Born in Brazil: a passport for your child, residence for the parents

A passport is a right, not a permission. A visa can be refused or revoked; a citizenship your child acquires at birth belongs to them for life. Brazil is one of the countries that settles this most clearly: the rule sits in the Constitution, it sets no condition for the parents, and it moves your family forward twice over. Which other countries grant citizenship by place of birth is covered in Birth tourism. For you, four questions matter: what your child gets, how they keep both passports, how you can stay and when you become Brazilian yourselves.

Born in Brazil: is your child automatically Brazilian?

Yes, from the first breath. Article 12 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution distinguishes two groups of nationals: the natural-born, the brasileiros natos, and the naturalised, the naturalizados. Item I, letter a, contains the sentence that matters: natural-born Brazilians are all those born in the Federative Republic of Brazil, even if their parents are foreigners.

The Constitution makes only one exception: the child does not become Brazilian if the foreign parents are serving their own state. That means diplomats and other public servants in Brazil on behalf of their country. For everyone else: no residence on the parents' side, no residence permit, no minimum time in the country and no application. Whether you have lived in São Paulo for years or came to Florianópolis for the birth, your child is Brazilian.

The proof is the Brazilian birth certificate, the certidão de nascimento from the Registro Civil. How seriously the state takes this registration shows in Article 5(LXXVI) of the Constitution: registering a birth in the civil register is free of charge for those in need, as a constitutional right. With the birth certificate in hand, your child gets every other document, above all the passport.

Natural-born Brazilian: the strongest status Brazil knows

Being a natural-born Brazilian is more than a label. Article 12, paragraph 3, of the Constitution reserves certain offices exclusively for brasileiros natos: President and Vice President of the Republic, the presidents of both houses of Congress, justices of the Supremo Tribunal Federal, the diplomatic career, officers of the armed forces and the Minister of Defence. Naturalised Brazilians remain excluded. Your child therefore has the same status as any child of Brazilian parents.

A citizenship the state does not take back

Since Constitutional Amendment No. 131 of 2023, Article 12, paragraph 4, knows only two grounds for loss. The first concerns naturalised citizens alone, whose naturalisation a court annuls for fraud in the naturalisation procedure or for an attack on the constitutional order. The second is an express request of one's own to give it up, and even that only if the applicant does not become stateless as a result. For a child born in Brazil, this means: the citizenship stays for as long as they want to keep it. And even someone who renounces can, under paragraph 5, recover their original Brazilian nationality as provided by law.

Dual citizenship Brazil and Germany: your child keeps both

If your child has a German parent, they generally get the German passport regardless of where they are born. Section 4(1) of the German Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) provides that a child acquires German citizenship by birth if one parent is German. Brazilian citizenship is added at the same time. No authority in Brazil or Germany requires your child to choose at any point.

There is one deadline you should know. If the German parent was themselves born abroad after 31 December 1999 and lives there, the child acquires German citizenship under section 4(4) StAG only if registration of the birth in the German birth register is applied for within one year of the birth. To meet the deadline, it is enough for the application to reach the German embassy or consulate. How to get this done properly is set out in Born abroad: how your child also gets German citizenship.

Both legal systems allow dual citizenship today:

• Brazil: under Article 12, paragraph 4, of the Constitution, a Brazilian no longer loses their nationality by acquiring another one. Loss happens only at their own express request.
• Germany: section 25 StAG, which provided for the loss of German citizenship on voluntarily acquiring a foreign one, has been repealed. The grounds for loss are now listed exhaustively in section 17 StAG, and a foreign passport is no longer among them.

For your child, growing up between Rio and Germany, this means two full citizenships side by side, with no obligation to choose and no expiry date. Which documents you need after the birth, and in what order, is covered in Birth certificate, apostille, passport. One practical advantage: Brazil has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 August 2016, Germany since 1966. In Germany, the Brazilian birth certificate therefore only needs an apostille; no legalisation is required.

Applying for your child's Brazilian passport

In Brazil, the Polícia Federal issues the passport, the passaporte comum. The process is prepared online and ends with an appointment in person:

1. Fill in the form: the application starts online on the Polícia Federal website.
2. Pay the fee: the standard fee is currently R$257.25, payable by Pix, credit card or boleto.
3. Book the appointment: once payment has gone through, you book an appointment at a Polícia Federal office. That is also where you collect the passport later.
4. Attend in person: attending in person is mandatory, including for applicants under 18. Fingerprints and a facial image are taken on site.
5. Collect the passport: the passport is usually ready after 6-10 working days. Children under 16 come with a legal representative; for children under 12, the legal representative collects the passport with the child's original document.

If the passport is not collected within 90 days, it is cancelled and the fee is lost. So plan the collection before your flight home. If you later live in Germany again, Brazilian consulates issue passports for Brazilians abroad; gov.br has a separate service for this.

The order after the birth is therefore: birth certificate from the Registro Civil, Brazilian passport from the Polícia Federal, German documents through the German embassy or consulate. Plan the weeks after the birth this way and you will not lose a day.

Residence for the parents: family reunion through your Brazilian child

This is where Brazil becomes truly strong for families. Many birthright countries give something only to the child. Brazil also gives the parents a direct way into the country.

The 2017 Lei de Migração, Brazil's Migration Law, names family reunion, the reunião familiar, in Article 30(I)(i) as a ground of its own for a residence permit. Article 37 then says who receives it, and item II expressly names the foreigner who has a Brazilian child. No investment, no employment contract, no minimum income in the text of the law: the child is the reason.

Changing status in the country, without leaving

Article 30 expressly allows the residence permit for visitors too, provided they meet one of the legal grounds. So if you entered as visitors and your child has been born, you can apply for the residence permit from inside Brazil. How seriously Brazil takes the family shows in Article 30, paragraph 1: a final criminal conviction generally bars the residence permit, but in item III the law expressly exempts family reunion from that bar.

What the application costs and what you receive

You apply online with the Polícia Federal, followed by an appointment at the office. There you are registered with fingerprints and a photo and receive a registration number, the Registro Nacional Migratório, and the foreigner's ID card, the Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório. The government fees are currently:

For you as parents of a Brazilian child, the way into the country is open.

Applying for Brazilian citizenship: Brazilian yourself after one year

Residence is only the first step. The Lei de Migração knows four forms of naturalisation, and for parents the one that counts is ordinary naturalisation, the naturalização ordinária. Article 65 sets four requirements:

• Legal capacity under Brazilian law.
• Residence in Brazil of generally at least four years.
• Portuguese: you must be able to communicate in Portuguese, with your personal circumstances taken into account.
• Criminal record: no criminal conviction, or rehabilitation already granted.

Then comes the sentence that makes Brazil so strong for young families. Article 66 cuts the residence period to at least one year, and item II gives the reason: having a Brazilian child. One year instead of four, and for each parent who meets the other requirements. According to the Ministry of Justice, the count runs from the day your Residência por prazo indeterminado, that is permanent residence, begins until the day you apply.

After naturalisation, Article 72 requires you to register with the electoral courts within one year. For Germans, the route today carries no risk to their own passport: since section 25 StAG was repealed, acquiring Brazilian citizenship no longer costs you your German one. How Brazilian naturalisation works in detail, which proof to expect and which rules apply to naturalised Brazilians is set out in Brazil: citizenship by naturalisation. VidaLibrePlan also gives a detailed overview of the requirements and the Portuguese test in its article on Brazilian citizenship.

If you do not want to live in Brazil for a whole year

A year of genuine residence is a move, not a holiday. Many families want exactly that, because they love Brazil. Others want a second passport for themselves straight away, not only after the move. That is what citizenship by investment is for, and the two do not exclude each other: naturalisation is the better route in the end, and the investment buys you the time until then. How both routes work together is shown in CBI and naturalisation, and how birthright citizenship and an investment programme complement each other in Birth tourism or CBI; which programmes include spouses and children is under Family, and all programmes side by side are in the Comparison.

Military service and compulsory voting: what the Brazilian passport brings with it

A citizenship brings rights and a few duties. Parents ask about both, and the answers are more relaxed than the questions sound.

Military service: Article 143 of the Constitution makes military service compulsory as provided by law. Women and clergy are exempt in peacetime. Anyone who, in peacetime and after enlisting, invokes conscientious objection on religious, philosophical or political grounds is assigned alternative service by the armed forces. Your son's German passport stays safe: under section 28 StAG, a German loses German citizenship only if, on the basis of a voluntary commitment and without approval, they join the armed forces of another state whose citizenship they hold, and never while they are a minor. What German conscription means for dual citizens is covered in Conscription and a second passport.

Compulsory voting: under Article 14, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, voter registration and voting are compulsory for Brazilians from 18 and voluntary between 16 and 18. At 18, your child will have a vote in one of the largest democracies in the world.

Tax: if you move to Brazil with your Brazilian child, you should know the country's tax rules beforehand. What matters for families with several passports is covered under Tax.

The roadmap: from arrival to a second passport

Brazil rewards families who know the sequence. The order is clear, and each step builds on the one before.

Two points decide whether things run smoothly. First: when you enter, say openly why you are coming. A birth in Brazil is not a trick but a right Brazil gives every child born on its soil. Second: allow enough time after the birth. Birth certificate, apostille, Brazilian passport and, if you stay, the residence permit application take weeks, not days.

How to organise clinic, insurance and timeline for a birth abroad step by step is covered in Planning a birth abroad. The workbook Born in Latin America gives an overview of the birthright countries in the region; more countries with the same principle are in Uruguay, Paraguay, Panama, Peru and in the full list of birthright citizenship countries.

A passport for generations

Your child's Brazilian passport does not stop with your child. Article 12(I)(c) of the Constitution also makes children born abroad to a Brazilian father or mother natural-born Brazilians. All it takes is registration with a competent Brazilian authority, meaning the consulate. Alternatively, they move to Brazil and, once they come of age, declare that they wish to be Brazilian.

So if your child is born in Brazil and later has children of their own in Germany, one appointment at the Brazilian consulate is enough, and the grandchildren are natural-born Brazilians too, with every office under Article 12, paragraph 3, open to them. The passport you give your child at birth reaches one generation further.

Who a birth in Brazil is worth it for

Brazil suits families who want more than a stamp in their child's passport. The birth gives the child a citizenship with the strongest status Brazilian law knows, one they can lose only by their own choice and that passes on to the grandchildren. It gives the parents a right of residence through family reunion and, after just one year of permanent residence, the route to a Brazilian passport of their own. Hardly any other country links these three things so directly.

The plan is especially strong for:

• Families who want to go to South America anyway: if you are planning Brazil as a second home, the birth gives you the fastest route to residence and naturalisation that Brazilian law knows.
• Entrepreneurs with an eye on Latin America's largest market: a right of residence through the family, with no investment and no employment contract.
• Parents who think in generations: through the consulate, your child's Brazilian passport is also your grandchildren's passport.

A birth in Brazil is the passport you give your child at birth and, at the same time, your own ticket in. Plan early and you get the most out of both.

Frequently asked questions