Brazil · Residency by investment
Investor Visa — Real Estate (VITEM IX)
Open
Last verified July 2026
Governed by CNIg Normative Resolution 13/2017. Two thresholds: BRL 1,000,000 generally, or BRL 700,000 for property in the North and Northeast regions.
The BRL 700,000 Northeast threshold — about USD 130,000 — is the cheapest real-estate-backed route to residency in a G20 country anywhere. The property must be urban and already built or under construction, which is the constraint that catches buyers targeting raw coastal land.
Qualifying routes
700k BRL
Urban real estate in the North or Northeast
roughly USD 125–140k; the regional discount is the reason this route exists
1M BRL
Urban real estate elsewhere in Brazil
roughly USD 180–200k
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 700k BRL
- Total landed cost
- BRL 700k–1m plus roughly 5–8% in transfer tax (ITBI), notary and registration costs, plus USD 5–15k legal
- Timeline
- 3–9 months — property must be purchased and registered before the visa is granted
- Physical presence
- Absence of more than two consecutive years can cost the permit
- Family
- spouse or stable union partnerchildrendependent parents
- Permanent residency
- indefinite-term residency from grant
- Citizenship
- 4 years; 1 year with a Brazilian child
- Language test
- Portuguese via CELPE-Bras or equivalent
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- purchase of urban real estate meeting the thresholdinvestment registered with the Banco Centralfunds via the formal exchange marketclean criminal record, apostilled and sworn-translatedPolícia Federal registration
What can go wrong
- The BRL 700,000 discount applies only to the North and Northeast. Buying in São Paulo or Rio requires the full BRL 1,000,000.
- The investment must be registered with the Banco Central and the funds must arrive through the formal exchange market. Informal transfers void the whole basis.
- Brazilian title is not Panamanian title. Matrícula chains, spousal consent, undivided inheritances and municipal registration errors are common; independent title diligence is not optional and rural or coastal land carries additional restrictions on foreign ownership.
- The same worldwide tax regime applies as to the corporate route — Lei 14.754/2023's 15% annual charge on offshore company profits and trust transparency, plus the IRPFM minimum tax from 2026. The visa is cheap; residency is not.
- The property should be held for the duration of the residency's conditionality; selling early invites review.