Brazil now issues temporary visas by email, and applicants keep their passports

Brazil has stopped putting temporary visa stickers in the passports of people who do not need a visa to visit in the first place. From 1 September 2026, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues temporary visas — the VITEM family, which covers study, work, family reunion, investment, research, religious work and the digital nomad route — in electronic form to nationals of countries exempt from Brazil's visitor visa requirement. Applications are filed through the Sistema Consular Integrado, the ministry's online consular platform, with documents uploaded rather than delivered. The ministry states that there is no need to submit physical documents or the applicant's passport, and that an approved visa is sent automatically to the email address given on the form. Your passport stays with you while the file is processed.

Background

Brazil separates two things that are easy to confuse. A VIVIS is the visitor visa, and dozens of countries are exempt from it — most of Western Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and much of Latin America can turn up for tourism or business without applying for anything. A VITEM is a temporary visa for a purpose other than visiting, and exemption from the first does not carry over to the second. So a German engineer taking a job in São Paulo, a Portuguese national joining a spouse in Recife, or a Spanish freelancer applying for the digital nomad visa all had to go through a consulate in person even though they could have flown in as tourists that same week. That meant an appointment, physical documents and leaving the passport at the consulate while a sticker was printed and glued in. The ministry has now moved the issuance step online for exactly this group.

What exactly changed

The change is narrow, and its edges matter. What moves online is the consular issuance stage: the application is created in the Sistema Consular Integrado, supporting documents are uploaded there, no physical paperwork or passport is handed over, and the authorised visa arrives by email. Everything on either side of that step is unchanged. The documentary requirements are the same — the same evidence, uploaded instead of delivered, with no change to authentication, translation, signature, photograph or fee rules. Where a work visa needs prior residence authorisation from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security before the consulate can act, the employer in Brazil still has to obtain it first. And the electronic visa has to be printed and carried, both for the flight and for the registration appointment with the Federal Police that temporary visa holders complete after arrival. The MRE notice is dated 28 August 2026 and sets the start date at 1 September.

Who this reaches

The people who gain most are the ones for whom a passport is a working document. A British consultant with client travel booked through the autumn no longer has to choose between a Brazilian visa appointment and a trip abroad. A Japanese researcher taking a two-year post in Belo Horizonte can file from home rather than travelling to a consulate city. A Spanish or Italian remote worker applying for the digital nomad visa, VITEM XIV, files entirely online. Families feel it most: a household of four previously surrendered four passports at once. It is also worth saying who this does not reach. Nationals who need a visitor visa for Brazil are outside the measure, and that includes US, Canadian and Australian citizens, whose visa exemption ended on 10 April 2025.

What to do about it now

Check your consulate's own page before assuming the new process is live. Coverage on 2 September found that most Brazilian consular posts had not yet updated their public guidance and were still describing in-person submission, and Newland Chase reported on 1 September that electronic issuance was not yet available through the designated portal at every post. That is a rollout gap rather than a contradiction of the rule, but it decides how you should act this month: confirm the procedure with the post that will handle your file, and do not cancel travel on the assumption that your passport is free. If you already have an application in progress, ask the post how it will be finished, since the notice does not address files opened before 1 September. Our Brazil country guide (/country-guides/brazil) covers the residence and registration steps that follow arrival, which this change does not touch.