An unusual profile: already established in both countries
When our client first contacted us in June 2025, he was in Brazil, in João Pessoa, in the state of Paraíba, where his wife, a Brazilian citizen, has family and an established life. He is Dutch. For years, they had been regularly travelling back and forth between the Netherlands and Brazil, and they wanted to formalise their situation: obtain a long-term visa, or even permanent residency, so that he would no longer be subject to tourist restrictions every time he travelled.
His situation was straightforward: married to a Brazilian citizen, with the marriage celebrated in the Netherlands. A solid basis for a family reunification visa, but one that involves a process which, in Brazil, cannot be improvised.
At the same time, he was interested in real estate investment opportunities in Maceió: monthly payments, construction guarantees, and rental returns. Well-informed questions from someone who knows Brazil and is thinking long term. From the outset, it was clear that the visa would come first and that the real estate project would follow.
The starting point: having the Dutch marriage recognised in Brazil
A family reunification visa through marriage is not obtained simply by presenting a passport and a wedding ring. For a marriage celebrated abroad to be recognised by the Brazilian authorities, it must first be officially registered in Brazil. This requires a series of administrative steps before the visa application can even begin.
We coordinated the following procedures:
- Obtaining the marriage certificate and having it apostilled.
- Registering the certificate with a specific Cartório in Brazil.
- Then having the marriage officially transcribed at the competent Cartório.
Once these formalities were completed, the marriage was recognised under Brazilian law and could serve as the basis for the visa application.
Preparing the file: certificates, translations, and an international criminal record check
Alongside the marriage recognition process, the visa application required several additional documents from both spouses. Our Brazilian client gathered the Brazilian documents. Our Dutch client, for his part, had to provide, among other things, an international criminal record certificate.
A residence visa application in Brazil cannot be submitted remotely. It requires an in-person appointment with the Polícia Federal, the authority responsible for processing residency applications for foreign nationals.
Our client and his wife planned to be in João Pessoa in February 2026. We secured an appointment with the local Polícia Federal as soon as slots for that period became available online, which in Brazil may happen only a few days before the actual date. When the appointments were released at the end of January, Nieilly immediately booked a slot and proposed several alternatives to the Brazilian client, who worked in the morning and needed an afternoon appointment. The appointment was scheduled for 12 February 2026 at 2:00 p.m. at the Polícia Federal office in João Pessoa.
Before the appointment, our client had a predictable question: how would it work and what should he say? We explained the process and added one practical recommendation: not to voluntarily bring up his wife's specific administrative situation in Brazil, as it related to a separate matter and a different file.
The result: CNRM obtained within a few days
The appointment went smoothly and, a few days later, our client received a QR code by email. After scanning it, he discovered that his CNRM (Cadastro Nacional de Registro Migratório, Brazil’s permanent residence card) was active. The physical card would remain in João Pessoa and could be collected during their next stay.
The next step: real estate investment
Was that the end of the visa process? Not quite the end of the journey. In March 2026, we contacted our client again. Now that his administrative situation had been resolved, we returned to his original interest in investing in real estate in Maceió.
The conversation had started in June 2025, when he was asking questions about construction guarantees, interest rates, monthly off-plan payments, and the possible launch of a direct flight connection between Alagoas and Lisbon. Practical questions that reflected someone focused on genuine profitability rather than postcard images.
The discussion about the investment is ongoing.
What this case illustrates
This case highlights something essential about the way we work: we do not limit ourselves to a single aspect of a Brazilian project. A European married to a Brazilian who wants to settle in Brazil, or simply spend several months a year there freely, needs someone who understands not only Brazilian immigration law, but also the workings of the cartórios, the timelines of the Polícia Federal, and the administrative nuances that can delay or block an application if they are not anticipated.
Our role in this case was to guide the entire document preparation process from the Netherlands, successfully coordinate the residence application, brief our client before his appointment, and confirm the approval of his permanent residence status.
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