Investment Visa in Brazil

It is common to see tourists spending their holidays in Brazil wanting to stay behind. If that is your wish, you can either start a business in any of its beautiful cities such as Rio, Florianópolis, Natal or invest in a local business to assure your legal residence and your attachment to the Brazil. Like other countries, the Brazilian immigration laws offer a special residency visa known as the “investor visa”.

The investor visa is issued to investors in the country, and it is usually valid for about three years. After three years, the investor needs to file for an extension, and after ten years he is qualified to be a permanent resident in Brazil and eventually even apply for a Brazilian citizenship. The investment can be done with a company that already exists in Brazil or can be used to start up a new one. As stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 817 visas of this kind were issued in 2016, mainly for Portuguese, Spanish and Italian investors. This article aims to clarify a few of those questions and also to give the right information that may be useful on your decision to apply for an investment visa in Brazil.

Requirements to apply for an investor visa?

The Brazilian strategies to attract foreign investors are quite encouraging when compared to other countries. The only requirements for applying for a permanent investor’s visa, other than being older than 18 years old, is to invest a minimum amount of BRL 500,000 in the business.

The investor’s visa is a type of permanent visa and is issued to establish or to promote business in Brazil. Moreover, in exchange for a R$500,000 outlay, the investors gain residency and are allowed to bring in their goods duty-free.

Should I move to Brazil during the visa processing time?

This question is asked by a lot by foreign investors who are not currently living in Brazil but want to move into to country as soon as possible and start working on their projects while the visa procedures are being processed.

The main point is that you cannot obtain an investor visa while you are in Brazil. Once your visa is approved, the document will be issued by the Brazilian consulate handling the investor visa application. This means that if you are in Brazil on a temporary or tourist visa, you will have to leave the country to obtain a new permanent visa, but there is no problem in being in Brazil while the visa is being processed.

This also means that the foreign investor can plan his/her stay in Brazil before or during the visa processing time if needed. With this understanding that visa is not issued in Brazil, but at the appointed Brazilian embassy or consulate overseas, the foreign investor can make much better use of the 90/180 days’ tourist visa for example when preparing for a formal move into the country.

What are the steps and how long does it take?

1. You must obtain a CPF. The CPF is actually everyone’s national ID number and is used for everything. It is easy to collect if you are in Brazil or through a power of attorney, or it can be obtained through Brazilian Consulate in your country but this can a little bit stressful and time-consuming.
2. You must hire a lawyer or an attorney to oversee your application because completing all procedures on your own could be very virtually impossible due to the intricacies of bureaucracy.
3. A company will be opened for you (i.e. in your name – as the owner), and subsequently, a corporate bank account will be opened. It takes about 3-5 weeks. Another option is to invest in existing company but this is very rare, since opening a company in Brazil or acquiring control of an existing company is almost the same process, and incorporating a new entity comes without any risk. In this case, Memorandum of association or articles of incorporations of the company must be duly signed and registered by the attorney representing you.

There are always risks associated with buying a shelf company in Brazil. That is why we would suggest not doing it. Any previous or future debts and issues that arise from the previous owner stick with the business forever.

4. A foreign capital investor’s permit from Brazilian Central Bank will be obtained for you. After registration with Banco Central do Brasil, the minimum amount of $500.000 is authorized to be wired from the investor’s account abroad to his new corporate account.
5. A business plan has to be prepared. The business plan is included in our service fee if you invest using us.
6. The documents related to the company and the investment registration with Central Bank (plus copies of your passport, birth certificate, etc.) will be submitted to Ministry of Labor office to apply for your investor’s visa.

As to timeframe, all the steps (from establishing the Brazilian company to obtain the RNE ID, which is how the foreigner’s ID is called in Brazil) can take from as fast as 5 months up to 10-12 months, depending whether documents are arranged properly and promptly or not.

Feel Free to contact us for any other information you may need.

Read more: Investor Visa

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