poderá ser concedido ao imigrante que venha exercer atividade laboral, com ou sem vínculo empregatício no Brasil, desde que comprove oferta de trabalho formalizada por pessoa jurídica em atividade no País, dispensada esta exigência se o imigrante comprovar titulação em curso de ensino superior ou equivalente.»Our translation - not official
the temporary work visa may be granted to an immigrant who comes to carry out work activity, with or without an employment relationship in Brazil, provided they prove a job offer formalised by a legal entity operating in the country, this requirement being waived if the immigrant proves a qualification from a higher education course or equivalent.
The waiver at the end of the sentence is the part that goes missing. It is in the statute; the resolution that actually governs applications is built entirely around an employer's offer.
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 para fins de trabalho poderá ser concedida ao imigrante que exerça atividade laboral, com ou sem vínculo empregatício no País.»Our translation - not official
A residence authorisation for work purposes may be granted to an immigrant who carries out work activity, with or without an employment relationship in the country.
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
«nível superior e experiência de no mínimo 02 (dois) anos no exercício da profissão, contando esse prazo da conclusão do curso de graduação que o habilitou a esse exercício»Our translation - not official
higher education and at least 02 (two) years of experience in the profession, that period counted from the completion of the degree that qualified them for it
One of six alternative tiers. The two years run from graduation, so work done during a degree does not count.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«escolaridade mínima de 12 (doze) anos e experiência profissional de no mínimo 04 (quatro) anos em ocupação que não exija nível técnico ou superior»Our translation - not official
a minimum of 12 (twelve) years of schooling and professional experience of at least 04 (four) years in an occupation that does not require technical or higher education
The tier for an applicant with no degree. The occupation itself has to be one that needs neither a technical nor a higher qualification, so it does not double as an easier route into a graduate job.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Excepcionalmente, a depender da atividade a ser desempenhada no Brasil, não se aplicará o disposto no artigo anterior quando a compatibilidade do perfil profissional do imigrante e a função possam ser demonstradas por outros meios, desde que apresente experiência profissional mínima de 05 (cinco) anos.»Our translation - not official
Exceptionally, depending on the activity to be carried out in Brazil, the provision of the preceding article shall not apply where the compatibility of the immigrant's professional profile with the role can be demonstrated by other means, provided they present professional experience of a minimum of 05 (five) years.
The way out of the qualification tiers, and the only place five years appears: experience shown by other evidence, in place of a diploma.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«O prazo da residência prevista no caput será de até 02 (dois) anos.»Our translation - not official
The period of the residence provided for in the caput shall be up to 02 (two) years.
About this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«O contratado não poderá exercer sua atividade profissional para outra empresa/pessoa»Our translation - not official
The contracted person may not carry out their professional activity for another company/person
The clause is compulsory in the employment contract the application rests on, and the sentence continues "física, senão àquela que o tiver contratado na oportunidade de concessão da residência". Changing employer requires a fresh authorisation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«O Ministério do Trabalho poderá conceder autorização de residência para fins de trabalho»Our translation - not official
The Ministry of Labour may grant a residence authorisation for work purposes
The resolution still names the labour ministry as the deciding authority. Decreto 12.657/2025 moved the whole of this to joint acts of the ministries of justice and foreign affairs, and the justice ministry's own service page now routes applications through its MigranteWeb system.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Nothing in the resolution sets a salary floor. The compulsory contract clause requires a monthly salary to be stated, but no minimum figure is published.
The employer undertakes in the contract to pay the cost of repatriating the worker at the end of the contract, and to notify the authority within fifteen days.
- administersResolução Normativa nº 02, de 1º de dezembro de 2017
Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública
About this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- 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
- consolidatesDecreto nº 9.199, de 20 de novembro de 2017
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
- consolidatesDecreto nº 12.657, de 7 de outubro de 2025
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
- administersMinistério da Justiça e Segurança Pública - Autorização de Residência
Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública
About this source
Grants residence authorisations, runs the application system, and hosts the immigration council's index of resolutions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the content of a resolution - its service pages paraphrase, and several still describe the allocation of competence as it stood before the 2025 decree moved it. Cannot be cited for who the Mercosur agreement covers: its page names no countries at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source