Brazil Naturalization: the Four Conditions, the Residence Clock and How Long the Procedure Takes

Published November 4, 2026. Also available in Spanish.

In short. Brazil naturalization is granted by an act of the Minister of Justice on an application, not by the passage of time. The ordinary route asks for four things: civil capacity, at least four years of residence, the ability to communicate in Portuguese and a clean criminal record, or rehabilitation (Law 13,445/2017, article 65). The four years can drop to one with a Brazilian child or a Brazilian spouse or partner, and to two for relevant service or professional, scientific or artistic capacity; immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries have a one-year route of their own. What most guides leave out is the clock: as a rule, only residence for an indeterminate term (prazo indeterminado) counts, and years on a temporary permit do not. Once the file is in, the Decree gives the administration one hundred and eighty days from receipt to close the procedure, a deadline that can be extended by a reasoned act.

This article answers the questions foreigners ask about Brazil naturalization — the requirements, how long you must live in Brazil, the process, the Portuguese test, the documents, how long it takes and what it costs — from the official texts as I read them on November 3, 2026: the Constitution (article 12), the Migration Law (Law 13,445/2017, articles 64 to 73), its regulation (Decree 9,199/2017, articles 218 to 247), Ministry of Justice and Public Security Ordinance 623/2020, the federal government's service page and the Ministry of Justice's naturalization pages. I am Luiz Barros, a Brazilian attorney (OAB/AL 7.530). The residence permit that comes first is mapped in the firm's guide to Brazil permanent residency, and the one-year route of the spouse of a Brazilian in the article on marrying a Brazilian; this page is the naturalization itself.

Brazil naturalization requirements, in one answer

To naturalize as a Brazilian through the ordinary route, you must have civil capacity under Brazilian law, have resided in Brazil for at least four years, be able to communicate in Portuguese, the applicant's circumstances being taken into account, and have no criminal conviction or be rehabilitated (Law 13,445/2017, article 65). The Decree counts only the periods in which you resided in Brazil for an indeterminate term (Decree 9,199/2017, article 221), and the period must immediately precede the application (article 233, § 1).

The four years are reduced to one year if you have a Brazilian child, born or naturalized (provisional naturalization aside), or a Brazilian spouse or partner from whom you are not separated, legally or in fact, at the moment of the grant (Decree 9,199/2017, article 235), and to two years for relevant service to Brazil or professional, scientific or artistic capacity (article 236). Immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries need one year of uninterrupted residence and good moral character (Constitution, article 12, II, “a”; Decree, article 237). Extraordinary naturalization requires more than fifteen uninterrupted years and no criminal conviction (Law 13,445/2017, article 67).

How long it takes is two clocks: the residence period — four years, or one or two with a reduction — and then the procedure, which the Decree says shall close within one hundred and eighty days of receipt of the application, extendable by a reasoned act of the Minister where further inquiries are needed (article 228, § 2). The federal service page gives “up to 180 days” as an estimate and says the service is free of charge.

The rest of this page takes each part of that answer to its text, in the order I use when someone asks me how to get Brazilian citizenship by naturalization: the four conditions; the clock, which is where applications go wrong; the reductions; Portuguese; the process and the documents; the time and the cost; the other routes; and what changes after the grant.

The four conditions of ordinary naturalization

Brazil does not have a citizenship test of history or civics, a points system or an investment track. It has one article with four conditions, and every ordinary application is measured against it:

Art. 65. Será concedida a naturalização ordinária àquele que preencher as seguintes condições: I - ter capacidade civil, segundo a lei brasileira; II - ter residência em território nacional, pelo prazo mínimo de 4 (quatro) anos; III - comunicar-se em língua portuguesa, consideradas as condições do naturalizando; e IV - não possuir condenação penal ou estiver reabilitado, nos termos da lei.

Article 65. Ordinary naturalization shall be granted to the person who meets the following conditions: I – having civil capacity under Brazilian law; II – having resided in the national territory for a minimum period of four years; III – being able to communicate in Portuguese, the applicant's circumstances being taken into account; and IV – having no criminal conviction, or having been rehabilitated, under the law.

Civil capacity is the first filter. The Ministry of Justice's page on ordinary naturalization explains it as the capacity to exercise rights and obligations on your own, acquired as a rule at eighteen or earlier by emancipation, under article 5 of the Civil Code; a child who came to Brazil young has a route of its own, provisional naturalization, discussed below. Residence is the condition this article spends the most time on, because the number “four” hides two rules about which years count. Portuguese is indicated by one of the documents listed in article 5 of Ordinance 623/2020, which admits proof to the contrary (§ 6), and, according to the Ministry's page, it is also checked durante a entrevista realizada na PF — during the interview at the Federal Police. And the criminal record is checked in Brazil and in your country of origin: the Decree asks for certificates from the Brazilian states where you lived in the last four years and a certificate from the country of origin (article 234, IV and V).

Notice what is not on the list. There is no minimum income, no requirement to own property and no requirement to give up your current nationality. Notice also who decides. The Decree says naturalization is a grant cuja concessão é de competência exclusiva do Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública — the exclusive competence of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (article 218) — made by an act of the Minister once the objective conditions are met (article 220). Nobody becomes Brazilian because four years have passed; a person applies, the file is examined and a decision is published.

How long do you have to live in Brazil to become a citizen? The residence clock

“Four years of residence” is the figure everyone quotes, and it is correct. What it leaves out is which four years. The Decree answers in one sentence:

Art. 221. Para fins de contagem dos prazos de residência mencionados nas exigências para obtenção da naturalização ordinária e extraordinária, serão considerados os períodos em que o imigrante tenha passado a residir no País por prazo indeterminado.

Article 221. For the purpose of counting the residence periods mentioned in the requirements for ordinary and extraordinary naturalization, the periods in which the immigrant came to reside in the country for an indeterminate term shall be considered.

So the clock does not necessarily start on the day you landed, or on the day you got your first residence permit. It starts on the day your residence became one for an indeterminate term — what the market calls permanent residency. Years on a temporary permit do not count: two years of work before the change, a year on the digital nomad visa, four years on the real-estate investor route before the change. The federal service page says the same thing in its first line, Imigrante residente no Brasil por prazo indeterminado. — that is who may use the service — and the Ministry of Justice's page is blunter: Primeiro é preciso obter a residência por prazo indeterminado, registrada pela Polícia Federal. First you need residence for an indeterminate term, registered by the Federal Police. Which routes start with that term and which reach it only on a later request is the subject of the firm's guide to Brazil permanent residency.

Three more rules shape the count. First, the date. I read article 73 of the Decree, a rule for every immigrant's residence term, together with article 221: article 73 dates the start of a term, and article 221 decides which terms count — only those for an indeterminate term. Article 73 says the residence card carries the term of residence set in the authorization obtained; that the count starts, for an immigrant who entered on a temporary visa, on the first entry after the visa was granted (§ 1), and, for one who obtained a residence authorization in Brazil, on the date the registration was requested (§ 2); and that, where that immigrant did not request registration within the period of article 307, IV, the count starts once thirty days have passed from the publication of the decision granting the residence authorization (§ 3). The Ministry adds a warning worth taking literally: A data da sua Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório (CRNM) nem sempre corresponde ao tempo correto de residência. — the date on your migration card does not always match the correct period of residence; the record that counts is the one in the Federal Police's migration system. Second, the window. The period must be immediately prior to the application (article 233, § 1); the Ministry describes the count as running backwards from the date the request is opened. Third, proof: owning property in Brazil is not sufficient proof of residence, and actual residence must be shown (article 233, § 3).

Can you travel during the four years?

Yes, within limits, and here the most common sentence in English-language guides — “four years of continuous” or “uninterrupted” residence — is wrong for the ordinary route. The Decree tolerates trips:

§ 2º Na contagem do prazo previsto no inciso II do caput, as viagens esporádicas do naturalizando ao exterior cuja soma dos períodos de duração não ultrapassem o período de doze meses não impedirão o deferimento da naturalização ordinária.

§ 2. In counting the period provided for in item II of the head paragraph, sporadic trips abroad by the applicant whose combined duration does not exceed twelve months shall not prevent the grant of ordinary naturalization.

Ordinance 623/2020 defines what “sporadic” means:

Art. 51. Para efeitos da contagem do prazo de residência para fins da naturalização prevista no art. 1º, inciso I, serão consideradas viagens esporádicas do naturalizando ao exterior aquelas cuja soma seja inferior ao período de noventa dias por ano, respeitado o limite temporal máximo de doze meses.

Article 51. For the purpose of counting the residence period for the naturalization provided for in article 1, item I, sporadic trips abroad by the applicant are those whose sum is less than ninety days per year, subject to the maximum limit of twelve months.

The Ministry of Justice's page turns this into a simple table: on the four-year period, absences up to twelve months in total; on the two-year period, up to six; on the one-year period, up to three. “Uninterrupted” is the word of other routes — extraordinary naturalization (Law 13,445, article 67) and the one-year route of immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries (Constitution, article 12, II, “a”) — not of the four years of article 65.

When four years become one or two

Brazilian citizenship “in one year” is a real route, but it depends on a tie, not on an investment. The Law sets the floor:

Art. 66. O prazo de residência fixado no inciso II do caput do art. 65 será reduzido para, no mínimo, 1 (um) ano se o naturalizando preencher quaisquer das seguintes condições: I - (VETADO); II - ter filho brasileiro; III - ter cônjuge ou companheiro brasileiro e não estar dele separado legalmente ou de fato no momento de concessão da naturalização; IV - (VETADO); V - haver prestado ou poder prestar serviço relevante ao Brasil; ou VI - recomendar-se por sua capacidade profissional, científica ou artística.

Article 66. The residence period fixed in item II of the head paragraph of article 65 shall be reduced to a minimum of one year if the applicant meets any of the following conditions: I – (vetoed); II – having a Brazilian child; III – having a Brazilian spouse or partner and not being separated from them, legally or in fact, at the moment the naturalization is granted; IV – (vetoed); V – having rendered or being able to render relevant service to Brazil; or VI – standing out for professional, scientific or artistic capacity.

The Law says “a minimum of one year” for all four items and leaves items V and VI to be assessed as the regulation provides (sole paragraph). The Decree then fixed two numbers. One year for the applicant with a Brazilian child, born or naturalized — provisional naturalization aside — and for the applicant with a Brazilian spouse or partner not separated, legally or in fact, at the moment of the grant (article 235). Two years for relevant service to Brazil and for professional, scientific or artistic capacity, assessed by the Ministry of Justice, which may consult other bodies (article 236). The Ministry's page applies the same two years. So when a guide says relevant service gives one year, it is reading the Law's floor and skipping the Decree that sets the number. The Ministry's page also applies two rules of its own, which this article does not develop: two years for a stateless person recognized by Brazil, and, for a refugee recognized by CONARE, a residence period counted from the date of the request for recognition of refugee status.

Immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries are in a separate line of the Constitution: exigidas aos originários de países de língua portuguesa apenas residência por um ano ininterrupto e idoneidade moral — of those from Portuguese-speaking countries, only one year of uninterrupted residence and good moral character are required (article 12, II, “a”), repeated by article 237 of the Decree. Ordinance 623 waives their proof of Portuguese (article 5, § 1).

Two things about the one-year routes that matter in practice. The clock rule does not change: the year is a year of residence for an indeterminate term, immediately before the application. And the spouse condition is tested at the moment of the grant, so a separation while the application is pending defeats it; the full treatment of that route is in the article on marrying a Brazilian, and what a divorce does to a pending naturalization is in the article on Brazilian residency after divorce.

The Portuguese requirement: Celpe-Bras and the other proofs

“Brazil citizenship language requirements” is one of the most searched variations of the question, and the answer is a list, not an exam. Article 5 of Ordinance 623/2020 lists the documents that indicate the ability to communicate in Portuguese: a certificate of proficiency obtido por meio do exame Celpe-Bras, the national proficiency examination run by INEP; a degree or postgraduate diploma from a Brazilian institution accredited by the Ministry of Education; approval in the Brazilian bar examination; a certificate of completion, with satisfactory performance, of a Portuguese course for immigrants at an accredited higher-education institution; completion of primary or secondary education through the national examination for young people and adults (ENCCEJA); appointment as a professor, technician or scientist after a public competition at a Brazilian public university; a transcript of primary, secondary or supplementary education completed at a Brazilian school; or a medical diploma revalidated through Revalida. The degree and school courses may be taken at a distance if approved by the Ministry of Education (§ 3), and the immigrant course too, with at least one in-person assessment (§ 4). Degrees and school certificates from institutions in Portuguese-speaking countries are accepted if legalized in Brazil (§ 2), and the list is an indication that admits proof to the contrary (§ 6).

Two details from the Ministry of Justice's page save time. A certificate that shows only enrollment does not count — Só matrícula não vale. — the institution's statement must say you passed. And the Federal Police may check the language again during the interview. On the exam itself, INEP's page says only that O exame é aplicado semestralmente, no Brasil e no exterior, pelo Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep) — it is held twice a year, in Brazil and abroad. I did not capture this year's dates or fee, and I do not state them; check them on INEP's site before planning around them.

The Brazil naturalization process, step by step

The application is addressed to the Ministry of Justice and filed through the electronic system on the GOV.BR platform (Ordinance 623/2020, article 3), in person at a Federal Police unit where that system is not yet available for your locality (sole paragraph; Decree 9,199, article 224). The federal service page, last updated August 25, 2026, describes the sequence:

1. Online request. You fill in the Naturalizar-se form and upload the documents.
2. Federal Police. Once the documents are approved, you appear at the Federal Police unit of your area on the scheduled date with the originals, and your biometrics are collected. Under article 7 of the Ordinance, the Federal Police notify you, if needed, to correct or complete the file within thirty days, extendable on a justified request — and if you do not answer within thirty days of the notice, the application is archived (§ 2); they report on your criminal records and migration movements, may carry out inquiries and a entrevista gravada, a recorded interview, where the file calls for it, and issue an advisory report recommending that the request be granted or not.
3. Decision. The Ministry's Department of Migration examines the file, and the grant is an act of the Minister (Decree, article 220); Ordinance 623 delegates the decision on the request to the Coordinator of Migration Processes of the Department of Migration (article 2), and the decision on extending the 180-day period as well (article 54). The decision that grants naturalization será publicada no Diário Oficial da União e produzirá efeito imediato — is published in the Official Gazette and takes effect immediately (Ordinance, article 10); the Law says naturalization takes effect after that publication (article 73).
4. After the grant. You hand in your migration card at a Federal Police unit (Ordinance, article 10, sole paragraph), and, if you are between eighteen and seventy, you register with the Electoral Justice within one year (Decree, article 231). During the procedure you may ask for your name to be translated or adapted to Portuguese (Law, article 71, § 1).
5. If refused. You can appeal within ten days of receiving the notification (Decree, article 232; Ordinance, article 11); the appeal is decided by the Coordinator-General of Migration Policy, with no further appeal (Ordinance, articles 11, § 2, and 12), and the Decree gives it sixty days (article 232, § 1). A refusal that stands does not prevent a new application once the objective conditions are met (§ 2).

Documents: what Annex I of Ordinance 623 asks for

The file for ordinary naturalization starts from the fourteen-item list of Annex I of Ordinance 623/2020, without prejudice to requests for complementary documents or information (article 4): the signed form; where you ask for it, a reasoned request to translate or adapt your name, with civil, protest and labor-court certificates for the last five years; a copy of the migration card (CRNM), ainda que vencida — even if expired — with the original for checking; your CPF registration status; criminal-record certificates from the Federal and State courts of the places you lived in the last four years; a criminal-record certificate from your country of origin, legalized and translated in Brazil by a sworn public translator, observing the Apostille Convention; proof of rehabilitation, where it applies; proof of residence under article 56 of the Ordinance; a copy of your travel document, ainda que vencido — even if expired, observing the Mercosur rules; and, for the reduced routes, the updated marriage certificate or proof of the stable union, the Brazilian child's birth certificate and a joint declaration of the spouses or partners on the continuity of the union; plus the proof of Portuguese.

Two corrections to lists that circulate. The applicant's own birth certificate is not among the fourteen items, and neither the card nor the passport needs to be valid — though the authority may ask for complementary documents or information (Ordinance 623, article 4), article 56 lists the proofs of residence that may be required “among others”, and the Ministry's page adds a consular certificate or registration, which proves the spelling of the name and parentage and may be required where the name appears differently in the documents. The Ministry's page also says that a person who entered Brazil as a minor, or whose foreign certificate has expired, presents a declaration of no criminal record instead. How the apostille and the sworn translation work for the foreign certificate is explained in the firm's article on apostilled and translated documents for Brazil.

How long does it take to naturalize in Brazil?

The question has two answers, and most pages give only one of them, or a number nobody has published.

The first clock is residence: four years for an indeterminate term, or one or two with a reduction, counted backwards from the application. That clock cannot be shortened by paperwork, and it starts only when the indeterminate term starts.

The second clock is the procedure. The Decree sets it for the administration:

Art. 228. O procedimento de naturalização se encerrará no prazo de cento e oitenta dias, contado da data do recebimento do pedido.

§ 2º Caso sejam necessárias diligências para o procedimento de naturalização, o prazo previsto no caput poderá ser prorrogado por meio de ato do Ministro de Estado da Justiça e Segurança Pública que fundamente a prorrogação.

Article 228. The naturalization procedure shall close within one hundred and eighty days of the date the application is received. § 2. Where inquiries are needed for the naturalization procedure, the period in the head paragraph may be extended by an act of the Minister of Justice and Public Security stating the grounds for the extension.

The federal service page puts it as Até 180 dia(s) corrido(s) — up to 180 calendar days — and calls it the estimated time. Both are a deadline for the administration and an estimate, not a timeline you can plan a move around: the extension is in the same article, and the Federal Police may also give you thirty days, extendable, to complete the file (Ordinance 623, article 7). Figures of twelve to twenty-four months of processing, which several English-language pages and the search engine's summary repeat, are not in any official text I read, and I do not quote practice figures here. A realistic plan is: the residence period, then a complete file on the day you apply, so that no inquiry is needed.

How much does Brazilian naturalization cost?

The federal service page says: Este serviço é gratuito para o cidadão. — the service is free of charge. What costs money is around it: the criminal-record certificate from your country, its apostille and sworn translation, and the Portuguese exam if you use Celpe-Bras. I did not capture those amounts and do not state them.

Other routes: extraordinary, provisional and special naturalization

Extraordinary naturalization is the route that does not ask for Portuguese. The Law grants it to a person fixada no Brasil há mais de 15 (quinze) anos ininterruptos e sem condenação penal, desde que requeira a nacionalidade brasileira — settled in Brazil for more than fifteen uninterrupted years and without a criminal conviction, provided they apply (article 67; Constitution, article 12, II, “b”). The Decree adds rehabilitation as an alternative to a clean record, requires the period to be immediately before the application and says that sporadic trips abroad do not prevent the grant (article 238, §§ 1 and 2), and the same article 221 counts only residence for an indeterminate term. Here two official texts diverge: the Decree sets no ceiling for those trips, while the Ministry of Justice's page on extraordinary naturalization states a limit of 45 months (three months a year over fifteen years). I do not decide between them here; a file planned close to either line needs the Ministry's position on the day.

Provisional naturalization is for a child or adolescent who fixed residence in Brazil before turning ten, and is requested by their legal representative (Law, article 70). Residence counts as fixed from the moment the child comes to reside for an indeterminate term (Decree, article 221, sole paragraph), and the Ministry's page gives the consequence: a child who entered at eight but was registered with an indeterminate term only after turning ten cannot use this route. It becomes definitive if the person expressly asks within two years after reaching majority (Law, article 70, sole paragraph).

Special naturalization covers two narrow cases: the spouse or partner, for more than five years, of a member of the Brazilian Foreign Service in activity or of a person in the service of the Brazilian State abroad, and the person who is or was employed at a Brazilian diplomatic mission or consular post for more than ten uninterrupted years (Law, article 68). Its requirements are civil capacity, the ability to communicate in Portuguese and no criminal conviction or rehabilitation (article 69); no residence period is among them. It can be filed with a Brazilian consular authority (Decree, article 224, sole paragraph). I could not read the Ministry's page on it.

After naturalization: what changes and what does not

A naturalized Brazilian is Brazilian, and the Constitution says the law may not distinguish between born and naturalized Brazilians except in the cases the Constitution itself provides (article 12, § 2). Those cases are few and specific:

• Offices reserved to born Brazilians: President and Vice-President of the Republic, President of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Justice of the Supreme Federal Court, the diplomatic career, officer of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense (article 12, § 3).
• Media ownership: ownership of a newspaper or broadcasting company is reserved to born Brazilians or those naturalized for more than ten years, or to legal entities incorporated under Brazilian law and headquartered in Brazil (article 222).
• Extradition: no Brazilian is extradited, except the naturalized one for a common crime committed before naturalization or for proven involvement in drug trafficking (article 5, LI).
• Loss: a naturalized Brazilian can have the naturalization cancelled by a judicial decision because of fraud related to the naturalization process or an attack on the constitutional order and the democratic State (article 12, § 4, I, in the wording of Constitutional Amendment 131/2023). Like any Brazilian, a naturalized Brazilian also loses the nationality on an express request for its loss before the competent Brazilian authority, except where it would leave them stateless (article 12, § 4, II).

Do you have to give up your citizenship to become Brazilian? Brazilian law does not ask for it: none of the four conditions of article 65 and none of the fourteen documents of Annex I is a renunciation. Whether your own country lets you keep its nationality when you naturalize abroad is a question of that country's law, which this article does not address. The opposite direction — a Brazilian who naturalizes in the United States or elsewhere — is treated in the firm's article on Brazil dual citizenship.

What circulates online — and what the text says

• “Four years of continuous residence.” For the ordinary route, sporadic trips up to twelve months in total do not prevent the grant (Decree 9,199, article 233, § 2; Ordinance 623, article 51: under ninety days a year). “Uninterrupted” belongs to the extraordinary route and to immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries.
• “Four years of legal residence.” Four years of residence for an indeterminate term (Decree 9,199, article 221). Years on a temporary permit do not count, however legal they were.
• “Relevant service or a special skill gets you citizenship in one year.” The Law sets a floor of one year; the Decree fixed two (article 236).
• “Brazil has citizenship by investment.” It has residence by investment, which is a ground for a residence authorization; the naturalization clock and the four conditions are the same for an investor as for anyone else. The investor routes are discussed in the article on the Brazil investor visa.
• “Processing takes twelve to twenty-four months.” No official text says so. The Decree says the procedure shall close within one hundred and eighty days of receipt, extendable by a reasoned act (article 228); the service page gives up to 180 days as an estimate.
• “Bring your birth certificate and a valid passport.” Annex I of Ordinance 623 asks for the migration card and the travel document even if expired, and does not list the applicant's birth certificate, though complementary documents may be requested (article 4).
• “Marrying a Brazilian makes you Brazilian.” It reduces the residence period to one year, on condition that you are not separated at the moment of the grant (Law 13,445, article 66, III; Decree 9,199, article 235). The other three conditions stay.

How I approach a naturalization file

I start with the clock, not the form. I check in the migration record when the indeterminate term began, not the date printed on the card, and I count back from the planned filing date with the trips abroad on the table. Then I check whether a reduction applies and which documents prove it, and whether the Portuguese document on hand is one of those in article 5 of the Ordinance. I assemble the file against the list in force on the day of filing, so that the thirty-day notice of article 7 is not needed, and I keep the foreign certificate's apostille and sworn translation on the calendar, because they are what usually takes longest. Written communication with the firm is in English, and meetings are held with an interpreter at no cost to you. Nothing in this article promises or suggests a result.

The three facts that organize Brazil naturalization

• Ordinary naturalization asks for four conditions — civil capacity, at least four years of residence, Portuguese and a clean record or rehabilitation — and is an act of the Minister of Justice on an application. Law 13,445/2017, article 65; Decree 9,199/2017, articles 218 and 220.
• Only residence for an indeterminate term counts, in the period immediately before the application, with sporadic trips up to twelve months tolerated; a Brazilian child or a Brazilian spouse or partner not separated at the grant brings the four years to one, relevant service or professional, scientific or artistic capacity to two. Decree 9,199, articles 221, 233, 235 and 236; Ordinance 623/2020, article 51.
• The procedure shall close within one hundred and eighty days of receipt, extendable by a reasoned act; the service is free; the decision takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette. Decree 9,199, article 228; federal service page; Ordinance 623, article 10.

Carvalho Barros Advocacia Internacional handles the residence and naturalization files of foreigners with ties to Brazil through its investor visa and residency practice and, where the tie is a Brazilian spouse or child, its international family law practice.

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About the author

Luiz Alberto de Carvalho Barros Filho

Attorney at Law — Brazilian Bar (OAB/AL 7.530)

Brazilian attorney dedicated to private international law and cross-border taxation. Published author in the International Law Deskbook 2.0 (The Florida Bar) and contributor to the International Law Quarterly, also of The Florida Bar.

More about the firm

Legal note. This article is informational, does not replace individual legal advice and promises no result (Brazilian Bar Provision OAB No. 205/2021). The provisions it relies on were read on November 3, 2026 in their official sources: the Federal Constitution (articles 5, LI, 12 and 222, in the wording of Constitutional Amendment No. 131/2023 for article 12, § 4) and the Migration Law, Law No. 13,445/2017 (articles 64 to 73), on the federal legislation portal; its regulation, Decree No. 9,199/2017 (articles 73, 218, 220, 221, 224, 227, 228, 230 to 239, 244 and 307, IV), on the same portal; Ministry of Justice and Public Security Ordinance No. 623/2020 (articles 2 to 5, 7, 10 to 12, 51, 54 and 56 and Annex I) in the Ministry of Justice's digital library, which records no express revocation; the federal government's service page for the naturalization request (last updated August 25, 2026); the Ministry of Justice's pages on ordinary, extraordinary and provisional naturalization; and INEP's page on the Celpe-Bras examination. Portuguese passages are reproduced from the official texts; the English that accompanies them is the author's working translation, and the Portuguese is the only authoritative version. Declared limits: (i) actual processing times are not stated — only the Decree's deadline and the service page's estimate; (ii) the dates and fee of the Celpe-Bras and the costs of certificates, apostilles and translations were not captured; (iii) the ceiling for absences in extraordinary naturalization differs between the Decree and the Ministry of Justice's page and is not decided here; (iv) the Ministry's page on special naturalization could not be read; (v) the law of any other country on keeping its nationality is not addressed; (vi) the rules the Ministry of Justice's page applies to recognized refugees and stateless persons are mentioned and not developed. To review your specific case, contact attorney Luiz Barros — Brazilian Bar, OAB/AL 7.530.