Brazil Federal Police Registration: Deadlines, the CRNM Card, Renewals and Extensions

The short version

Point	Rule	Where
Deadline, temporary visa	90 days from entering Brazil	Decreto 9.199, art. 64
Deadline, residence granted in Brazil	30 days from publication of the decision	Decreto 9.199, art. 66
Where	Any unit serving immigrants (temporary visa); the unit for your area (residence granted in Brazil)	Decreto 9.199, art. 67
How	In person, by appointment; fingerprints and personal data are collected	Federal Police service page
Card fee	R$204.77	Federal Police service page
Official time estimate	Up to 180 calendar days for the whole service	Federal Police service page
Missed deadline	A fine; R$100 to R$10,000 for individuals	Decreto 9.199, arts. 301 and 307

This is general information as of November 3, 2026, read in the official texts on that date. Units differ in their scheduling, so follow your own unit's instructions. For how registration fits the whole move, see the hub: Moving to Brazil from the US.

What registration is

Registration with the Federal Police is the entry of your data into its system, with biographic and biometric identification (Decreto 9.199, art. 62). You receive a Registro Nacional Migratório (RNM) number and the Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório (CRNM), the card that carries it (art. 63). Each person registers individually (art. 61).

Your name and nationality are taken from your documents, preferably the passport (art. 69). You give your physical address and, if you have one, an email (art. 70). Other personal data not shown on your documents is recorded on your own declaration, and a false declaration has administrative, civil and criminal consequences (art. 71).

The two deadlines

• Temporary visa (for example the digital nomad visa): request registration within 90 days of entering Brazil (art. 64). Missing it is an infraction punished with a fine (art. 307, III).
• Residence granted inside Brazil (for example through MigranteWeb or a Federal Police residence request): request registration within 30 days of the publication of the decision (art. 66), which is made preferably by electronic means. Missing it brings a fine for each day of delay (art. 307, IV).

For an individual, fines run from R$100 to R$10,000 (art. 301, V), doubled and more for repeat infractions within 12 months (arts. 302 and 303).

The deadline is about requesting registration, not about receiving the card. The Federal Police service page (updated September 1, 2026) estimates the whole service at up to 180 calendar days, an estimate rather than a promise. Until the deadline runs out, your passport with a valid temporary visa proves your identity and lawful stay even before any card is issued (art. 65). Once you have applied, the Federal Police gives you a protocol while the card is pending, which secures your rights under the Migration Law (Portaria Interministerial 3/2018, art. 2, §1).

Where to register

Article 67 of the regulation distinguishes:

• Temporary-visa holders may register at any Federal Police unit that serves immigrants (I).
• Residence granted inside Brazil on a basis other than maritime work: at the unit that serves immigrants in the area where you are domiciled (II).
• People with disabilities, people aged 60 or over, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with a child in arms and some others may register at the unit nearest their home (§1).
• In exceptional cases, the Federal Police may allow another unit on a reasoned request (§2).

The gov.br service pages describe the general practice as the unit where you live, by appointment. The Federal Police publishes a table of its units, the cities each one serves, and an immigration email for each (2026 edition). For example, Florianópolis is served by the Santa Catarina Superintendency (SR/PF/SC).

What to bring

The core of the file is your passport with the visa (or the published residence decision), the online form, and the fee receipt. The US-specific trap is the birth certificate. The Chicago consulate says that for registration you should expect to present the visa application form issued with the visa and your original birth certificate showing your parents' full names, apostilled in the US and then translated by a sworn translator in Brazil. It also says the FBI check must be apostilled for registration. Order those documents before you fly.

If the Federal Police asks for corrections or more documents, you have 30 days to provide them (Portaria Interministerial 3/2018, art. 2, §2); if you do not, the request is closed, though documents still valid can be reused (art. 3). Notifications go to your email and are published on the Federal Police website, and the deadline counts from the website publication (art. 5, §3). A refusal can be appealed within 10 days of notice (Decreto 9.199, art. 134).

How long the card lasts

• The card shows your residence term (art. 73).
• On a temporary visa, the term starts on your first entry after the visa was granted (§1); for a residence granted in Brazil, on the date you requested registration (§2).
• For a temporary residence, the card expires with the residence (§4).
• For an indefinite-term residence, the card is valid for nine years from registration, and has no expiry if the holder turned 60 by the expiry date or is a person with a disability (art. 74).

Changes, replacements and lost cards

Situation	What to do	Fee
Marriage, stable union (união estável), divorce, a new nationality	Ask the Federal Police to update the registration; foreign documents must be legalized and translated (Decreto 9.199, art. 75)	R$204.77 for a new card
Other name changes	Only after a court decision (art. 76)
Data correction, or renewing a card classified as permanent	"Substituir Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório"	R$204.77
Lost, stolen or damaged card	"Solicitar 2ª via", with a police report for loss or theft	R$204.77

Material errors made by the Federal Police in the registration or the card are corrected on its own initiative (art. 77).

"Extending" your stay: three different things

People use "extension" for three procedures that work differently.

1. A visitor extending a visit

A visitor may ask the Federal Police to extend the stay by up to 90 days, within a total of 180 days in the migratory year, only if their country gives Brazilians reciprocal treatment, and before the original stay ends (Decreto 9.199, art. 20). The fee is R$110.44. Whether US visitors qualify is covered in Brazil Visa for US Citizens.

2. Renewing a temporary residence

A temporary residence is renewed under the rule that granted it, and the card follows. Examples:

• Digital nomad: renewal for an equal period is requested from the Ministry of Justice, with a copy of the CRNM and criminal record certificates for the time you lived in Brazil (Resolution 45, art. 6).
• Family reunion: renewal is a Federal Police procedure, with proof that the sponsor's residence was renewed (Portaria Interministerial 3/2018, Annex VII).
• Renewing a card classified as temporary goes through the Federal Police "Obter Autorização de Residência" service, which lists the R$168.13 processing fee and the R$204.77 card fee.

The regulation says renewing a residence term does not trigger the processing fee (art. 131, §3), so check which fees the service asks for in your case. Timing matters more than fees: requesting a new residence after the previous one expired brings the overstay fine (art. 130, §2).

3. Moving to an indefinite term

Some residences can be changed to an indefinite term at the end of the first period. Which ones, and when, is in Brazil Permanent Residency.

Myths checked against the text

• "The 90 days start when your card is ready." They start on the day you enter Brazil.
• "You must register in the city where you live." For a temporary-visa holder, the regulation allows any unit that serves immigrants; the domicile rule applies to residence granted in Brazil.
• "No card, no rights." The protocol you receive while the card is pending secures your rights under the Migration Law.

Where to go from here

• Your other first number, the CPF: CPF and RNM.
• Visitor stays and extensions: Brazil Visa for US Citizens.
• Turning residence into an indefinite stay: Brazil Permanent Residency.
• If you are arriving on the nomad visa, the Brazil Digital Nomad Visa Kit has a 90-day arrival timeline and document trackers to fill in yourself.