Before you start

An approved visa from a Brazilian consulate, or an eligible basis for applying from inside Brazil
Birth certificate and criminal record certificate, apostilled in the issuing country
Sworn Portuguese translations by a tradutor público juramentado registered with a Junta Comercial
CPF
Proof of a Recife address

Step-by-step

1
Obtain the CPF before departure
Receita Federal issues CPFs online and through consulates to applicants with no visa and no Brazilian address. It gates the bank account, the phone chip and the lease, and the lease is what proves your address to the Federal Police. Doing it first collapses the whole chain.
OnlineWho: YouBefore departureFree through a consulate
2
Apostille and translate at source
Both the birth certificate and the criminal record certificate need an apostille from the issuing country and then a sworn Brazilian translation. Apostille turnaround abroad is the slowest step in the whole process and frequently consumes a third of the 90 days on its own.
In personWho: You2–3 months ahead
3
Note the date of your arrival stamp
The 90-day registration deadline attaches to your entry under that visa. Do not build a plan around the idea that leaving Brazil and returning restarts it — nothing in the migration decree says so.
In personWho: You
4
Book at the Pernambuco superintendency early
Migration appointments are booked through the Polícia Federal portal, and Recife's superintendency is the state's migration counter. Book in your first week and reschedule later if documents slip. Pay the GRU fees in advance because the appointment cannot proceed without the receipts.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
5
Let your employer's mobility team file what it can
If you are arriving through Porto Digital or one of the multinational consultancies inside it, the company almost certainly has an immigration provider who has done this many times in this specific office. Use them for the residence authorisation, and keep the biometrics appointment yourself — that part cannot be delegated.
Via employerWho: Your employer/sponsor
6
Attend for biometrics, then collect the CRNM
In person for fingerprints, photograph and the document file, with originals plus copies of everything. The card follows some weeks later and is what allows you to sign a lease, take a salaried job and hold a full bank account. Renewals are applied for from inside Brazil, well before expiry.
In personWho: YouBRL 204.77 for the CRNM card

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the Brazilian visa
CPF
Apostilled and sworn-translated birth certificate
Apostilled and sworn-translated criminal record certificate
Proof of a Recife address
Employment contract or income evidence for the relevant route
Paid GRU fee receipts

Things most newcomers don’t know

Residence can often be applied for from inside Brazil, without leaving and re-applying at a consulate.

Several categories — family reunion, work with a granted authorisation, humanitarian grounds, Mercosur nationality — allow an autorização de residência to be requested while you are already in the country, through the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Police. Newcomers assume any change of status means flying home and starting again, and that assumption costs people months and airfares.

Source: Lei 13.445/2017 and Ministério da Justiça residence authorisation procedures

The CPF has no immigration prerequisite, and since 2023 public bodies must accept it as sufficient identification.

Lei 14.534/2023 made the CPF the single sufficient identification number in public-service databases and barred public bodies from demanding another document for registrations and forms. It is issued to people with no visa, no address and no presence in Brazil. Arriving with it already in hand is the difference between a first fortnight spent opening accounts and one spent queueing to be allowed to open them.

Source: Lei 14.534/2023 and Receita Federal — CPF for residents abroad

A tech-sector job offer does not create its own immigration route in Brazil.

Unlike several countries Recife competes with for engineers, Brazil has no special tech visa: a foreign hire arrives on the ordinary work authorisation (VITEM V) with the employer as requester, or on the digital nomad visa if the income is foreign-sourced. Companies inside Porto Digital know this; candidates arriving from countries with a startup or skilled-worker stream frequently do not, and plan on a route that does not exist.

Source: Lei 13.445/2017 and CNIg residence authorisation resolutions

Mercosur nationality is a completely different and far lighter route.

Argentine, Uruguayan, Paraguayan, Bolivian, Chilean, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadorian nationals qualify for two-year temporary residence convertible to permanent under the Mercosur agreement, with no income test and a much shorter document list. Employers' lawyers who default to the general work route put people through a heavier process than they need.

Source: Acordo de Residência do Mercosul

Common mistakes to avoid

Believing the 90 days restart when you re-enter Brazil.
Waiting for a tech-specific visa route that Brazil does not have.
Leaving apostilles and sworn translations until after arrival.
Booking the Federal Police appointment after the flat hunt rather than before it.
Using a competent but unsworn translator — only a tradutor público juramentado is accepted.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.