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What the terms mean
Plain-English answers to everything on this dashboard, what we count, the three ways to earn residency, the money involved (reais and US dollars), and the words the Brazilian government uses.
The three routes to residency
| Route | Legal basis | Minimum (fixed in reais) | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | RN 36/2018 | R$1,000,000 | 4-year temporary residency, convertible to permanent |
| Company | RN 13/2017 | R$500,000 | Permanent residency immediately, capital active 3 years |
| Startup | RN 13/2017 (Art. 3) | R$150,000 | Permanent residency immediately, the same as the company route |
Words you'll see on this dashboard
- Brazilian reais (R$)
- Brazil's currency. The law sets each route's minimum investment in reais, and those minimums don't change with the exchange rate: R$1,000,000 for property, R$500,000 for a company, R$150,000 for a startup.
- US dollars (US$)
- For readers outside Brazil, we also show every amount in US dollars. Because the reais minimums are fixed but exchange rates move, the dollar figures are recalculated from the live rate below.
- “Approval” / “investor”
- Each one is a real person the Brazilian government granted residency to, published by name in the official record. We count actual people; nothing is estimated or modelled.
- Permanent vs temporary residency
- The company and startup routes grant an indefinite-term residence authorization from day one; there's no expiry date, and it's documented by the holder's national migration card (the CRNM). The property route is different: it starts as a fixed four-year residence permit that you later convert to the indefinite-term authorization.
- CRNM (your residency card)
- The Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório, the physical ID card that documents a foreigner's residence in Brazil, issued by the Federal Police once residency is approved.
- Applied from inside Brazil vs from abroad
- Some people are already in Brazil when they apply; others apply from their home country at a Brazilian consulate. (Officially: “Residência” vs “Residência Prévia”.)
- Follow-up requests
- Before approving, officials can ask for more documents or clarification. We show the average per application, a low number means the process usually ran smoothly, with most people asked for nothing or just one thing. (Officially: “exigências”.)
- Processing time
- How long it took, from filing the application to the government publishing its decision.
- Business sector
- The kind of company the money went into, retail, real estate, technology, farming, and so on. (From Brazil's company registry, the “CNAE” code.)
- Company size
- The capital registered to the company, a rough sense of how big the investment was. Public records don't show each person's exact amount.
- Where this comes from
- Brazil publishes every residency decision in its official government gazette (the Diário Oficial da União). That, plus the immigration case system and the company registry, is our source.
The legal framework, briefly
None of this is informal. Every route rests on Brazil's Migration Law (Lei 13.445/2017) and a specific resolution of the National Immigration Council: RN 13/2017 for the company route and, in its article 3, the startup route; RN 36/2018 for the real-estate route.
From 2018 through June 2026 Brazil approved 2,792 individual investor-residency cases from 87 countries, Real Estate 1,138, Company 1,630, and just 24 via the startup route. Every figure is read from Brazil's official record (Diário Oficial da União, MigranteWeb, CNPJ registry). 2025 is the curated final year (516 approvals); other years are provisional pending review, and 2026 covers January–June. Dataset frozen 30 June 2026.
Approvals by year (2018–2026)
| Year | Total | Real Estate | Company | Startup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 158 | 0 | 157 | 1 |
| 2019 | 303 | 9 | 293 | 1 |
| 2020 | 187 | 27 | 158 | 2 |
| 2021 | 271 | 97 | 171 | 3 |
| 2022 | 299 | 144 | 148 | 7 |
| 2023 | 354 | 184 | 168 | 2 |
| 2024 | 446 | 264 | 180 | 2 |
| 2025 | 516 | 273 | 239 | 4 |
| 2026* | 249 | 138 | 109 | 2 |
Investor pathways (2018–2026)
| Pathway | Cases | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | 1138 | 41% |
| Company | 1630 | 58% |
| Startup | 24 | 1% |
Top countries of origin (2018–2026)
| Country | Cases | Share |
|---|---|---|
| France | 422 | 15% |
| China | 352 | 13% |
| Italy | 349 | 12% |
| United States | 341 | 12% |
| Germany | 243 | 9% |
| Portugal | 142 | 5% |
| Spain | 109 | 4% |
| United Kingdom | 105 | 4% |
| Switzerland | 78 | 3% |
| Belgium | 66 | 2% |
Explore: Foreign Investment in Brazil 2025: 516 Investor Visa Approvals, by Route and Country · Brazil Real Estate Residency Route 2018–2026 · Brazil Company Investment Residency 2018–2026 · Brazil Startup Investor Visa Data 2018–2026 · American investors in Brazil 2018–2026 · European Investors in Brazil 2018–2026 · Chinese Investors in Brazil 2018–2026 · Where Investors Settle Across Brazil, by State · Compare Brazil's Investor Residency Routes · Brazil investor-residency rankings 2018–2026 · Brazil Investor Residency: What the Terms Mean · Brazil Residency Eligibility Test · Methodology and Sources · Brazil Investor Residency 2018: 158 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2019: 303 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2020: 187 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2021: 271 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2022: 299 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2023: 354 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2024: 446 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2025: 516 Approvals by Route · Brazil Investor Residency 2026: 249 Approvals by Route
Interactive charts require JavaScript. Source: Diário Oficial da União (DOU) · MigranteWeb · CNPJ corporate registry. Full research report →