Retirement Visa for Brazil

@thetracelfox thank you for your very detailed account. I am assuming that you are now applying for your initial 2 year temporary visa. Is that correct?

@ibdegen

Correct, this is the first go at it and i received two years.

05/09/25 @thetravelfox.  That's great -- congratulations!

Hello, I’m new here and would want to see if anything has changed since the last year updates. I’m planning on collecting and filing required in a couple of months.

Also I saw multiple comments about birth certificate. Do you know what should be done if my birth certificate was issued outside of USA and all other documents do belong to USA? Yes, it was officially translated and apostilled. Is it enough?

Another question, is it correct that any kind of work is prohibited by this type of visa? Even volunteering without getting paid just to have some socialization and fun?

Thanks!

01/13/26 @Salamandra.  Welcome!  There have been some updates to the rules on Retirement Visas since the last time we discussed them here.  These are the current requirements as they appear on the website of the Brazilian Consulate General in Chicago, which is generally kept pretty up-to-date.  You should double-check the site of the Consulate where you'll be requesting the visa, though, for any differences:

https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado- … -vitem-xiv

With respect to your birth certificate, note that you'll need a document set consisting of:

1. the original birth certificate
2. Apostille of the competent authority in the issuing country
3. Signed, notarized translation of the birth certificate into English, if in another language
4. Apostille from the US state where the translation was notarized on the translation.

Check with the Consulate on whether the originals will be returned to you; if not, you should have a second set for the Federal Police in Brazil.

Applicants presenting US birth certificates will need an apostilled copy for the Federal Police in Brazil to register the visa when they arrive.  The Federal Police will require Sworn Translations into Portuguese (generally done in Brazil) for the documents presented to them, including the apostilles.

The question on work is an interesting one.  The terms of the old (pre-2017) retirement visa prohibited work for pay; I'll double check, but I think that the law for the current retirement visa is silent on the subject; presumably what is not forbidden is allowed.   You can confirm that at the  Department of Labor in your state once you're settled in Brazil, but either way there should be no problem with your doing unpaid volunteer work,