WHY INVEST IN BRAZIL?

Why invest in Brazil? The answer to this question is a “no-brainer”, it's because Brazil is a very safe place in which to invest and make a reasonable return on that investment.

Despite all of the bureaucracy involved in setting up a business in Brazil and the most complicated tax laws and banking/currency laws in the civilized world the Brazilian economy continues to grow (albeit slower than government predictions) when the economies of other countries are in shambles. Brazil has already nudged out the UK to become the world's sixth largest economy. Very strict banking laws regarding foreign endebtedness saved Brazil from many of the ill effects of the global financial crisis starting in 2008, it was the first country to recover following the US sub-prime crisis and it came out stronger than any other country since.

Despite a low unemployment rate, some say around 6.5%, there is a large labor force available for startup companies to tap into. While currency controls add an additional tax of around 6% to foreign investments and obligate investors to lock in their investments for a period of at least six months to prevent the inflow of “hot money” this still makes investing here in Brazil good financial sense. There is also a vast pool of qualified people in the area of finance, information technology, management and other key fields that perspective employers can tap into.

The slowly improving situation of the average Brazilian citizen means that there is an ever expanding market for almost all goods and services that you could possibly imagine. Consumerism is alive and well in Brazil, for sure.

Investing in Brazil not only gives you access to the single largest market in Central and South America, but it also opens up all of the other Mercosul trading nations to the investor. Products manufactured here in Brazil can be sold in these countries with relatively few restrictions and tariffs.

Such as it may be, there is governmental stability in Brazil that may not exist in other Latin-American nations. Perhaps some sectors for investment may have to worry about the political scene and the potential threat of nationalization of certain kinds of industries in Central and South American nations, but not here in Brazil. You don't see authoritarian government takeovers of companies and the expulsion of their administrations happening here in Brazil.

Certainly, you're not going to get rich quick by investing in Brazil by any stretch of the imagination; however you're not going to run the risk of going broke either. If you're investing for the long haul then without any doubt Brazil continues to be the place to do it in.

Last of all, the VIPER Permanent Visa based on investment from all accounts appears to be the easiest of all methods for one to obtain permanent status in this country. The current government has made it abundantly clear to the Ministry of Labor and Employment (Ministério de Trabalho e Emprego – MTE) that all applications for which the documentation is in proper order should be granted. Currently the minimum qualifying investment is R$150.000,00 or about US$75,000. It is also the least bureaucratic of all visas to obtain.

Cheers,
William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team