Brazilian Driver's License Abroad: Can You Renew It, Does It Work Where You Live, and When to Swap It

Published September 30, 2026. Also available in Portuguese.

Your Brazilian driver's license — the CNH, Carteira Nacional de Habilitação — expires in a few months, you live in Boston, London, Lisbon or Sydney, and the same three questions arrive together. Can you renew it from abroad, without a trip to Brazil? Does it work in the country where you live, and for how long? And when do you have to swap it for a local license? This article answers the three from the texts in force as I captured them on September 30, 2026 — the Brazilian traffic code and the Contran and Senatran rules on one side, and the official pages of the countries where Brazilians most often live on the other. Where a source was not found, the article says so, and it names no firm other than the author's.

Brazilian driver's license abroad in one answer

A Brazilian driver's license (CNH) cannot be renewed from abroad: renewal starts with a medical exam at a Detran-accredited clinic in Brazil, consulates do not renew it, and the 2026 automatic renewal kept that exam. Abroad, the IDP works in Vienna Convention countries only alongside a valid CNH, and not where you live — there, local rules decide.

The table is the article in rows. The left column is your situation, the middle column is what the texts say, and the right column is where it is written.

Two rows decide most cases. The first is the question people hope has changed: it has not, and the 2026 reform is the reason many think it did (see the 2026 automatic renewal). The seventh is the one people underestimate: the CNH is a Brazilian document, and once you live somewhere else, the question of whether you may drive on it belongs to that country's law, not to Brazil's. The rest of this article is the reasoning behind each row, provision by provision.

Can you renew a Brazilian driver's license from abroad? No — the exam is in Brazil

The validity of a CNH is not a free-standing date. Article 159, § 10, of the Brazilian Traffic Code (CTB) ties it to one thing: A validade da Carteira Nacional de Habilitação está condicionada ao prazo de vigência do exame de aptidão física e mental. — the validity of the license is conditioned on the term of the physical and mental fitness exam. And article 147, § 2, in the wording of Law 14,071 of 2020, says how often that exam is taken, as the Planalto consolidation of the Traffic Code prints it:

§ 2º O exame de aptidão física e mental, a ser realizado no local de residência ou domicílio do examinado, será preliminar e renovável com a seguinte periodicidade: […] I - a cada 10 (dez) anos, para condutores com idade inferior a 50 (cinquenta) anos; […] II - a cada 5 (cinco) anos, para condutores com idade igual ou superior a 50 (cinquenta) anos e inferior a 70 (setenta) anos; […] III - a cada 3 (três) anos, para condutores com idade igual ou superior a 70 (setenta) anos.

§ 2. The physical and mental fitness exam, to be taken at the place of residence or domicile of the person examined, shall be preliminary and renewable at the following intervals: I – every 10 years, for drivers under 50; II – every 5 years, for drivers aged 50 or over and under 70; III – every 3 years, for drivers aged 70 or over.

That is why a CNH issued to a driver under 50 can run ten years and one issued to a driver of 70 or over, three. The examining doctor may shorten those intervals when there are signs of physical or mental impairment or of a progressive illness (§ 4).

Contran Resolution 1,020, of December 2025 — today the general rule on driver licensing — puts the exam first. Article 92 says that to renew, the driver must undergo, na seguinte ordem — in the following order —, the exame de aptidão física e mental, para Autorização para Conduzir Ciclomotor e CNH em todas as categorias., then the long-window toxicology test for categories C, D and E, and then a psychological assessment for those who drive for pay. And where is the medical exam done? At clinics accredited by the state traffic department, the Detran. Contran Resolution 927/2022, which regulates the exam, says: As entidades deverão realizar o exame e a avaliação em local fixo. — the entities must carry out the exam at a fixed location. I found no rule, in the Traffic Code, in Resolution 1,020 or in Resolution 927, for an exam abroad, by telemedicine or at a consulate.

The consulates say the same thing from the other side. The page of the Consulate General of Brazil in Porto (updated August 19, 2025) is the most direct:

O Consulado-Geral do Brasil não emite ou renova a Carteira Nacional de Habilitação brasileira (CNH), visto que esses serviços são de competência exclusiva dos respectivos departamentos de trânsito estaduais (DETRAN). A emissão e a renovação devem ser requeridas pessoalmente no Brasil, sem qualquer ingerência deste Consulado.

The Consulate General of Brazil does not issue or renew the Brazilian driver's license (CNH), since those services are the exclusive competence of the respective state traffic departments (DETRAN). Issuance and renewal must be requested in person in Brazil, without any involvement of this Consulate.

The Consulate in Milan writes Não é possível renovar a CNH brasileira no Consulado. — it is not possible to renew the Brazilian CNH at the Consulate —, and the consulates in Amsterdam and Vancouver say the same in their own words. No consulate I read offers the renewal, the exam or a waiver of it.

What about a bill in Congress? There is one. Bill PL 5,903/2023, filed in the Chamber of Deputies in December 2023, deals, in the words of its summary, with the renovação da carteira nacional de habilitação para condutores domiciliados no exterior — the renewal of the license for drivers domiciled abroad. On the Chamber's open-data record, read on September 30, 2026, it sits in the Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee, status "Aguardando Parecer" (awaiting an opinion), with a new rapporteur designated on September 8, 2026. It is a bill, not a law, and it changes nothing today.

Two practical questions follow. Can someone renew it for you under a power of attorney? I found no rule that allows it: what ties renewal to Brazil is your own medical exam, which no attorney-in-fact can take for you. Do you need proof of address in Brazil? The Detran pages I read ask for one, with different rules by state (see How I plan it) — if you no longer have an address in Brazil, confirm with your state's Detran what it accepts before you book the trip.

The instrument. Write down two dates: the expiration date printed on your CNH and the next date you will be in Brazil for at least a few working days. If the second comes after the first, you already know which part of this article you need next — what an expired CNH does and does not do.

The 2026 "automatic renewal": what Law 15,428 kept — the medical exam

This is the section most of the confusion comes from. In December 2025, Provisional Measure (MP) 1,327 created an automatic renewal for drivers in the National Positive Drivers Registry (RNPC) — the register of drivers with no point-scoring violation in the previous twelve months (CTB, art. 268-A). In its original text, the waiver was broad: the driver in the registry terá sua habilitação renovada automaticamente, e ficará dispensado dos procedimentos previstos no art. 147. — would have the license renewed automatically and be exempt from the procedures of article 147. Those procedures include the medical exam. Under the MP, then, renewal happened without an exam, subject to limits the MP itself set: not for drivers aged 70 or over, only once for drivers aged 50 or over, and not for drivers whose validity had been shortened by the examining doctor.

A provisional measure, however, is not a final law: Congress converts it, with or without changes, or it lapses. MP 1,327 was converted into Law 15,428 of June 5, 2026, published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette on the same day and in force on publication. And the conversion law rewrote the paragraph:

§ 7º O condutor que, ao término do período de validade da Carteira Nacional de Habilitação ou da Autorização para Conduzir Ciclomotor, estiver cadastrado no RNPC terá sua habilitação renovada automaticamente e ficará dispensado dos procedimentos previstos no art. 147 deste Código, com exceção dos exames de aptidão física e mental.

§ 7. A driver who, at the end of the validity period of the CNH or of the moped license, is registered in the RNPC shall have the license renewed automatically and shall be exempt from the procedures provided for in article 147 of this Code, with the exception of the physical and mental fitness exams.

Since June 5, 2026, then, the automatic renewal waives the rest of the procedure, but not the medical exam. For a driver who lives abroad, that one exception is the whole answer: the step that required being in Brazil is precisely the step the law kept.

Three details of the final version matter. First, the MP's limits for drivers aged 70 or over and 50 or over do not appear in the law: in the consolidated Traffic Code, the MP's paragraph 8 is printed empty. Second, I found no Contran resolution regulating the new paragraph 7: the official list of resolutions, last updated on August 26, 2026 and checked on September 30, runs to Resolution 1,031/2026, and none of them deals with it. The Detran of Mato Grosso do Sul, in a note of June 2026, wrote that the law mantém a obrigatoriedade dos exames de aptidão física e mental — keeps the medical exams mandatory — and depends on regulation. Third, the same law provides that the exams will be done by examining doctors authorized by Senatran, the federal traffic secretariat, at a national public price (CTB, art. 148, §§ 6 and 7), also pending regulation; until then, the exam stays with the clinics accredited by the Detrans.

Now the error that circulates, in Portuguese and in English. A claim repeated online says that under the new law you no longer need to see a Detran doctor. That was the text of the MP, not the law that converted it. It survives partly because official pages lag: the renewal page of the Detran of Rio Grande do Sul, captured on September 30, 2026, still describes automatic renewal sem necessidade de exames ou taxas — without exams or fees — with the MP's limits, and cites MP 1,327 as its basis. Where the MP and the conversion law differ, the law prevails.

An expired CNH while you live abroad: Brazil's rules vs. the rules where you live

An expired CNH raises four separate questions, and they have four different answers.

First, does an expired CNH cancel the license? No. I found no provision, in the Traffic Code or in Resolution 1,020, setting a deadline after which you would have to get licensed again from scratch. An expired CNH is renewed — with the medical exam, in Brazil.

Second, driving in Brazil with it. Article 162, V, of the Traffic Code, in the wording of Law 14,440 of 2022, reads:

V - com Carteira Nacional de Habilitação vencida há mais de 30 (trinta) dias: […] Infração - gravíssima; […] Penalidade - multa; […] Medida administrativa - retenção do veículo até a apresentação de condutor habilitado;

V – with a CNH expired for more than 30 days: Violation – very serious; Penalty – fine; Administrative measure – the vehicle is held until a licensed driver appears.

For the first 30 days after expiration, then, there is no such violation. After that, the fine for a very serious violation is R$ 293.47 (CTB, art. 258, I), with seven points on the record (art. 259). There is also a consequence for anyone counting on the automatic renewal: a CNH expired for more than 30 days removes the driver from the RNPC (art. 268-A, § 4, IV).

Third, the expired CNH as an identity document. Resolution 1,020, article 8, § 1, separates the two functions: the loss of validity restringe-se ao exercício do direito de conduzir veículos automotores em vias terrestres, não afetando sua utilização como documento oficial de identificação — it is limited to the right to drive and does not affect the document's use as official identification, except in the case of a definitive cancellation recorded in the national register. In Brazil, then, an expired CNH still works as ID. Whether an office abroad accepts it is that office's rule.

Fourth, the 2026 extension. After the new law, the National Traffic Council (Contran) extended validities twice, by deliberation. The one in force is Contran Deliberation 279 of September 9, 2026:

Art. 2º A validade da Autorização para Conduzir Ciclomotor e da CNH dos condutores de que trata o art. 1º fica prorrogada até 9 de dezembro de 2026.

§ 1º Encerrado o prazo de prorrogação previsto no caput, os condutores nele referidos disporão de trinta dias para renovação do documento de habilitação.

Article 2. The validity of the moped license and of the CNH of the drivers referred to in article 1 is extended until December 9, 2026. § 1. Once the extension period ends, those drivers shall have thirty days to renew the license document.

Article 1 covers licenses expiring entre 5 de junho e 8 de dezembro de 2026 — between June 5 and December 8, 2026. No new document needs to be issued (art. 2, § 2), and the extension does not apply to drivers whose right to drive is suspended or revoked (art. 3). The deliberation was issued by the president of Contran ad referendum do Colegiado — subject to ratification by the full council — and I did not find the ratification on the official list of resolutions, last updated on August 26, 2026 and checked on September 30. The previous one, Deliberation 278, was approved by Resolution 1,029/2026.

Here is the part that matters to anyone abroad. The extension is an act of Contran addressed to the bodies of Brazil's National Traffic System, which must apply it inclusive no exercício das atividades de fiscalização de trânsito — including in traffic enforcement (art. 4). The date printed on your CNH does not change. In the country where you are, whether the CNH is valid is decided by local law, and the local texts I read ask for a license in force: Portugal admits foreign titles only encontrando-se válidos — being valid (Highway Code, art. 125, no. 5); Italy says La patente di guida ed il permesso internazionale devono essere in corso di validità. — the license and the international permit must be valid (Codice della Strada, art. 135); Spain requires Que el permiso de conducción se encuentre en vigor. — that the license be in force (Royal Decree 818/2009, art. 21.2); Texas speaks of a valid, unexpired foreign license. I found no foreign source that recognizes the Brazilian extension. Deliberation 279 gives you time to renew in Brazil; it does not give you time to drive abroad. In Portugal, the consequence of driving on an expired CNH has been fixed by the country's Supreme Court of Justice — see the CNH in Portugal.

The International Driving Permit (IDP): what it is and when it stops working

The starting rule is the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968, promulgated in Brazil by Decree 86,714/1981 and in force for Brazil since October 29, 1981. Its article 41 requires the parties to recognize a national license in their language or with a certified translation, a national license in the model of Annex 6, or an international license in the model of Annex 7, com a condição de que o citado documento esteja em vigência — on condition that the document is in force. The same article, paragraph 6, frees the parties from recognizing a license held by someone who moved to their territory after it was issued. In Brazil, the international license is the Permissão Internacional para Dirigir (PID) — the International Driving Permit, or IDP.

Two limits come from the Convention itself. The first is in article 41, paragraph 5:

O documento de habilitação internacional não deverá continuar sendo válido uma vez expirado o prazo do documento nacional correspondente, cujo número deverá figurar naquele.

The international driving permit shall not remain valid once the term of the corresponding national license, whose number must appear on it, has expired.

The second is in the model of Annex 7, which states that the international permit ceases to be valid in a State once its holder establishes normal residence there (in the Planalto the annexes are a scanned PDF; I read pages 18 and 19). In plain terms: the IDP is a document for people passing through. In the country where you have come to live, what counts is that country's rule for residents, described country by country below.

One caveat I cannot close: Brazil ratified the Convention with a "partial reservation" to article 41, paragraph 1, items a, b and c. The decree lists the reservation, but I did not find its content, and so I do not state what it changes.

In Brazilian domestic law, the IDP is governed by Senatran Ordinance 1,043/2022:

Art. 2º A PID emitida no Brasil é válida nos territórios das Partes Contratantes da Convenção de Viena sobre Trânsito Viário, de 1968, desde que seja apresentada junto com a Carteira Nacional de Habilitação (CNH) válida.

Parágrafo único. A PID não é válida para conduzir veículo no território nacional e não equivale a documento de identidade.

[…] Art. 6º […] §1º O prazo de validade da PID será de, no máximo, 3 (três) anos, contados da data de sua emissão, limitado à data de expiração da validade da CNH ou PPD.

Article 2. The PID issued in Brazil is valid in the territories of the Contracting Parties to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968, provided it is presented together with a valid CNH. Sole paragraph. The PID is not valid for driving in Brazil and is not equivalent to an identity document. Article 6, § 1. The PID is valid for at most 3 years from its issuance, limited to the expiration date of the CNH or of the probationary license (PPD).

Article 6 completes the picture: to apply, you need a valid CNH or probationary license; no IDP is issued to a driver whose CNH is suspended or revoked, who has been convicted of a traffic crime, or by court order (§ 2); and the moped license (ACC) does not count (§ 3). Resolution 1,020, article 100, sole paragraph, adds that the IDP não poderá substituir a CNH — cannot replace the CNH. An expired CNH, then, takes the IDP down with it, and a CNH close to expiration produces an IDP that ends on the same day.

What an IDP costs, and where it comes from. The IDP is issued by the state Detrans, and the price varies. On September 30, 2026, São Paulo's service page (updated August 24, 2026) charged R$ 422.62 for issuance plus R$ 11.00 for delivery by mail, R$ 433.62 in total, with the request made online; Rio Grande do Sul's listed R$ 89.30, with pickup through a driving school. Both deliver in Brazil. Ordinance 1,043 describes the IDP as an A6 booklet in the Annex 7 model; I found no rule providing for a digital version.

The digital CNH. Since Law 15,428, the Traffic Code allows the CNH to be issued in physical or digital form (art. 159, I). Acceptance abroad is each country's rule. The consulates in Milan and Amsterdam write that, in Italy and in the Netherlands, não é aceita CNH digital — a digital CNH is not accepted —, and France's list of license exchanges says that electronic or dematerialized licenses are not exchanged. Travel with the physical card.

Where the IDP is issued matters, too. Several of the foreign texts I read tie the visitor's license or permit to the country where the visitor lives: New Jersey speaks of an IDP issued in your country of residence; California's statute, of a license issued by a foreign jurisdiction of which he or she is a resident. For a Brazilian who lives in the United States, that simply confirms that the visitor rules are not for them. For a Brazilian who lives in, say, Portugal and visits New Jersey on a CNH, it raises a question the pages I read do not answer: on my reading, the CNH is not a license from their country of residence, and I found no statement of how those states treat that visitor.

Driving in the US on a Brazilian driver's license: a state rule, not a federal one

Is a Brazilian driver's license valid in the USA? The federal government leaves it to the states: USA.gov puts it this way:

Depending on the U.S. states you will visit, you may need an International Driving Permit (IDP) as well as a driver's license from your country.

Not every U.S. state requires an IDP. […] You must get an IDP before your trip. The U.S. does not issue IDPs to foreign visitors.

The same page adds that IDPs that are issued for use in the U.S. are valid for 1 year. — while the Brazilian ordinance sets up to three years, capped by the CNH. The pages I read do not say which of the two an officer applies to a Brazilian IDP; if you rely on one past its first year, check with the state first. And for people who live in the United States, the page says The residency requirement for obtaining a U.S. driver's license is different in each state. There is no federal license-exchange rule and no single federal deadline. The table sets out, state by state, what each official source I read says — and where it says nothing, the cell says so.

Visitor or resident: the line that decides. Every state page separates the two. The visitor rules — a year in New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Texas, no stated visitor period in New York or California — are for people who live elsewhere. Once you live in the state, you are on a resident's clock: 10 days in California, 30 in Georgia and Florida, 60 in Virginia, 90 in Texas. Georgia sets no visitor period as such, but defines when the clock starts: a non-US citizen is a resident if they take a job in Georgia and enroll their children in school within ten days of starting it, or if they have been present in the state for 30 or more days; its page adds that Georgia law does not allow non-US citizens, non-resident drivers to operate a motor vehicle if he or she does not have lawful status in the United States. New York's DMV writes that You do not need to apply for a New York State driver license unless you become a New York State resident. Another page of the same DMV adds that If you live in New York State for 90 days this is considered "presumptive evidence" that you are a resident of New York State.

A claim repeated online, including in search-engine summaries, is that most US states let visitors drive for three to six months on a foreign license. It does not match any of the nine pages I read: where they give a number for visitors, it is one year (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas); Georgia treats a non-US citizen present in the state for 30 or more days as a resident, and New York treats 90 days of living in the state as presumptive evidence of residence; the others give none.

New Jersey, in its own words. The MVC's page is the clearest statement of a visitor rule tied to the IDP:

Visitors to the U.S. are permitted to drive up to one (1) year with their foreign license as long as it is accompanied by an International Driving Permit issued in your country of residence.

No swap for Brazil. None of the nine states lists Brazil among the countries whose licenses are exchanged without tests. In the states whose rule I found, a Brazilian who moves there takes the state's tests — in Virginia, the two-part knowledge exam, road skills test and a vision screening, though you may not be required to hold a learner's permit for 60 days; in New York, a written test, a five-hour course and a road test. In New York, on driving with a foreign license, the DMV adds that Your valid foreign driver license allows you to drive without a supervising driver. — as long as it is valid, which brings back the expired-CNH question.

Texas, exactly as the DPS writes it. The Department of Public Safety's page on driving privilege reciprocity (read in an archived copy of August 2026; the page itself is dated September 23, 2020) says that Driving privilege reciprocity allows a person to use a valid, unexpired foreign license to operate a motor vehicle in Texas for up to one year or until a person becomes a Texas resident, whichever date is sooner. It says that this recognition is governed by international agreements — the 1943 Inter-American Convention on the Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic, the NATO agreement and the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic — with the lists of countries at links, and among its general provisions that Reciprocal privileges are limited to persons ages 18 to 75 for up to one year from the date of entry into the United States. and that the license must be translated into English. The page does not name Brazil, and I did not confirm Brazil's position on those lists from the Texas sources, so I do not state it. For new residents, Transportation Code § 521.029 allows driving for no more than 90 days after the date on which the person enters this state on a license from the state or country of previous residence, and the DPS adds that foreign licenses not in English or Spanish must be translated by a translation service or your consulate before arriving in Texas.

Beware of the "international license" sold online. Two state agencies warn about it in almost the same words. Massachusetts: Individuals or organizations use the Internet to sell documents as 'International Driver Licenses' and 'International Driving Permits' that imply driving privileges. The Registrar does not recognize a document labeled as an 'International Driver License', 'International Driving Permit' or any other document that allegedly confers driving privileges. Virginia: Beware of offers from entities selling an international driver's license that cannot be suspended or revoked. The IDP that goes with a CNH is the one issued in Brazil under Ordinance 1,043 — as USA.gov puts it, To get an IDP, contact the motor vehicle department of the country that issued your driver's license.

UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia: a visitor period, a resident period, and no exchange for Brazil

The pattern for a Brazilian driver's license in the UK, in Ireland, in Canada and in Australia is the same one, with national rather than state rules. You drive for a time as a visitor, for a time after you become a resident, and then either exchange the license — if your country is on the list — or get a local license with tests. Brazil is not on the exchange list of any of the jurisdictions in this section.

United Kingdom (Great Britain). GOV.UK gives a visitor from a non-designated country 12 months: You can drive any type of small vehicle (for example cars or motorcycles) listed on your full and valid licence for 12 months from when you last entered Great Britain. A resident gets the same 12 months, counted differently: You can drive in Great Britain on your full and valid licence for 12 months from when you became resident, after which you need a provisional license and must pass the theory and practical tests. Brazil is not among the "designated countries or territories" whose licenses can be exchanged — the list runs from Andorra to Zimbabwe without it. Can you convert a Brazilian license to a UK license? Not by exchange; you take the tests.

Ireland. The Citizens Information service writes that a license from a country outside the EU, the EEA and the list of recognized states can be used for up to 12 months as a visitor if You also have an international driving permit from your country, and that If you plan to stay in Ireland for more than 12 months, you must apply for an Irish driving licence. — the full licensing process. Brazil is not among the recognized states. (The national driver licensing service's own site did not load on September 30, 2026; this is the Citizens Information page.)

Canada — Ontario. Ontario lets a visitor drive for less than three months on a valid foreign license; for more than three months, it asks for an IDP from your own country. A new resident can use a valid license from another country for 60 days and then needs an Ontario license. Brazil is not on the exchange list, so the path is the vision test, the knowledge test and the G2 road test, a wait of at least 12 months before the G road test, and that test. One change of 2026 helps: from July 1, 2026, a valid original foreign license and an authentication letter from the government or agency that issued it earn credit for up to one year of driving experience.

Canada — British Columbia. ICBC writes: After moving here, you have 90 days to switch your valid licence to a B.C. driver’s licence. — with exceptions that include visiting as a tourist for up to six months. Brazil is not on ICBC's exchange list, so a Brazilian license means a knowledge and road test. The Brazilian consulate in Vancouver says, as a general rule, that new immigrants can use the CNH for their first 90 days.

Canada — Quebec. The page of the SAAQ, Quebec's licensing authority (read in archived copies of June and August 2026), gives a non-resident six consecutive months on a valid foreign license, after which an international permit is required; a person who settles in Quebec drives for six months after settling and then needs a Quebec license. Brazil is not among the countries whose licenses are exchanged without the competency exams; for other countries, the exams apply, and you must have held a license for at least one year before settling in Quebec.

Australia — New South Wales and Queensland. In New South Wales, a tourist or temporary overseas visitor can drive in NSW using your overseas licence for up to six months, and If your licence is not written in English, you must also carry an English translation, or an International Driving Permit. A temporary visitor who arrived on or after July 1, 2023 and intends to live in NSW for more than six months needs a NSW license within six months; a permanent resident has three months from arrival. Brazil is not on the NSW list of recognized countries, so the knowledge and driving tests apply. In Queensland, a holder of a resident visa can no longer drive on the overseas license once they have been living in Queensland for three months; a license not in English should travel with a recognized English translation; and Brazil is not on Queensland's list of recognized countries — the road rules test and the practical driving test apply.

The CNH in Portugal: what applies today, and the agreement that is not yet in force

Portugal is where most of the misinformation lives, so this section goes slowly. What circulates is that the Brazilian license "started to be valid" in Portugal at the start of 2026. That is not what happened. In 2026, Portugal approved the bilateral agreement internally — Decree No. 4/2026, signed on January 7 and published on February 9 —, and the agreement still depends on Brazil. A Brazilian resident in Portugal did not have to wait for it: according to the IMT, Portugal's transport authority, the regime that lets the resident drive on the CNH has been in force since August 1, 2022. That regime is Portugal's own Highway Code (Código da Estrada), as amended by Decree-Law 46/2022, whose article 125, no. 1, item c), now accepts:

c) Títulos de condução emitidos por outros Estados-Membros da Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Económico (OCDE) ou da Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP), desde que verificadas as seguintes condições cumulativas:

i) O Estado emissor seja subscritor de uma das convenções referidas na alínea seguinte ou de um acordo bilateral com o Estado Português;

ii) Não tenham decorrido mais de 15 anos desde a emissão ou última renovação do título;

iii) O titular tenha menos de 60 anos de idade;

c) Driving licenses issued by other Member States of the OECD or of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), provided the following cumulative conditions are met: i) the issuing State is a party to one of the conventions referred to in the following item or to a bilateral agreement with the Portuguese State; ii) no more than 15 years have passed since the license was issued or last renewed; iii) the holder is under 60 years of age.

Brazil is in the CPLP and is a party to the Vienna Convention, and the IMT lists it by name. According to the IMT, these licenses are accepted ainda que os condutores sejam residentes — even if the drivers are residents —, provided they are valid and not seized, suspended or revoked. And the IDP plays no part: it stops being valid in the country where the holder establishes residence (Vienna Convention, Annex 7). What authorizes the resident to drive on the CNH is item c).

In practice: a Brazilian resident in Portugal who is under 60 and whose CNH was issued or renewed no more than 15 years ago can keep driving on the valid CNH, without swapping it. Someone who has not yet established residence drives as a visitor: the IMT and the Consulate in Porto speak of up to 185 days from entry. Someone outside those conditions — for example, a resident who has turned 60 — falls under the general rule for foreign licenses: after establishing residence, request the exchange within 90 days (art. 125, no. 4). The IMT's page for those cases counts from the issuance of the residence permit: up to 90 days, you drive and apply; from 90 days to 2 years, you can still exchange but já não pode conduzir — can no longer drive — on the foreign license; after 2 years, the exchange requires a practical driving exam.

The swap for a Portuguese license. For a driver under item c), the exchange is optional and, as a rule, without tests: article 128, no. 2, item a), provides for the Dispensa de provas do exame de condução para os títulos de condução referidos nas alíneas b) e c) do n.º 1 do artigo 125.º — exemption from the driving-exam tests for the licenses in items b) and c) of article 125, no. 1. The application goes through the IMT's online portal, with an electronic medical certificate, proof of residence, the CNH and a certificate of authenticity, and costs 30 euros; the Consulate in Porto writes that a CNH with a QR code on the back does not need the declaration of authenticity. Two newer rules weigh on the exchange: Decree-Law 114/2026, in force since June 9, 2026, provides that Só são reconhecidas as categorias que foram obtidas no estado da residência habitual, nos termos definidos no artigo 19.º, à data da respetiva obtenção — only the categories obtained in the State of habitual residence, as defined in article 19, on the date they were obtained, are recognized —, and, where there is well-founded doubt about a category, the exchange may depend on confirmation with the issuer or on a practical test. And the exchange requires a license in force: article 128, no. 1, speaks of exchanging a título estrangeiro válido — a valid foreign license; I found no IMT rule for exchanging a CNH that has already expired.

If your CNH is about to expire and you live in Portugal, the swap does not happen by itself — it is an application — and expiration does not make it easier. An expired CNH stops authorizing you to drive in Portugal (art. 125, no. 5), and the exchange is of a valid foreign license. The decision therefore comes before the expiration date: exchange while the CNH is valid — under item c), as a rule without tests —, or renew the CNH in Brazil, with the exam.

Is driving with an expired CNH in Portugal a crime? It can be. In Judgment No. 13/2025 (Diário da República, 1st series, no. 214, November 5, 2025), Portugal's Supreme Court of Justice fixed this case law:

Quem, com menos de 60 anos de idade, sendo titular de carteira nacional de habilitação de condução emitida pelo Brasil, caducada há menos de 10 anos, conduz veículo automóvel na via pública, em Portugal, incorre na contraordenação prevista e punida pelo artigo 125.º, números 5 e 8, do Código da Estrada.

Whoever, under 60 years of age, holding a national driver's license issued by Brazil that expired less than 10 years ago, drives a motor vehicle on a public road in Portugal commits the administrative offense provided for and punished by article 125, numbers 5 and 8, of the Highway Code.

The offense in no. 8 carries a fine of 300 to 1,500 euros. The reasoning of the judgment goes further than the holding: it sees only an administrative offense if, in addition, no more than 15 years have passed since the CNH was issued or last renewed; with the CNH expired for more than 10 years, with the driver over 60, or once the 15 years have passed, it finds the crime of illegal driving under article 3, nos. 1 and 2, of Decree-Law 2/98. In none of these cases does an expired CNH authorize driving in Portugal.

Now, the agreement. Brazil and Portugal signed in Lisbon, in September 2023, an Agreement on the Mutual Recognition of Driving Licenses — the summary of the Portuguese decree gives September 22, the closing of the text, September 20. Portugal approved it by Decree No. 4/2026. But approving an agreement is not putting it into force. Its article 13 says it enters into force 30 days after the receipt of the last diplomatic notification that each party has completed its domestic requirements. On Brazil's side, they have not been completed. In the Chamber of Deputies, the text was approved by the Foreign Relations Committee, which presented PDL 559/2026, a draft legislative decree, on May 29, 2026. On the Chamber's open-data record, read on September 30, 2026, it is before the Transport Committee, status "Aguardando Deliberação" (awaiting deliberation), and its last entry, of September 2, 2026, reads "Não deliberado" — not deliberated; it is also subject to the Plenary. There is no Brazilian decree promulgating the agreement. When you read that the CNH "now works" in Portugal because of the agreement, the date to check is that notification — and, until it happens, the rule is the Highway Code described above.

Italy, Spain, France and Germany: where the CNH can be exchanged

In continental Europe the answer turns on bilateral arrangements, and Brazil has them with some countries and not with others. The table only states what the official sources say.

France. The reciprocity list carries a warning that matters to anyone who relies on the phone app: Les permis de conduire électroniques/dématérialisés ne sont pas échangés. — electronic or dematerialized licenses are not exchanged. For the exchange, only the physical CNH works.

Germany. Section 29 of the Driving License Ordinance (FeV) lets a foreign license holder drive while they have no ordinary residence in Germany; once they establish it, besteht die Berechtigung noch sechs Monate — the authorization lasts six more months. A national license that is not in German and does not conform to Annex 6 of the 1968 Convention must travel with a translation, unless Germany has waived it; whether the CNH conforms to Annex 6, or whether a waiver applies to Brazil, I could not find. Brazil does not appear in Annex 11 — the list of states whose licenses are converted on easier terms —, and for a state outside it, section 31(2) sets aside only die Vorschriften über die Ausbildung — the training rules.

Moving back to Brazil with a foreign license — and foreign drivers in Brazil

The rule for a foreign driver in Brazil is article 102 of Resolution 1,020: a driver licensed in their own country, when covered by a convention, agreement or reciprocity, may drive in Brazil for up to 180 days from entry, carrying the foreign license within its validity — and, if the country is a party to the Vienna Convention, the international permit with it —, an identity document and proof of the entry date. After 180 days of regular stay, a foreign driver who wants to keep driving must take the medical and psychological exams to obtain a CNH (§ 4). For a Brazilian, the resolution adds a condition:

Art. 104. Ao cidadão brasileiro habilitado no exterior serão aplicadas as regras estabelecidas nos artigos 102 ou 103, respectivamente, comprovando que mantinha residência normal naquele país por período não inferior a seis meses, quando do momento da expedição da habilitação, comprovadas no ato da fiscalização, em relação ao art. 102, e junto ao órgão ou entidade executiva de trânsito dos Estados ou do Distrito Federal, em relação ao art. 103.

§ 1º A comprovação de residência mencionada no caput se dará com a apresentação de atestado, declaração ou certidão da autoridade consular do Brasil no respectivo país.

Article 104. The rules of articles 102 or 103 shall apply to a Brazilian citizen licensed abroad who proves that they maintained normal residence in that country for no less than six months at the time the license was issued, proven at the time of inspection as to article 102, and before the state or Federal District traffic department as to article 103. § 1. Proof of residence shall be made by presenting a certificate, declaration or attestation of the Brazilian consular authority in the respective country.

The proof of six months is a consular document: request it before you move back. A foreign license is not recognized if the Brazilian has, pending in Brazil, a suspension or revocation of the right to drive, or a court order barring them from obtaining a license (art. 104, § 2). And if you also hold a Brazilian CNH, the Detran of São Paulo's frequently-asked-questions page says that a driver who already has one may drive in Brazil only with that CNH, valid — and, if it has expired, it must be renewed. That is the Detran-SP's reading; the resolution does not contain that restriction. With an expired Brazilian CNH, do not count on the foreign license without confirming with the Detran of your state.

How I plan it for clients: before you leave, before it expires, before the deadlines

I start from five facts — the CNH's expiration date, the driver's age, the categories, the country of residence and the date residence began — and draw two timelines: the CNH's in Brazil and the one of the country where the person lives. The decision sits where they cross.

1. Match the trip to Brazil with the expiration date. The exam is booked through the Detran and done at an accredited clinic; in São Paulo, the digital CNH appears in the app and the physical card can go by mail. Bring proof of address: Santa Catarina's Detran asks for one issued no more than 90 days earlier; Rio Grande do Sul's accepts a utility bill, a lease or a declaration signed at a driving school (CFC), and waives it if your address has not changed since your last service. If you will be in Brazil only after the expiration date, remember the 30 days of article 162, V, and, for licenses expiring between June 5 and December 8, 2026, the extension of Deliberation 279 — both for driving in Brazil, not abroad.

2. Get the IDP before you leave, if you will drive as a visitor. It requires a valid CNH and never outlasts it. It does not help in the country where you live.

3. Categories C, D and E: add the toxicology test. It is required for renewal (CTB, art. 148-A; Resolution 1,020, art. 92, II) and, under age 70, every two years and six months (art. 148-A, § 2); without it, the CNH is not renewed (art. 148-A, § 8, I). The periodic test also carries its own fine: failing to take it more than 30 days after the deadline is a very serious violation with a fine multiplied by five (art. 165-D) — even if you do not drive. If you drive in that situation, article 165-B also applies.

4. Put the local deadlines on the calendar. Portugal: the 60-year and 15-year marks of item c) — I found no rule on how the exchange deadline counts for someone who is already a resident when they pass either mark; exchanging before you reach either mark settles it. Italy: one year of residence to stop driving on the CNH, six years to lose the exchange without exams. Spain: six months from residence. France: one year from the first residence permit. United Kingdom: 12 months from becoming resident. Ontario: 60 days; British Columbia: 90; the US states: from 10 to 90 days. Where an exchange exists, doing it while the CNH is valid avoids the question of what happens to an expired one.

What I do not do is promise results. Renewals and exchanges are acts of the Detran and of the foreign licensing authority, and the rules change. My job is to make sure you reach each counter knowing which rule applies that day. When the file needs someone to act in Brazil, how the firm works with clients abroad — including how to verify the author's registration with the Brazilian bar — is in hiring a Brazilian lawyer from abroad.

The three facts that decide the Brazilian driver's license abroad

Stripped to its skeleton, the question comes down to three facts:

• The Brazilian driver's license cannot be renewed from abroad: its validity depends on the physical and mental fitness exam, taken at a fixed location of a Detran-accredited clinic, and the 2026 automatic renewal kept that exam. CTB, arts. 147, § 2, 159, § 10, and 268-A, § 7 (Law 15,428/2026); Contran Resolutions 1,020/2025, art. 92, and 927/2022.
• The IDP works only together with a valid CNH, for at most three years, in Vienna Convention countries — never in Brazil, and not in the country where you establish normal residence. Senatran Ordinance 1,043/2022, arts. 2 and 6; Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, art. 41, 5, and Annex 7.
• Where you live, local law decides — a visitor period, a resident period, and then an exchange where a rule or agreement allows it (Portugal, Italy, Spain, France; in Portugal, a resident under 60 with a valid CNH issued or renewed within 15 years need not swap at all) or a local license with tests (Germany, and the US states, the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia whose sources I read list no exchange for Brazil). The official sources of each country, read September 30, 2026.

Carvalho Barros Advocacia Internacional handles these questions for Brazilians who live abroad — a Brazilian practice serving clients in more than 30 countries, reading for each client the two timelines this article described and the rule that applies on each side. Written communication with the firm is in English; meetings are conducted with an interpreter at no cost to the client. No promise of outcome is made or implied anywhere in this article.

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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.

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Legal note. This article is informational and does not replace individual legal advice, and it makes no promise as to the outcome of any renewal, exchange or other procedure before a Brazilian or foreign licensing authority (Brazilian Bar Provision OAB No. 205/2021). The Brazilian provisions supporting it — the Traffic Code (Law 9,503/1997, articles 147, 148, 148-A, 159, 162, 165-B, 165-D, 258, 259 and 268-A, in the Planalto consolidation); Law 15,428/2026 and Provisional Measure 1,327/2025; Contran Resolutions 927/2022, 1,020/2025 and 1,029/2026; Contran Deliberation 279/2026; Senatran Ordinance 1,043/2022; the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968 (Decree 86,714/1981); Decrees 12,493/2025 (Italy) and 6,798/2009 (Spain); the Chamber of Deputies' open-data records of PL 5,903/2023 and PDL 559/2026; the pages of the Consulates General of Brazil in Porto, Milan, Amsterdam and Vancouver; and the service pages of the Detrans of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul — and the foreign sources — the Portuguese Highway Code (articles 125 and 128), Decree-Law 46/2022, Decree-Law 114/2026, Decree No. 4/2026 and Judgment No. 13/2025 of the Supreme Court of Justice, with the IMT's pages; the Italian Codice della Strada (article 135); the Spanish Royal Decree 818/2009 (article 21) and the DGT's pages; Service-Public.fr and the French reciprocity list of March 2, 2026; the German Driving License Ordinance (sections 29 and 31 and Annex 11); GOV.UK; Citizens Information (Ireland); the pages of Ontario, ICBC (British Columbia), New South Wales and Queensland; USA.gov; and the pages and statutes of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, California and Texas — were checked against official sources on September 30, 2026, with the provisions the argument rests on named in the text itself. Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, French and German passages, whether in blocks or inline, are reproduced from the official texts; English passages from official pages and statutes are reproduced from them; other English passages are the author's working translation. The Portuguese is the only authoritative version of Brazilian texts. This article is a companion to the firm's Portuguese article on renewing the CNH while living abroad, written for readers who search in English. Method caveats and declared limits. (i) Some official pages did not load on September 30, 2026 and were read in archived copies of the official pages, described in the text by the date of the archived copy: the Texas Department of Public Safety (August 2026), the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (August 2026), California Vehicle Code section 12505 (August 2026), Massachusetts General Laws chapter 90, section 10 (January 2026) and Quebec's SAAQ (June and August 2026); the pages of the New York DMV and of the Massachusetts RMV were read in a browser, and Ireland's national driver licensing service did not load, so Citizens Information was used. (ii) Annex 7 of the Vienna Convention is a scanned PDF in the Planalto and is described, not quoted; the content of Brazil's partial reservation to article 41, paragraph 1, was not found and is not stated. (iii) State and country rules are stated only as the pages read say them; where a cell says the author could not find a rule, none is implied. The Texas page does not name Brazil, and Brazil's position on the lists it links to was not confirmed from the Texas sources. (iv) The reading that a CNH is not a license from the country of residence of a Brazilian who lives in a third country, and that the pages read do not say how states treat that visitor, is the author's, marked as such in the text. (v) No regulation of article 268-A, § 7, and no ratification of Deliberation 279 were found on the official list of Contran resolutions, last updated August 26, 2026. (vi) The reading of the Detran of São Paulo on drivers who also hold a Brazilian CNH is that Detran's, not the resolution's. To review your specific case, contact attorney Luiz Barros — Brazilian Bar, OAB/AL 7.530.