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 Salvador 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 Bahia superintendency early
Migration appointments are booked through the Polícia Federal portal. The Salvador superintendency at Avenida Engenheiro Oscar Pontes, Água de Meninos, is the main migration counter for the state, so book in your first week and reschedule later if documents slip. Pay the GRU fees in advance — the appointment cannot proceed without the receipts.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
5
Attend for biometrics and submission
In person for fingerprints, photograph and the document file. Bring originals plus copies of everything, including apostilled and translated certificates and proof of your Salvador address.
In personWho: YouWithin 90 days of entry
6
Collect the CRNM and diarise the renewal
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 — the Federal Police do not remind you.
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 Salvador address
Employment contract or income evidence for the relevant route
Paid GRU fee receipts

Things most newcomers don’t know

One Federal Police superintendency serves the largest state in the Northeast.

Bahia has roughly fourteen million people spread over an area bigger than France, and Salvador's superintendency is where migration registration happens. Applicants fly or drive in from Vitória da Conquista, Barreiras and the far south. That makes appointment supply the binding constraint on your first three months far more than document preparation does — book on arrival, before the flat hunt, and move the date if you need to.

Source: Polícia Federal — Superintendência Regional na Bahia

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 a first fortnight spent queueing to be allowed to open them.

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

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.
Assuming a change of status requires flying home to a consulate when it can often be done here.
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.