Work Visas in Brazil

How to get a work permit and which routes actually exist

Brazil does not issue a general work permit that a person can hold independently of an employer. Work residence rests on prior authorisation requested by a Brazilian company, supported by a signed employment contract, and conditioned on qualifications matching the role and a salary consistent with what the company pays comparable Brazilian staff. Alongside it sit the investor route, the retirement route, and the remote-work visa created in 2022, none of which require a local employer at all.

Why the vocabulary changed

Under the 2017 Migration Law the operative concept is the residence authorisation, granted for a defined purpose. A visa is the travel document that allows entry in order to take that authorisation up; several categories can also be requested from inside the country by a person already lawfully present.

This matters when reading older material. Guides written before 2017 describe permanent and temporary visa classes under the Foreigner Statute, a text that no longer governs. The categories, the language, and the appeal rights are all different now.

The employer-sponsored route in practice

The Brazilian company applies first, through the labour ministry's migration channel, for authorisation to hire a specific person for a specific role. It submits the employment contract, evidence of the candidate's qualifications, and its own corporate documents.

Two conditions do most of the filtering. The candidate's education and experience must correspond to the post — the combinations commonly accepted are a degree plus around two years of relevant experience, or a longer period of documented experience without one. And the salary offered must not be lower than what the company pays Brazilian employees doing equivalent work, which forecloses the use of the route to undercut local pay.

Because the authorisation is tied to the employer and the role, changing jobs is not a private matter between employee and new employer; the residence has to be adjusted.

Routes that do not need a Brazilian employer

• Investor. Residence based on investment in a Brazilian company, or on the purchase of property. The sums commonly cited sit in the low hundreds of thousands of reais, materially below the entry price of comparable European residence-by-investment schemes, and the company route generally expects a business plan and some commitment to employment or innovation.
• Retirement. Residence for a pensioner who transfers a monthly pension into Brazil, with the amount commonly stated at around a few thousand reais a month and additional provision expected for accompanying dependants.
• Digital nomad. Created by a normative resolution in 2022 for people employed or contracted by entities outside Brazil, working remotely. It asks for proof of the foreign contract, health cover, and income or savings above the published threshold, and it does not permit taking a Brazilian employer.
• Research, teaching, and technical assistance. Separate categories with lighter requirements where a Brazilian institution or a technology transfer agreement is behind the move.
• Mercosur residence. Nationals of Mercosur member and associated states can obtain residence on the basis of nationality alone, without a job offer, which is by a wide margin the simplest route where it applies.

Everything begins with the CPF

The CPF is the taxpayer registration number issued by the Federal Revenue Service, and in daily life it functions as the key to the country. A bank account, a mobile contract, a rental agreement, a utility connection, a domestic flight booking, and an online purchase all commonly ask for it.

It is issued to non-residents as well and can often be requested before arrival through a Brazilian consulate. Obtaining it early removes a surprising share of the friction of the first month.

Official sources

• Ministry of Justice — migration and residence authorisations
• Federal Police — immigration procedures
• Federal Revenue Service — CPF registration

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.

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