Universidade Federal do Ceará

Work during study

A residence authorisation for study purposes (autorização de residência para fins de estudo) can be granted to an immigrant intending to attend a regular course, or to do a traineeship (estágio) or study/research exchange — an internship connected to the course of study is folded into the same study authorisation rather than needing a separate work permit. Article 146, §6 of the implementing regulation (Decree 9,199/2017) states the general work-during-study rule directly: paid activity is permitted to whoever holds this residence authorisation, provided it is compatible with the study course's own schedule, under the terms of the law in force — a qualitative 'compatible with your study hours' standard rather than a fixed numeric weekly-hours cap of the kind several other countries on StudyPath publish. The initial authorisation is granted for up to 1 year and can be renewed until the course is completed, on proof of enrolment and academic progress.

Route to permanent residence

Brazil's Migration Law framework does not describe a separate 'permanent residence' visa category the way several other countries on StudyPath do; instead, an ordinary residence authorisation is granted either for a fixed term or 'por prazo indeterminado' (for an indefinite/unlimited term) depending on the ground it is granted under — the study authorisation itself is always fixed-term. The implementing regulation is direct about what this means for a graduate's longer-term prospects: Article 221 states that, for the purpose of counting the residence periods required for ordinary and extraordinary naturalisation, only the periods during which the immigrant held residence in the country 'por prazo indeterminado' are counted — years spent on the fixed-term study authorisation do not advance that clock. A graduate's realistic route is therefore to move onto a work-based residence authorisation (with or without an employment contract, per Article 147 of the same Decree) and, from there, onto an indefinite-term residence status under whichever specific ground applies, before the naturalisation years described under citizenshipRoute begin to count.

Route to citizenship

Brazilian citizenship by naturalisation is governed by the Migration Law (Lei nº 13.445/2017) and granted exclusively by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Ordinary naturalisation (naturalização ordinária) is granted to someone who has civil legal capacity under Brazilian law, has resided in national territory for a minimum of 4 years (counted only from indefinite-term residence, per Article 221 — see residencyRoute), can communicate in Portuguese (assessed according to the applicant's own circumstances), and has no unspent criminal conviction. That 4-year minimum drops to just 1 year if the applicant has a Brazilian child, has a Brazilian spouse or partner they are not legally or de facto separated from, has rendered or could render relevant service to Brazil, or is recommended for their professional, scientific or artistic ability. Separately, extraordinary naturalisation is available after 15 uninterrupted years of residence in Brazil, regardless of nationality, with no criminal conviction, simply on request. Article 65's exhaustive list of ordinary-naturalisation conditions contains no requirement to renounce any other nationality, and Brazil's own rule on losing nationality (Article 75) confirms why: a naturalised citizen loses Brazilian nationality only following a final criminal conviction for activity harmful to the national interest — voluntarily acquiring or holding another country's nationality is not a ground for loss. Brazil does not require a naturalising foreigner to give up their original nationality.