How to Get a CPF as a Foreigner: the Consulate, the R$ 7 Counter, the Email That Rejects Foreigners' Enrollment Requests and the Annual Update That Keeps It Active

Published October 1, 2026.

You are buying an apartment in Florianópolis, opening an account at a Brazilian bank, becoming a partner in a Brazilian company, inheriting from a Brazilian relative or simply moving to Brazil — and every one of those doors asks for the same thing first: a CPF, the Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas, Brazil's individual taxpayer number. This article explains how to get a CPF as a foreigner, from abroad or in Brazil, and how to keep it active afterwards, from the texts in force as I captured them on October 1, 2026: the Receita Federal's instruction on the CPF, the joint ordinance that decides which channel a foreigner abroad must use, and the official service pages of the federal government and of Brazilian consulates.

CPF for foreigners in one answer

Abroad, a foreigner applies in person at a Brazilian consulate, free; in Brazil, free at the Receita Federal or up to R$ 7.00 at Correios, Banco do Brasil, Caixa or a registry office. The Receita's mailbox for people abroad rejects foreigners' enrollment, diplomats aside. Holders 16+ with an address abroad must update it yearly in the app, or risk suspension.

The third row costs people months: advice still tells foreigners to email their documents to the Receita Federal, and since October 2023 the rule says a foreigner's CPF requests sent there are summarily rejected (see the email shortcut). The last row is the one almost nobody mentions: a CPF obtained by a foreigner who lives abroad is not a one-time errand, and skipping the annual update can lead to suspension and, later, cancellation (see keeping it active).

What a CPF is — and what it is not

The CPF is a register, and the register was built to include you. Normative Instruction RFB 2,172 of January 9, 2024 — the Receita Federal's rule on the CPF, in the consolidated text that carries its amendments up to December 2025 — opens by saying what it is: O CPF é o banco de dados nacional que contém informações individualizadas de pessoas físicas brasileiras e estrangeiras, residentes e não residentes no Brasil. — the CPF is the national database containing individualized information on Brazilian and foreign natural persons, resident and non-resident in Brazil. Each person gets a single number: the same article forbids a concessão de mais de um número para a mesma pessoa — granting more than one number to the same person (art. 1, § 2). And since a November 2024 amendment, the same article adds a duty that matters later in this article: A pessoa física deve manter atualizados os dados de sua inscrição no CPF. — the individual must keep the data of their CPF registration up to date (art. 1, § 3).

What the CPF is not is a residence status. Brazilian tax residence is defined by a different instruction, Normative Instruction SRF 208 of 2002, and it is defined by facts: living in Brazil permanently, arriving with a permanent visa, arriving on a temporary visa to work under an employment contract, completing 184 days in Brazil within twelve months on a temporary visa, leaving without the formal exit communication, and so on (arts. 2 and 3). Its article 3, item I, calls a non-resident the person que não resida no Brasil em caráter permanente e não se enquadre nas hipóteses previstas no art. 2º — who does not reside in Brazil permanently and does not fall under the cases of article 2. The CPF does not appear among those criteria. The same instruction goes further and makes the CPF compulsory for the non-resident: its article 5 says é obrigatória a inscrição no Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas (CPF) de não-residente que possua no Brasil bens e direitos sujeitos a registro público — enrollment in the CPF is mandatory for a non-resident who owns assets and rights in Brazil subject to public registration. And when the Receita issues a certificate of tax residence, a 2025 instruction (Normative Instruction RFB 2,287/2025) sends it back to the same definitions: aplicam-se os conceitos de residente e de não-residente no País previstos nos arts. 2º a 4º da Instrução Normativa SRF nº 208, de 27 de setembro de 2002. — the concepts of resident and non-resident of Instruction SRF 208 apply.

Put together: the instruction on residence names facts, not registrations, and the instruction on the CPF names residents and non-residents alike as its population. I did not find, in the sources I read, an official sentence that says in so many words that a CPF does or does not make anyone a tax resident, so I state only what the texts say and let them carry the conclusion. If you are worried about becoming a Brazilian tax resident, the questions to ask are whether you live in Brazil permanently, on what visa you arrived and how many days you spend there — the subject of the firm's article on the digital nomad visa and day 184 — not whether you hold a Brazilian taxpayer number.

Nor is the CPF a card. The federal service page for the CPF receipt, updated August 6, 2026, says: O cartão físico do CPF, em formato plástico, não é mais emitido. — the plastic CPF card is no longer issued — and adds that printed receipts and the receipt in the official apps have the same validity. Besides Brazilian public documents that carry the number, the CRNM migration card among them (art. 5), the instruction accepts as proof the receipt printed from the Receita's website or issued by a partner entity, the receipt accessed through the Receita's mobile app, and an old CPF card issued under earlier rules — all desde que acompanhados de documento de identificação do titular da inscrição, provided they are accompanied by the holder's identity document (art. 5, § 1). A receipt only takes effect once its authenticity is confirmed on the Receita's website (art. 5, § 4).

Who needs a CPF as a foreigner — and who may get one anyway

Article 4 of Instruction 2,172 lists who must enroll. For most foreigners, the line that matters is item II, which reaches people living in Brazil and people living abroad alike:

Art. 4º Estão obrigadas à inscrição no CPF as pessoas físicas: […] II - residentes no Brasil ou no exterior, que: a) praticarem, no Brasil, operações imobiliárias de quaisquer espécies; b) possuírem, no Brasil, contas bancárias, de poupança ou de investimentos; c) operarem no mercado financeiro ou de capitais no Brasil, inclusive em bolsas de valores, de mercadorias, de futuros e assemelhados; ou d) possuírem, no Brasil, bens e direitos sujeitos a registro público ou cadastro específico, incluídos imóveis, veículos, embarcações, aeronaves, instrumentos financeiros e participações societárias ou no mercado de capitais;

Article 4. The following natural persons are required to enroll in the CPF: […] II – residents in Brazil or abroad who: a) carry out, in Brazil, real-estate transactions of any kind; b) hold, in Brazil, bank, savings or investment accounts; c) operate in the financial or capital markets in Brazil, including on stock, commodities and futures exchanges and the like; or d) own, in Brazil, assets and rights subject to public registration or a specific register, including real property, vehicles, vessels, aircraft, financial instruments and equity interests or capital-market positions;

Read item by item, that covers the usual reasons a foreigner asks: buying or selling property in Brazil (items "a" and "d"), opening a bank or investment account (item "b"), investing in the Brazilian market (item "c"), and owning quotas or shares in a Brazilian company (item "d"). Two more items can reach a foreigner who moves to Brazil: item I, residents in Brazil who are part of a tax relationship na condição de contribuinte ou responsável — as taxpayer or responsible party —, and item VI, people filiadas como segurados obrigatórios da Previdência Social ou requerentes de benefícios de qualquer espécie no Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social - INSS — compulsory members of Brazilian social security or applicants for any INSS benefit. Item IV adds anyone whose enrollment a Brazilian public body requires under its own legislation, and item III anyone listed as a dependent or alimony recipient in a Brazilian income tax return.

Everyone else may still enroll, as the article's closing sentence says: As pessoas físicas não obrigadas à inscrição de que trata este artigo podem solicitar a sua inscrição. — individuals not required to enroll may request enrollment.

The instrument. Before you book anything, write down the act that requires the CPF and the date it happens — the signing of a deed, the first deposit, the registration of a company. The CPF has to exist before that act, and the rest of this article is about how long the road to it is from where you are.

Getting a CPF from abroad: the Brazilian consulate, in person

If you are outside Brazil, the channel for a CPF as a foreigner is not a matter of preference. The federal service page for CPF enrollment abroad, a service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last modified December 15, 2025, draws the line between Brazilians and foreigners in two sentences. For Brazilians living abroad, there is no need to go to the consulate: their enrollment is handled preferably by the Receita's email. For you, the page says: Para estrangeiros residentes no exterior, a solicitação deve ser feita presencialmente em um posto da rede consular brasileira. — for foreigners residing abroad, the request must be made in person at a post of the Brazilian consular network. The same page ends with Este serviço é gratuito para o cidadão. — this service is free.

The rule behind the page is a joint ordinance of the two Receita departments that run the CPF register and taxpayer service, published in the Official Gazette on October 5, 2023 and in force since October 11, 2023:

Art. 2º Os estrangeiros que se encontram no exterior devem apresentar suas solicitações de CPF às repartições consulares brasileiras no exterior, por meio de atendimento presencial.

§1º Caso haja necessidade de complementação de atendimento pela Receita Federal, a própria repartição consular brasileira encaminhará, por e-mail, os documentos do estrangeiro à caixa corporativa cpf.residente.exterior@rfb.gov.br.

§2º A resposta quanto à conclusividade do serviço, acompanhada, quando for o caso, dos documentos pertinentes, será enviada ao e-mail informado na FCPF (Ficha Cadastral da Pessoa Física).

Article 2. Foreigners who are abroad must present their CPF requests to Brazilian consular offices abroad, in person. § 1. Where the service needs to be completed by the Receita Federal, the Brazilian consular office itself will forward the foreigner's documents by email to the corporate mailbox cpf.residente.exterior@rfb.gov.br. § 2. The answer as to the completion of the service, accompanied, where applicable, by the relevant documents, will be sent to the email address given in the FCPF (Individual Registration Form).

Note the verb: se encontram no exterior — "are abroad". The ordinance speaks of where the foreigner is, while the federal service page speaks of foreigners residing abroad. On either reading, a foreigner outside Brazil applies at a consulate.

The consulate's power to issue the number is in the instruction itself. Article 32 lets Brazilian diplomatic posts and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs enroll a person and change registration data de forma conclusiva — conclusively —, and, in a conclusive service, they devem imprimir e entregar ao interessado o Comprovante de Inscrição no CPF — must print and hand the applicant the CPF receipt (art. 32, § 2).

The steps, as the pages read describe them, are four:

• Fill out the FCPF online. The Ficha Cadastral de Pessoa Física is the Receita's registration form for people abroad, available in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The English version of its entry page asks you to select your country of domicile and then says: Deliver it in a Brazilian diplomatic representation within 15 days, along with the documents listed in the table documentation. The form generates a service code that lets you follow the request online (IN RFB 2,172/2024, art. 30, II). The consulate pages I read add two practical notes: leave the voter-registration field blank, and disable the browser's pop-up blocker, or the form will not send.
• Book the appointment. The federal page tells foreigners to find the consular post responsible for their jurisdiction and book the CPF service in the e-consular system of that consulate or embassy. The Embassy in Oslo, on its own page, uses its own booking link.
• Attend in person with the documents (see documents), and sign the FCPF where the post asks for it.
• Receive the receipt at the counter, when the post concludes the service, or by email, when the Receita has to complete it.

How long does it take? The federal page answers Não estimado ainda — not yet estimated. I found no official deadline for a foreigner's CPF at a consulate. Individual posts publish their own practice: the Consulate General in Toronto says On the day of your scheduled appointment. Each post sets its own pace.

What the consulate pages say varies with the post, and that is the rule for reading them: what one consulate writes binds that consulate. The Consulate General in Hartford, in the United States (page updated September 12, 2026), writes that foreigners who are not living in Brazil must apply at the Consulate General and that There will be no charge for this service. It also warns that foreign-born Brazilian citizens registered at a consulate in the US cannot apply as foreigners and must apply as Brazilians — the case of the firm's article on citizenship by descent. Toronto writes The service is free.; the Embassy in Oslo, This service is free of charge.; the Consulate General in Lisbon (updated January 6, 2026), O serviço é gratuito., and adds that the service is offered only in person — Não é possível o atendimento para inscrição no CPF por videoconferência. — enrollment cannot be done by videoconference.

The email shortcut that no longer works for foreigners

Search for how to get a CPF as a foreigner and you will still find the advice to fill out the FCPF and email it, with a copy of your passport, to the Receita's mailbox for people abroad, cpf.residente.exterior@rfb.gov.br. For a foreigner asking for a new CPF, that advice runs against the rule in force. The same joint ordinance that sends foreigners to the consulate closes the mailbox to them. Its article 1 reserves it for Brazilians: A caixa corporativa cpf.residente.exterior@rfb.gov.br atenderá apenas solicitações de CPF feitas por brasileiros que se encontram fisicamente no exterior. — the mailbox will handle only CPF requests made by Brazilians who are physically abroad. Article 2 says what happens to a foreigner's request:

Art. 2º […] §3º Os pedidos de CPF de estrangeiros enviados diretamente à caixa corporativa cpf.residente.exterior@rfb.gov.br serão sumariamente rejeitados.

Article 2. […] § 3. CPF requests from foreigners sent directly to the corporate mailbox cpf.residente.exterior@rfb.gov.br will be summarily rejected.

The mailbox is not closed to foreigners for everything, though. A month later, a second joint ordinance (Cocad/Cogea 55, of November 3, 2023, in force on publication on November 7) rewrote the exception that follows:

§4º Excetuam-se do disposto no parágrafo anterior, podendo ser enviadas diretamente pelo e-mail do próprio interessado, as solicitações relativas a estrangeiros: […] I - que gozam de privilégios e imunidades diplomáticas; e […] II - que tratam de alteração, regularização, cancelamento, restabelecimento e consulta de NI-CPF.

§ 4. Excepted from the preceding paragraph, and which may be sent directly from the applicant's own email, are requests concerning foreigners: I – who enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities; and II – that deal with the change, regularization, cancellation, restoration and lookup of the CPF number.

So the email works for a foreigner in two situations: a diplomat, for anything, and anyone who already has a CPF and needs to change data, regularize it, have it canceled or restored, or find out their own number. It does not work for getting a first CPF. I searched the Official Gazette from December 2023 to October 1, 2026 for any later act revoking or amending the two ordinances and found none. Toronto, Frankfurt and Lisbon cite Ordinance 53/2023 by number. Hartford writes that other CPF related services, such as data correction or update, can only be made by e-mail to Receita Federal. — a divergence from the instruction, which lets a consulate change registration data conclusively (art. 32) and sends a failed annual update to a diplomatic post (art. 23-A, § 2, I).

One caution about Hartford's sentence. The "update" it mentions is the data change the ordinance allows by email; the annual update the instruction now requires of foreigners with an address abroad is a different act, done in the Receita's app, and I come back to it below.

Getting a CPF in Brazil: free at the Receita Federal, up to R$ 7 elsewhere

If you are in Brazil — on a trip, on a visa, or already living there — the channels are different. Annex IV of the instruction, which lists who may request each act, with which documents and where, names, for a foreigner aged eighteen or over, four channels: civil registry offices, Correios, Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal or the Receita's website, for requests of enrollment, change and regularization of a "Suspended" status; the Receita's remote channels or its in-person service; a Brazilian diplomatic post, for service abroad in cases of enrollment, with the FCPF filled out on the Receita's website; and a financial institution that represents a foreign investor in Brazil, intermediated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), when the investor's registration is granted.

The price depends on the door. The federal service page for CPF enrollment, last modified September 24, 2026, puts it in one line addressed to Brasileiros e estrangeiros — Brazilians and foreigners: A inscrição no CPF é gratuita, exceto quando realizada em unidades conveniadas (neste caso será cobrado uma taxa de R$ 7,00). Não são necessários intermediários. — enrollment in the CPF is free, except at partner units, which charge R$ 7.00; no intermediaries are needed. The ceiling is in the instruction:

Art. 26. […] § 1º Ressalvada a hipótese de serviço prestado a título gratuito pelas conveniadas relacionadas nos incisos IV e V do caput do art. 24, nos termos previstos em convênio, as entidades de que trata o caput poderão cobrar do interessado o valor correspondente aos serviços de atendimento, conclusivo ou não conclusivo, sem qualquer ônus à RFB.

§ 2º O valor referido no § 1º não excederá a quantia de R$ 7,00 (sete reais).

Article 26. […] § 1. Except where service is provided free of charge by the partners listed in items IV and V of article 24, under the terms of the agreement, the entities referred to in the head of this article may charge the applicant an amount for the service, conclusive or not, at no cost to the Receita Federal. § 2. The amount referred to in § 1 shall not exceed R$ 7.00 (seven reais).

Items IV and V of article 24 are federal public bodies and the national association of civil registry offices (ARPEN-BR). The instruction therefore lets registry offices work for free where their agreement says so, while the federal page lists them among the R$ 7.00 counters, alongside Banco do Brasil, Caixa and Correios. The two are compatible as a ceiling: you will pay nothing at the Receita and at most R$ 7.00 at a partner counter. The Correios page, which carries no date, also quotes R$ 7.00 and, for a foreigner, accepts the identity document admitted in the country of origin or the passport, adding Não é obrigatória a comprovação de filiação de estrangeiros. — foreigners do not have to prove their parents' names.

At a partner counter, the instruction says A prática dos atos perante o CPF será efetuada de imediato, exceto nos casos previstos no art. 30 — acts before the CPF are performed immediately, except in the cases of article 30, which are the services the counter cannot conclude (art. 26, § 3). When a counter or the Receita's website cannot conclude, it issues a protocol, and you take the protocol and the documents to the Receita (art. 29); the federal page adds that residents abroad present them at a Brazilian consulate.

One web channel needs a warning. The same federal page lists, among the ways to request enrollment, a web form named Inscrever Estrangeiro no CPF. The page does not say whom the form is for. Annex IV does list the Receita's website and its remote channels among the channels for an adult foreigner's enrollment, and article 29 makes non-conclusive any service started on the internet that the Receita has to conclude, which generates a protocol. For a foreigner who is abroad, though, the ordinance's article 2 sends the CPF request to a consulate, in person. So I do not say that a foreigner abroad can get a CPF online: what can be done online, from abroad, is filling out the FCPF that the consulate will receive.

Documents: the passport, the Mercosur ID until December 31, 2026, and what your consulate may add

For an adult foreigner applying personally, Annex IV asks for an official photo ID that proves nationality and date of birth, and a birth or marriage certificate, or an equivalent document, only where the ID does not show nationality and date of birth. Which IDs count depends on where you live:

Serão aceitos como documento de identificação: […] I - para residentes no exterior ou em trânsito pelo Brasil: […] a) Passaporte; […] b) Carteira do Registro Nacional Migratório - CRNM ou a antiga Cédula de Identidade de Estrangeiro - CIE/RNE; ou […] c) Documento de identificação dos Estados Partes do Mercosul e Estados associados, admitidos em acordo internacional, até o prazo estipulado no art. 32-A desta Instrução Normativa;

The following will be accepted as an identity document: I – for residents abroad or in transit through Brazil: a) Passport; b) National Migration Registry Card (CRNM) or the former Foreigner's Identity Card (CIE/RNE); or c) An identity document of the States Parties of Mercosur and associated States, admitted under an international agreement, until the deadline set in article 32-A of this Normative Instruction;

For residents of Brazil, the list is longer: the CRNM or the old CIE/RNE, the CRNM protocol, the provisional document issued to refugee applicants, the refuge protocol, a consular registration certificate with the foreigner's photo, and the Mercosur document.

The Mercosur deadline has already been extended twice. Article 32-A, as last rewritten in December 2025, now reads: O documento de identificação dos Estados Partes do Mercosul e Estados associados, admitido em acordo internacional, permanece válido para os atos cadastrais no CPF até 31 de dezembro de 2026. — the Mercosur identity document remains valid for CPF acts until December 31, 2026. The earlier wordings said June 30, 2025 and then December 31, 2025. From January 1, 2027, unless the instruction changes again, a foreigner abroad will need a passport or a Brazilian migration card.

Two general rules complete the list. In person, devem ser apresentados obrigatoriamente documentos originais ou cópias autenticadas — originals or certified copies must be presented (art. 33, § 1). And for foreign documents, the Receita may require an apostille or consular legalization and a sworn translation (art. 33, § 3): the text says "poderão ser exigidos", may be required, not "will be".

Consulates add their own requirements, and they do not all agree. Toronto writes Valid passport is mandatory. Lisbon asks for a valid passport and proof of residence in its jurisdiction — a water or electricity bill or a lease. Hartford accepts A photo ID showing the applicant's full name, date of birth and nationality (example: Passport or RNE/CRNM); and asks for an official translation of a birth certificate that is not in English, Portuguese or French. The Consulate General in Frankfurt (updated November 28, 2025) accepts Identidade válida (Passaporte ou carteira alemã de identidade - Personalausweis); — a German identity card that is not on the instruction's list for residents abroad, though the FCPF form itself speaks of an identity document aceito no país de residência, accepted in the country of residence. And Lisbon's page on the annual update still says the Mercosur document was accepted only until June 30, 2025, a date the instruction has since replaced. Where a consulate's page and the instruction differ, I do not resolve the difference for the consulate: bring what the instruction lists, bring what your post lists, and confirm with your consulate before the appointment.

Through a representative: the power of attorney and its limits

Do you need a representative in Brazil to get a CPF? No rule I read requires one. The federal page says the opposite in four words — Não são necessários intermediários. — and the instruction regulates the representative only as an option: when a request is made by an attorney-in-fact, article 34 asks for the documents of Annex IV, the attorney's photo ID and CPF number, instrumento público ou particular de procuração — a public or private power of attorney — and, depending on the channel, a photo of the attorney taken at the Receita's counter or holding the ID next to the face. For an instrument made outside Brazil, the rule is:

Art. 34. […] §1º O instrumento público de procuração lavrado no exterior ou o instrumento particular com firma reconhecida no exterior devem ser apostilados, caso tenha sido emitido em país signatário da Convenção Haia, ou ter sua validade reconhecida por repartição consular brasileira, salvo disposição de lei, acordo ou tratado internacional em contrário.

Article 34. […] § 1. A public power of attorney executed abroad, or a private instrument with a signature notarized abroad, must be apostilled if issued in a country party to the Hague Convention, or have its validity recognized by a Brazilian consular office, unless a law, agreement or international treaty provides otherwise.

For services requested remotely through a gov.br account at the silver or gold level, the instruction requires a digital power of attorney, exceto para solicitações de inscrição e consulta ao número de CPF — except for enrollment and CPF-number lookups (art. 34, § 2).

Two divergences to declare. The FCPF's entry page, in its list of documents, still speaks of an instrumento público de procuração — a public power of attorney — where the instruction, in the wording of November 2025, accepts a public or private one. And the Lisbon consulate, for a foreigner who has forgotten the number and needs someone to recover it at the Receita in Brazil, writes: Estrangeiros devem lavrar procuração em notário público local, apostilar o documento e depois traduzir para o português com tradutor público juramentado. — foreigners must have the power of attorney drawn up before a local notary, apostilled, and translated into Portuguese by a sworn public translator. That is Lisbon's instruction, and the safe way to satisfy all three texts at once: a notarized instrument, apostilled, and translated.

For a foreigner who is abroad, the ordinance's article 2 sends the CPF request to a consulate, in person; no text I read says how that rule combines with article 34 for a first enrollment from abroad, so I do not present a representative as a route to it. The consulate pages describe a different use: recovering a forgotten number at the Receita in Brazil, by power of attorney.

Keeping it active: the annual update in the Receita Federal app

In November 2024, Normative Instruction RFB 2,236 inserted a chapter into Instruction 2,172 titled, in capitals, the annual update of the CPF registration of a foreigner with an address abroad:

Art. 23-A. O estrangeiro com endereço no exterior e idade igual ou maior que dezesseis anos deverá realizar anualmente a atualização dos dados de sua inscrição no CPF por meio do aplicativo da RFB para dispositivos móveis, no período compreendido entre 1º de janeiro a 31 de dezembro.

§ 1º Para atualizar os dados de sua inscrição no CPF o estrangeiro deverá: […] I - informar o NI-CPF e a data de nascimento; e […] II - capturar, por meio do aplicativo da RFB para dispositivos móveis, a fotografia de seu rosto e do passaporte.

§ 2º Caso não seja possível realizar a atualização pelo aplicativo a que se refere o caput, o estrangeiro deverá: […] I - solicitar o serviço por meio de uma representação diplomática brasileira; e […] II - apresentar a mensagem emitida pelo aplicativo e a documentação prevista no Anexo IV.

Article 23-A. A foreigner with an address abroad and aged sixteen or over shall update the data of their CPF registration annually through the Receita Federal's mobile app, within the period from January 1 to December 31. § 1. To update the data of their CPF registration, the foreigner shall: I – provide the CPF number and the date of birth; and II – capture, through the Receita Federal's mobile app, a photograph of their face and of their passport. § 2. If the update cannot be done through the app, the foreigner shall: I – request the service through a Brazilian diplomatic post; and II – present the message issued by the app and the documents listed in Annex IV.

Three details decide how it applies. First, who: a foreigner, with an address abroad, aged sixteen or over — not Brazilians, and not foreigners whose CPF address is in Brazil. Second, when: once in every calendar year, at any point between January 1 and December 31. The first year was optional — No ano de 2024, a atualização dos dados de inscrição no CPF prevista no art. 23-A será facultativa. (art. 32-B) —, so the duty has been mandatory since 2025; Oslo writes that the update has been required From January 13th 2025, and the Lisbon consulate that the app function has been available since that date and that não sendo necessário comparecer ao Consulado-Geral — no visit to the consulate is needed. Third, how: in the app, with a photo of your face and of your passport; when the app cannot finish, Lisbon describes the fallback as a new request in the e-consular system and an in-person visit with the app's error message.

The consequence is written. The November 2024 amendment rewrote the rule on suspension to name the annual update among its causes:

Art. 12. A suspensão da inscrição no CPF poderá ocorrer quando houver inconsistência cadastral, inclusive a decorrente do não atendimento da exigência prevista no art. 23-A, e será realizada pela RFB no interesse da administração tributária ou para atendimento a determinação judicial.

Article 12. The CPF registration may be suspended where there is a registration inconsistency, including one resulting from failure to meet the requirement of article 23-A, and the suspension is carried out by the Receita Federal in the interest of tax administration or to comply with a court order.

Article 13 says how to fix it. The regularization of a suspension for that reason deverá ser efetuada por meio da atualização extemporânea dos dados do estrangeiro nos termos previstos no referido artigo — shall be done through a late update of the foreigner's data under article 23-A (art. 13, § 2, II) —, and Depois de noventa dias contados da data de comunicação da suspensão, a inscrição poderá ser cancelada de ofício. — after ninety days from the date the suspension is communicated, the registration may be canceled ex officio (art. 13, § 3).

The verbs are "poderá" — may —, not "will"; the instruction gives the Receita a power, not a timetable. The communication can come through the CPF status receipt on the website or in the app, a notification in the gov.br account, an email or SMS, a letter, or a notice on the Receita's website when none of the others reaches you (art. 12, § 1) — which is one more reason to keep your email and address current in the register, the duty article 1, § 3 already imposes.

A suspended CPF closes doors other rules open. The CNPJ instruction, for example, lists among the impediments to registering a company a partner who is an individual with a CPF that is suspended or canceled (see where the CPF shows up next).

The instrument. Put the annual update in the same calendar as any other yearly duty, and do it early in the year rather than in December. Then check your status on the Receita's public CPF status query before any act that depends on the number.

Pending, suspended, canceled: what each CPF status means

Every CPF carries a status, and the instruction defines them:

Art. 2º A inscrição no CPF será enquadrada, quanto à situação cadastral, em: […] I - "Regular", caso não haja inconsistência cadastral e não conste omissão na entrega de Declaração de Ajuste Anual do Imposto sobre a Renda da Pessoa Física - DIRPF; […] II - "Pendente de Regularização", caso conste omissão na entrega de DIRPF, na hipótese de sua obrigatoriedade; […] III - "Suspensa", caso haja inconsistência cadastral; […] IV - "Cancelada", em caso de multiplicidade de inscrição, por decisão administrativa ou determinação judicial;

Article 2. A CPF registration shall be classified, as to its status, as: I – "Regular", where there is no registration inconsistency and no failure to file the annual individual income tax return (DIRPF); II – "Pending Regularization", where there is a failure to file the DIRPF, in the case where filing was mandatory; III – "Suspended", where there is a registration inconsistency; IV – "Canceled", in case of multiple registrations, by administrative decision or by court order;

Two more statuses complete the list: "Titular Falecido", when the holder's death is recorded, and "Nula", where fraud is found. And one clarification matters to a foreigner who owes nothing: the status independe da regularidade dos pagamentos dos tributos administrados pela RFB — does not depend on whether taxes administered by the Receita have been paid (art. 2, § 1).

Pending regularization comes from one thing only: a missing annual income tax return that you were required to file. It is fixed by filing — ainda que em atraso, even late — the return you owed or the Declaração de Saída Definitiva do País, the final exit return (art. 11), and the regularization does not waive the tax or the penalties due (art. 11, § 2). The Correios page, for its part, tells holders in "pending regularization" or "suspended" status to regularize mesmo que não tenha sido obrigado a entregar a Declaração do Imposto de Renda nos últimos cinco anos — even if they were not required to file the income tax return in the last five years. That is the partner counter's guidance; the instruction's wording is the one above.

A divergence to declare. The Receita's own questions-and-answers page on the CPF, last updated May 27, 2024, describes "pending regularization" as a failure to file a return dos últimos cinco anos — of the last five years. The instruction does not say five years: article 2 speaks of a failure to file na hipótese de sua obrigatoriedade, where filing was mandatory, with no period. The same page predates the November 2024 amendment: it does not mention the annual update, and it cites the power-of-attorney rule under a paragraph number that has since changed. Where the page and the instruction differ, I follow the instruction.

Suspended means an inconsistency in the register — including, since the November 2024 amendment (mandatory since 2025), a missed annual update. A suspension for that reason is fixed by making the update late (art. 13, § 2, II). Other suspensions follow Annex IV (art. 13); for a foreigner abroad, the consulate may start the regularization (art. 32, § 1) and the Receita's email, which the 2023 ordinance keeps open to foreigners for regularization, can receive it (Ordinance 55/2023). In Brazil, the partner counters and the Receita also regularize a suspended CPF (art. 31). The instruction adds a second path to cancellation, besides the ninety days after the communication: a registration suspended for at least five years may be canceled ex officio (art. 12, § 3).

Canceled covers multiple registrations of the same person, an administrative decision or a court order (art. 2, IV); a cancellation is reversed by a restoration, by administrative or judicial decision (art. 21). The CPF number itself is unique: if you had one and lost track of it, you do not apply for a new one. You ask for your number — by email, under the 2023 ordinance's exception for a consulta de NI-CPF, or through someone in Brazil with a power of attorney, as the Toronto, Frankfurt and Lisbon consulates describe.

Where the CPF shows up next: company, property, bank account

A CPF as a foreigner is rarely the goal; the Brazilian tax ID is the first line of a larger file. Three files come up most often, and in each the firm has a separate article.

A company. To register a Brazilian company with the CNPJ, every individual in its register of partners and administrators needs a valid CPF. Normative Instruction RFB 2,119/2022 lists among the impediments to registration a member of that register who, se pessoa física, não possuir inscrição no CPF ou de sua inscrição ser inexistente ou estar suspensa, cancelada, com titular falecido, a partir da data do falecimento, ou nula; (art. 21, II, "b"). Note that "pending regularization" is not on that list, and "suspended" is. A partner domiciled abroad needs something more, under the CNPJ rules rather than the CPF rules: where the Receita is the one approving the registration, the filing deverá estar instruído com a cópia da procuração que nomeia o seu representante legal no País — must include a copy of the power of attorney naming the partner's legal representative in Brazil (art. 14, § 3). So the CPF itself does not require a representative, while being a partner may. The full picture is in opening a company in Brazil as a foreigner.

Property. Buying or selling property in Brazil is a real-estate transaction under item II, "a", of article 4, and owning it falls under item "d": the CPF must exist before the deed and stays with you while you own the property. The steps from the CPF to the registry are in buying property in Brazil as a foreigner; selling, and the withholding that follows, in selling property in Brazil as a non-resident; and renting it out from abroad, in the procurador's liability.

A bank or investment account. Item II, "b", makes the CPF mandatory for anyone who holds a bank, savings or investment account in Brazil, resident or not, and item "c" for anyone operating in the financial or capital markets. What each bank asks on top of that is the bank's own rule, which I did not read for this article; the account itself is the subject of the non-resident bank account in Brazil, and the tax on what it earns, of non-resident taxation in Brazil.

How I handle a CPF as a foreigner for clients: a checklist

I start from three facts — where the client is now, which act needs the CPF and when, and whether the client already has a number — and the rest follows a short list.

1. Check whether a CPF already exists. A person gets only one number. A foreigner who once had a CPF — for a past purchase, a past job, a bank — asks for that number back; applying again is the problem article 2, IV, describes as multiple registration.
2. Pick the channel by where the client is on the day. Abroad: the consulate, in person, with the FCPF filled out online and delivered within 15 days. In Brazil: the Receita, free, or a partner counter, up to R$ 7.00. Never the mailbox for people abroad for a first CPF.
3. Read the consulate's own page before booking. The documents differ by post — passport only, a local ID, proof of residence, translations — and the post's page is what its counter will apply.
4. Mind the Mercosur deadline. A Mercosur ID works for CPF acts until December 31, 2026; from 2027, plan on the passport.
5. Use a representative only where the texts provide for one. From abroad, the first enrollment goes to the consulate in person. Where a representative does act — to recover a forgotten number, for instance — the power of attorney is notarized, apostilled or recognized by a consulate, and translated, so that it satisfies every text that may be applied to it.
6. Diarize the annual update. Every calendar year, in the app, for every foreign holder aged sixteen or over with an address abroad — and a check of the CPF status before any closing, transfer or filing.

What I do not do is promise results. Enrollment, regularization and cancellation are acts of the Receita Federal and of the consulates, and their pages change. My job is to make sure you reach each counter with the right documents and knowing which rule applies that day. When the CPF is one step in a file that someone must handle in Brazil, how the firm works with clients abroad is in hiring a Brazilian lawyer from abroad.

Carvalho Barros Advocacia Internacional handles these questions for foreigners with interests in Brazil — a Brazilian practice serving clients in more than 30 countries. 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 enrollment, update, regularization or other act before the Receita Federal or a Brazilian consulate (Brazilian Bar Provision OAB No. 205/2021). The provisions supporting it — Normative Instruction RFB 2,172/2024 in the consolidated text of the Receita's rules database, with the amendments of Cocad Ordinance 67/2024 and Normative Instructions RFB 2,236/2024, 2,270/2025, 2,293/2025 and 2,304/2025, and its Annex IV; Joint Ordinances Cocad/Cogea 53/2023 and 55/2023, read in the Official Gazette; Normative Instructions SRF 208/2002, RFB 2,119/2022 and RFB 2,287/2025; the federal service pages for CPF enrollment (updated September 24, 2026), enrollment abroad (December 15, 2025) and the CPF receipt (August 6, 2026); the Receita's FCPF form pages; the Receita's CPF questions-and-answers page (May 27, 2024); the pages of the Consulates General of Brazil in Toronto, Hartford, Frankfurt and Lisbon and of the Embassy in Oslo; and the Correios page on the CPF — were checked against official sources on October 1, 2026, with the provisions the argument rests on named in the text itself. Portuguese passages, whether in blocks or inline, are reproduced from the official texts; English passages from official pages are reproduced from them; other English passages are the author's working translation. The Portuguese is the only authoritative version of Brazilian texts. Method caveats and declared limits. (i) The two joint ordinances are not in the Receita's rules database and were read in the Official Gazette; no later act revoking or amending them was found in a search of the Gazette from December 2023 to October 1, 2026. (ii) Annex IV is a PDF table laid out in columns and is described, not quoted, except for its list of accepted identity documents. (iii) Consulate pages are stated only as each post writes them, and differ on documents; no general rule for all posts is implied. (iv) The federal page does not say whom the web form named “Inscrever Estrangeiro no CPF” serves; Annex IV lists the Receita's website among an adult foreigner's enrollment channels, article 29 makes a service started online that the Receita must conclude non-conclusive, and for a foreigner who is abroad Joint Ordinance Cocad/Cogea 53/2023 requires in-person service at a consulate; whether that form concludes an enrollment is not stated. (v) No official deadline for a foreigner's CPF at a consulate was found; the times quoted are those of individual pages. (vi) No official sentence stating whether a CPF does or does not confer tax residence was found; the text reports what Instruction SRF 208/2002 and Instruction RFB 2,172/2024 say. (vii) The Correios page tells holders in pending or suspended status to regularize even if they were not required to file a return in the last five years; the text reports it as that partner's guidance, next to the instruction's wording, without reconciling the two. (viii) The Receita's questions-and-answers page predates the November 2024 amendment, and its “últimos cinco anos” for pending status is not in the instruction. (ix) The Correios page carries no date. (x) Banks' own requirements for a non-resident account were not read. To review your specific case, contact attorney Luiz Barros — Brazilian Bar, OAB/AL 7.530.