Entry rules for South Americans: ID cards, passports and minors

Nationals of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela can enter Brazil with a national identity card instead of a passport. Brazil’s visa chart, updated April 8, 2025, gives most of them up to 90 days without a visa, and Venezuelans up to 60 days. Children need an accepted document of their own, and their home country sets the exit permit rules.

This page covers South American nationals entering Brazil as visitors. US and UK readers will find their rules on the US e-visa and UK visa pages.

The legal basis

Brazil accepts South American ID cards because a Mercosur treaty allows it. Brazil’s Migration Law lists the travel documents it accepts. One of them is “a civil identity document or equivalent foreign document, when admitted by treaty” (Lei 13.445, art. 5, VII). For South Americans, that treaty is Mercosur’s agreement on travel documents.

The first version was Decision CMC 18/08, adopted on June 30, 2008. A newer Agreement on Travel and Return Documents, approved by Decision CMC 46/15, was signed in Asunción on December 21, 2015. Brazil’s Foreign Ministry published its text in the Diário Oficial on April 16, 2018. Its article 11 says the earlier agreement lapses once every state that signed it has joined the new one. The Mercosur Citizenship Statute (June 2025 edition) lists the 2015 agreement as in force. Colombia joined it on March 5, 2026.

Mercosur updated its travel-document rules again in 2026 with Decision CMC 10/2026. One change adds Brazil’s new national identity card (CIN) to the accepted documents for Brazilians. These updates can also change which cards other nationalities may use.

Check before you go: before you travel on an ID card, confirm the current list with your own country’s migration service or a Brazilian consulate. If in doubt, carry your passport as well.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry publishes the result in its general visa chart, the Quadro Geral de Regime de Vistos (QGRV). A ”#” next to a country means its nationals may enter with a civil identity card.

Which document works, country by country

The table shows the documents each nationality can use, and the visa-free stay Brazil allows. Stay lengths and the ID-card mark follow the QGRV of April 8, 2025.

The agreement also lists documents for foreign residents, such as Peru’s carné de extranjería and Colombia’s cédula de extranjería. Article 2 of the 2015 agreement lets a foreign resident travel on that card only if their own nationality needs no consular visa for the destination. Otherwise they must use the passport of their nationality and a visa.

Under both agreements, the issuing country sets each document’s validity. A document with no expiry date counts as valid with no time limit. Carry a document that is in date anyway, because airlines and border officers check it. A cracked, faded or laminated-over card can be refused even if it is legally valid.

Notes for each country

Each country issues its own card, and small details decide whether it works. Read the line for your nationality before you pack.

Argentina. Since November 1, 2016, the Cancillería accepts three documents for travel to Mercosur and associated states. They are the DNI card in any version, the light-blue booklet DNI if it was not made by hand, and the passport. Green or burgundy handwritten booklets are not valid to leave the country.

Peru. Peruvians can travel with a DNI to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay for tourism. Migraciones recommends checking the DNI’s validity and condition before you plan the trip.

Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay. The national cédula works under the Mercosur agreement and the QGRV. Each issuing country sets how long its card stays valid, so carry one that is in date and undamaged.

Colombia. The cédula de ciudadanía works for adults, and the tarjeta de identidad for minors. Colombia joined the 2015 agreement in March 2026, so airline staff may still ask questions. Carry your passport too if you have one.

Venezuela. The QGRV allows 60 days and accepts the cédula. It also treats Venezuelan passports as valid for 5 years after the printed expiry date.

Guyana and Suriname. Use a passport. Both get 90 days without a visa.

How long you can stay

Most South Americans get 90 days per visit, and Venezuelans 60. The QGRV code “4” means visa waived for up to 90 days. The stay rule itself is in Decreto 9.199, article 20. The Polícia Federal can extend a visit by up to 90 days. The total cannot pass 180 days in each migratory year.

Three conditions apply to an extension:

• You apply before your current stay ends (art. 20, para. 4).
• Your country gives Brazilians the same treatment (art. 20, para. 2). The gov.br “Prorrogar estada no Brasil” service accepts the ID card of Mercosur and associated-state citizens for the request, and refers to the QGRV for which countries can extend.
• Each time you leave Brazil, the count pauses (art. 20, para. 1).

The steps and fee are on how to extend your stay in Brazil.

If you stay past your limit, the Migration Law sets a fine for each day of excess (art. 109, II). Individual fines range from R$ 100 to R$ 10,000 per infraction (art. 108), about US$20 to US$1,970 (checked Oct 2026). Details are on overstaying in Brazil.

A visit does not allow you to live or work in Brazil long term. For that, nationals of the eight agreement countries can use Mercosur residency.

Proof of entry when you travel on an ID card

The Polícia Federal runs migration control at Brazil’s entry and exit points (Lei 13.445, art. 38). Passport holders get an entry stamp and an exit stamp. Make sure the officer stamps your passport, because a missing entry stamp can bring a fine when you leave.

An ID card has no page to stamp, so your entry is recorded in the Polícia Federal’s system instead. The Polícia Federal’s free Certidão de Movimentos Migratórios lists the entries and exits it recorded since 2007. You request it on gov.br with a Prata or Ouro account.

Check before you go: at your entry point, ask the Polícia Federal officer what record of entry you will receive on an ID card. Ask the same desk whether you can request the certidão online with a foreign ID card. Keep your bus or plane ticket until you leave Brazil, as backup proof of your entry date.

Children and teenagers

Every child needs an accepted travel document of their own, plus any exit permit their home country requires. Brazil’s own permit rule, CNJ Resolution 131 of May 26, 2011, covers Brazilian children and teenagers. It applies to dual nationals too. A child with a Brazilian parent may hold Brazilian nationality, so check that first.

For children who are not Brazilian, Brazilian law does not clearly require parental authorization. Even so, the Polícia Federal has sometimes delayed travel when both parents had not consented. Carry written authorization from any parent who is not traveling. The Migration Law allows exceptional admission of a child traveling without a legal guardian or written authorization, and refers the case at once to the Conselho Tutelar, the local child protection council (Lei 13.445, art. 40, V).

Your home country’s exit rules come first:

• Argentina. Argentine minors, and foreign minors who live in Argentina, need authorization from both parents to travel abroad. With one parent, Migraciones asks for a travel permit from the other parent. Alone or with a third party, it asks for a permit signed by both. With both parents, it asks for proof of the relationship, such as the birth certificate.
• Chile. The PDI requires a travel authorization for minors under 18. When one parent does not travel, that parent signs an authorization before a notary or a Chilean consul. Every minor travels with the original birth certificate.
• Uruguay. A minor leaving without both parents needs a permit from the parents, checked by the Dirección Nacional de Migración. No permit is needed with both parents, or when the child holds an ordinary Uruguayan passport.
• Peru. When a child travels with one parent, Migraciones requires a permit from the absent parent. It is signed before a Peruvian notary or consul. For migration control, the permit lasts 90 days from issue and covers a single trip. No permit is needed when both parents travel with the child.
• Colombia. A minor needs a permit from the parent or parents who do not travel. In Colombia it is made before a notary or a consular authority, and a family judge decides when the parents disagree. The ICBF handles these cases.
• Ecuador. A minor traveling with one parent, alone or with a third party needs authorization from the parent who stays, given by a notary, a judge or a consul. Both parents traveling need none. The process is done in person.
• Paraguay. One parent traveling needs the other parent’s authorization, generally processed before a Juzgado de Paz. A third party needs authorization from both parents. An apostille is needed to cross into Argentina or Brazil.
• Bolivia. A minor traveling abroad alone or with one parent gets the permit through the platforms of the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia. Ask Migración Bolivia for the current steps and how long the permit lasts before you book.
• Venezuela. Ask SAIME for the current exit permit rule for minors well before the trip, since the process can take time.

Each child needs an accepted document. Argentina’s rule on handwritten DNIs applies to minors’ DNIs too. When a child travels without one or both parents, carry the child’s original or notarized birth certificate. More detail is on minors traveling to Brazil.

Practical tips for the border

Most problems at the border come from worn documents and missing permits. A few habits avoid them.

• Check the card itself. Peeling lamination, a broken chip or an unreadable photo can get a card refused. Use your passport if the card is in poor shape.
• Use the same document both ways. Leave Brazil on the document you entered with, so your entry and exit records match.
• Carry copies. Keep a photo of your ID card, passport and any child permits on your phone.
• Flying? Airlines check documents at check-in. Tell the agent you are traveling on a Mercosur ID card if they seem unsure.
• Driving or taking a bus? Stop at the Polícia Federal post at the border even if nobody waves you over. Entering without being recorded causes problems later.

Before you travel

1. Check that your ID card or passport is valid and undamaged.
2. Confirm your nationality has the ”#” mark in the QGRV if you plan to use an ID card.
3. Count your days: 90 at most per visit (60 for Venezuelans), 180 per migratory year.
4. For a child, get the exit permit your country requires and carry the birth certificate.
5. Keep your ticket and any entry record until you leave Brazil.

If you arrive by road or river, read crossing into Brazil by land for the border posts. To stay longer than a visit allows, start with Mercosur residency, then check registering with the Polícia Federal.