Brazil Digital Nomad Visa

The threshold is either-or rather than both, and the applicant chooses — a detail that changes who qualifies.

Article 5(iii) of Normative Resolution No. 45 of 9 September 2021 requires proof of means of subsistence, and the text sets two parallel ways: a monthly amount equal to or greater than USD 1,500.00, or available bank funds of at least USD 18,000.00.

Someone without regular income can therefore qualify on savings, and vice versa.

But the attached condition is the real gate, and it sits in the same provision: the money must come from a foreign paying source. Income arising in Brazil cannot be used as proof, so the route excludes precisely those intending to work for domestic clients.

The other two limbs of Article 5 say nothing about money but bind just as tightly:

The applicant must make a declaration attesting to the capacity to perform their professional activities remotely by means of information and communication technologies; and must submit an employment contract or services contract, or other documents proving the link with a foreign employer.

Together the three draw a narrower picture than the phrase digital nomad suggests: an employee or contractor holding a contract with a foreign party, not someone trading locally on their own account.

The initial residence term is up to one year under the sole paragraphs of Article 3, for the visa route, and of Article 4, for the in-country route, renewable for an equal period under Article 6.

And Article 7 keeps a wide revocation door: where omission of relevant information or a false declaration is found at any time, cancellation proceedings are opened under Article 136 of Decree No. 9,199 of 2017.

The resolution that created this route grants two things rather than one, and Article 1 says so directly: it governs the grant of a temporary visa and of a residence authorisation for the immigrant termed a digital nomad.

Paragraph 1 defines that person as someone able to carry out in Brazil their work activities for a foreign employer, remotely and using information and communication technologies.

Paragraph 2 closes the door in both directions, and the second limb is the one usually overlooked:

A person is not a digital nomad if they perform work for an employer in Brazil — with or without an employment relationship, which is to say including a freelancer taking work from a Brazilian client — nor if their residence authorisation for work is governed by another instrument of the same Council.

The initial residence term for a holder of the temporary visa is up to one year. As for ways in, there are three rather than one. First, applying for the visa at a consular post before travelling.

Second, under Article 4, a person already in Brazil applies directly to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security for the residence authorisation.

Third, lighter than either and set out in Article 2: the activities covered by the resolution may be carried out as a visitor, subject to the rules on length of stay and on whether a visit visa is required for the nationality concerned.

Meaning that for some nationalities, short-term remote work in Brazil does not require this route at all.

Holders of a Vietnamese passport are not in that group: the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa table updated on 7 October 2026 places Viet Nam under «Visto exigido», and the Brazilian Embassy in Hanoi states that Vietnamese citizens need a visa to enter Brazil for visit purposes, so for them the third route also begins with a visit visa. The Ministry's list of consular posts names the Embassy in Hanoi as the post responsible for Viet Nam, and the Embassy's visa section currently has only two pages, the visit visa and the work visa, with no page for digital nomads.

On documents, Viet Nam acceded to the Apostille Convention with effect from 11 September 2026; Brazil has been a party since 14 August 2016 and is not among the three states that objected to Viet Nam's accession, namely Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, according to the status table of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The Embassy's visa pages, published before that date, still describe legalisation through Viet Nam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and there is no notice on the Apostille.

On the legal basis, the resolution cites Decree No. 9,873 of 27 June 2019 as one source of the National Immigration Council's powers; Article 20 of Decree No. 12,657 of 7 October 2025 revoked that decree, and Article 162 of Decree 9,199, as worded by Decree 12,657, leaves special cases of residence linked to work to a joint act of the Minister of Justice and Public Security and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, after hearing the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Decree 12,657 does not revoke Resolution No. 45, and on 16 October 2026 the Ministry of Justice still lists the resolution among the normative resolutions on its labour migration portal; the resolution's conditions stand until a joint act replaces them.

The deadline that binds this route sits not in the resolution creating it but in the decree implementing the Migration Law, and it is a deadline on the visa holder rather than on the authority.

Article 307(iii) provides that failing to register within ninety days of entry, where civil identification is compulsory, is an infraction punished by a fine.

Under Article 301(v), the fine for an individual falls within a range of 100 to 10,000 reais.

The ninety-day deadline itself is set for temporary-visa holders in Article 64: a holder who has entered the country must apply for registration within ninety days of entry, on pain of the sanction in Article 307(iii). The registration duty as such sits in Article 62, compulsory for every immigrant holding a temporary visa — so for the holder of a one-year visa the first clock that matters is not the visa's expiry but the ninetieth day after arrival.

A second deadline runs alongside: Article 307(iv) imposes a fine for each day of delay where the immigrant fails to register for a residence authorisation within thirty days after being directed to do so by the competent body — once the authority has asked, the period falls to a third.

And letting the documentation lapse attracts the heaviest sanction in this group: Article 307(ii) imposes a fine for each day of excess plus deportation where the person does not leave the country or regularise their migratory situation within the period set.

To see where these figures belong, contrast the branch that does not apply.

Article 20 gives the visit visa a stay of up to ninety days, extendable by the Federal Police for a further ninety provided total stay does not exceed one hundred and eighty days per migratory year, and extendable only for nationals of countries granting reciprocity to Brazilians.

That set of figures does not apply to a temporary visa, and conflating the two branches is a common source of error.

The resolution creating this route says nothing about obligations on the ground, but the decree implementing the Migration Law does, and it says so in exactly the place made for this status.

Section II of the registration chapter is headed on the registration and civil identification of an immigrant holding a temporary visa or a residence authorisation. So a temporary-visa holder carries the same set of duties as a residence-authorisation holder at this step, however the two statuses differ elsewhere.

That duty is not about how many days one must be present; it is about being recorded.

Article 62 defines registration as entering data into the Federal Police's own system through civil identification by biographic and biometric data, and paragraph 1 states that this registration is compulsory for every immigrant holding a temporary visa or a residence authorisation.

Paragraph 2 explains why the step cannot be skipped: entering the data generates a unique National Migration Registry number, and it is that number which guarantees the immigrant the full exercise of the acts of civil life — meaning that without it a visa alone opens no bank account and signs no contract.

Article 63 issues the National Migration Registry Card bearing that number, and provides for the interval: where the card has not yet been issued, the registered immigrant presents the protocol received when applying, together with the travel document or another identity document.

Article 61 states that the registration application is an individual one, and that for a person lacking legal capacity it is made by a representative or legal assistant.

The resolution that creates this category says nothing whatever about dependants, family, spouses, children or minors.

Its financial threshold applies only to the applicant, being USD 1,500 a month or USD 18,000 available in a bank account, and does not change where family accompany.

Relatives must use the general family reunion route, and this is a join to a different instrument rather than language from the resolution.

Article 153 of Decree 9,199 of 2017 grants a residence authorisation for reunion to a spouse or partner without any discrimination, and to a child of a foreign national holding a residence authorisation.

It also covers an ascendant to the second degree, meaning parents and grandparents, a descendant to the second degree, meaning children and grandchildren, and a sibling.

A sibling over 18 must prove economic dependency on the sponsoring relative. Article 153 sets no age limit for children, parents or grandparents, and sets no additional financial threshold per person.

The sponsored relative permission expires on the same date as the sponsor permission; the relative may undertake any activity including paid work on the same footing as a Brazilian; and an application may be filed at the same time but is granted only after the sponsor has been granted. Those three rules sit in paragraphs 5, 8, 9 and 10 of article 153 itself.

Interministerial Ordinance (Portaria Interministerial) No. 12 of 14 June 2018 on family reunion visas and residence carries the same logic to the visa stage: a temporary visa for family reunion may be requested at the same time as the sponsor's temporary visa and is granted only after the sponsor's visa has been granted. That instrument also adds the sponsor's stepchild, if under 18, up to 24 if a student, or of any age if economically dependent, and applies the same age of 24 to a sibling who is a student.

One limit: article 153 paragraph 2 excludes only a sponsor who holds a residence authorisation by family reunion or a provisional residence authorisation — the status the decree grants, on the strength of a filing receipt, to a person awaiting a decision on an application for political asylum, refugee status or recognition as stateless — and does not exclude a temporary-visa holder or a fixed-term resident such as a digital nomad; but applying this to digital nomads is a reading of the text rather than a measured administrative instruction.

The status this programme grants, whether a visa or a residence permit, does not replace the holder's passport. The holder still travels on the passport of their own country, so the figure below belongs to the Brazil passport and becomes the holder's only once they are issued a Brazil passport.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the Brazil passport reaches 180 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

The resolution imposes no tax regime, yet its own form asks for tax data.

The Annex I form, used only for the in-country route under Article 4, has a field for the Brazilian individual taxpayer number (CPF), although the resolution does not say that field is mandatory, and a field for the monthly remuneration received abroad converted into reais.

The statement of responsibility requires truthful declaration under the penalty of article 299 of the Criminal Code, with article 7 allowing the permit to be cancelled at any time if a false declaration is found.

The resolution does not use the words tribut, imposto, renda or Receita Federal; the word fiscal appears only in a phrase about documents for administrative inspection, not the revenue authority.

What the resolution does say: article 1(1) defines a digital nomad as an immigrant able to work in Brazil for an employer abroad, remotely and through information and communication technology, as quoted in the outcome cell of this page.

Paragraph 2 expressly excludes anyone working, with or without an employment relationship, for an employer in Brazil, as well as anyone whose residence authorisation is governed by another instrument of the Council.

Article 5(III) requires income from a foreign paying source of at least USD 1,500 a month, or available bank funds of at least USD 18,000. Initial residence runs for at most one year, renewable for an equivalent term, and article 2 notes that the same activities may be carried out as a visitor under the visa rules for each nationality.

One point on commencement: the resolution was signed on 9 September 2021 but published in the Official Gazette on 24 January 2022, more than four months later. The resolution does not say whether this category creates tax residence; the rule sits in an instrument of the Federal Revenue (Receita Federal).

Under Article 2 of Normative Instruction (Instrução Normativa) SRF No. 208 of 27 September 2002, a person entering on a temporary visa without an employment relationship in Brazil becomes tax resident on the date they complete 184 days of presence, consecutive or not, within a period of up to twelve months, or earlier if they obtain a permanent visa or an employment relationship before that point; from that date, under Article 6, they are subject to the tax rules applying to every other resident.

Article 16 requires residents to report foreign-source income through the compulsory monthly payment (carnê-leão) and the annual adjustment return, and its paragraph 1 allows tax paid abroad to be credited only where Brazil has a treaty with that country providing for the credit, or where there is reciprocity of treatment. The Federal Revenue's list of double taxation agreements, read on 16 October 2026, does not include Viet Nam.

The decree fixes the charges in Article 131 and prints the amounts in its own annexed table, and for a temporary-visa holder it is the exemptions that repay reading.

Article 131 lists three charges: first, a fee for the processing and assessment of residence applications; second, a fee for issuing the immigrant identity card, which states the period of the residence authorisation and the National Migration Registry number.

Third, a fee for converting visit, diplomatic, official and courtesy visas into a residence authorisation.

The annex prints three amounts: 168.13 reais for processing and assessment, 204.77 reais for issuing the card, and 168.13 reais for converting a visa; the Federal Police service page on the gov.br portal shows the same 168.13 and 204.77 reais.

Paragraph 2 is the provision that matters most here: the fee under the first item is not charged to an immigrant holding a temporary visa, provided their residence has the same purpose as the visa already granted.

So moving from a temporary visa to a residence authorisation for the same purpose exempts the processing fee of 168.13 reais, while the card fee of 204.77 reais, the larger of the two, remains payable; changing purpose removes even the processing exemption.

Paragraph 3 exempts one more point: renewing the period of a residence authorisation does not trigger the fee under the first item.

The remaining two paragraphs bind the authority itself: paragraph 1 requires collection of these charges to observe the international agreements to which Brazil is a party, and paragraph 4 allows the competent body of the federal administration to adjust the amounts, but only on two grounds named expressly.

Preserving the national interest or ensuring reciprocity of treatment.