Registering with the Polícia Federal: the RNM and CRNM card

If you hold a Brazilian temporary visa, you must request Polícia Federal registration within 90 days of entering Brazil. If your residence was approved inside Brazil, the deadline is 30 days from publication in the Diário Oficial. The card, called the CRNM, costs R$ 204.77 (about US$40, checked Oct 2026) and takes about 30 business days to produce.

This page covers anyone registering as a resident, including US and UK citizens. The registration duty in the Migration Law (art. 19) applies to temporary visa and residence holders, so visitors on a tourist stay fall outside it.

RNM and CRNM in plain words

Registration records your biographic data and biometrics, such as fingerprints, in the Polícia Federal system (Decree 9.199, art. 62). It is mandatory for every temporary visa holder and every person with a residence authorization (Migration Law, art. 19).

Registration gives you two things:

• RNM (Registro Nacional Migratório): your unique National Migration Registry number
• CRNM (Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório): the card that carries it

Older cards and guides use RNE, the Registro Nacional de Estrangeiro. The Migration Law renamed it the Registro Nacional Migratório (art. 117).

Who registers and the deadlines

Refugees, stateless people and asylum holders recognized by Brazil also register through the same Polícia Federal service.

Domestic workers must show their work card entry and eSocial registration. If they cannot, the Polícia Federal registers them and notifies the Ministry of Labor (art. 64, paragraph 2).

Fees

You pay through a GRU payment slip. The Polícia Federal residence service accepts PagTesouro payments by Pix, card, digital wallet or boleto. Conversions use US$1 = R$ 5.08 (checked Oct 2026).

If you cannot afford a fee or fine, you can file a declaration of economic hardship (Decree 9.199, art. 312, and Portaria 218/2018). The competent authority reviews it and can ask for supporting documents. A false declaration brings administrative, civil and criminal penalties.

Step by step

The Polícia Federal service has four steps:

1. Fill in the online form. Use the electronic form on the Polícia Federal site and pay the fee by GRU. It takes about 20 minutes.
2. Book an appointment online. Appointments are generally held at the Polícia Federal unit that covers your home address. Booking is free.
3. Attend in person. The unit takes your biometrics. Expect up to 30 minutes of waiting and about 30 minutes for the visit.
4. Collect the CRNM. Check online until the system says the card is ready, then collect it. Some units ask you to book a pickup slot.

Card production takes 30 business days on average after the visit. The service estimates up to 180 calendar days for the whole process.

Some people may use the nearest unit instead of the one for their address: people with disabilities, people aged 60 and over, pregnant or breastfeeding women, people carrying a baby, and obese people (Decree 9.199, art. 67).

Documents

For a temporary visa holder, the Polícia Federal asks for:

• The online application form
• A valid passport, or another document that proves identity and nationality under a treaty
• The original visa form
• Proof of payment of the CRNM fee, when applicable
• For a family reunification visa, the ID of the relative who sponsors you
• One recent 3x4 color photo on a white background, only if the biometric system is down

If the Ministry of Justice approved your residence inside Brazil, bring the Diário Oficial page that shows the approval instead of the visa form. Bring a birth, marriage or consular certificate if your passport does not show your parents’ names.

Documents issued abroad must follow Brazil’s legalization and translation rules. The Polícia Federal can ask for updated birth or marriage certificates if a record is in doubt. Giving false information is a crime under article 299 of the Penal Code.

While you wait for the card

Your registration receipt, with your passport, proves your status and keeps your rights for up to 180 days. The Polícia Federal can extend that period at no cost (Decree 9.199, art. 63). Those rights include health care, public education, access to justice, work and opening a bank account.

The decree allows the card to be issued in electronic form as well as on paper (art. 63). The CRNM itself is a physical card. A digital copy also exists: the Polícia Federal’s Carteira Digital do Migrante app carries the CRNM or the provisional registration document on your phone, for documents issued from May 2020. The digital document is valid across the national territory. Carry the physical card as well when you travel, open accounts or deal with officials, since some offices still ask for it.

If the Polícia Federal asks for more documents, it notifies you, preferably by electronic means, and publishes the notice on its site. If you do not reply within 30 days, it closes the request (art. 72).

How long the card lasts

• Temporary residence: the card expires on the same day as your residence authorization (Decree 9.199, art. 73).
• Indefinite residence: the card is valid for nine years from registration. It has no expiry if you are 60 or older at the expiry date, or have a disability (art. 74).

For a temporary visa holder, the residence period starts from the first entry after the visa was granted. For a residence approved inside Brazil, it starts from the date you asked to register (art. 73).

Renewal, lost cards and changes

You can request renewal up to 90 days before the card expires. Renewal is in person at a Polícia Federal unit in Brazil, before expiry.

• Temporary residents renew the residence authorization first, then register again.
• Indefinite residents use the CRNM replacement service.
• Lost or stolen card: request a second copy online. It carries the same name and expiry date.
• New address: you must keep your address and email up to date (art. 70). Updating your address is free.

An expired card brings no fine for indefinite residents. For temporary residents, a fine per day of delay may apply (Decree 9.199, art. 307, II), and deportation is possible if you do not regularize.

Fines for missing a deadline

The Migration Law sets the penalties (art. 109):

• Not registering within 90 days of entry: a fine
• Not registering within 30 days after a residence approval: a fine for each day of delay
• Staying past your authorized period: a fine for each day over, plus deportation if you do not leave or regularize

Fines for individuals run from R$ 100 to R$ 10,000 (about US$20 to US$1,970, checked Oct 2026) per infraction. The decree repeats these offenses as article 307, items III and IV, and articles 64 and 66 point to them. The Polícia Federal weighs your economic situation, any repeat offense and how serious the infraction is (Migration Law, art. 108; Decree 9.199, art. 301). The exact amounts for late registration are set in the annex to Polícia Federal Instrução Normativa 198/2021. For the per-day figures applied to overstays, see overstaying in Brazil.

Check before you go: if you are already past a deadline, go to the Polícia Federal unit as soon as you can and ask for the written fine calculation. Registering late costs less than not registering at all, since daily fines keep adding up.

You can challenge a fine through reconsideration or appeal (Decree 9.199, art. 308).

Children

Registration is individual (Decree 9.199, art. 61), so every child in the family needs their own registration and card. A person who lacks legal capacity, such as a child, applies through a legal representative, usually a parent.

Check before you go: when you book, ask the Polícia Federal unit (telephone 194) which parent must attend, whether your child gives biometrics and which documents it wants. Bring the child’s passport, visa form and birth certificate with apostille and translation, plus both parents’ IDs. Book the family’s appointments together where the system allows.

Practical tips

Appointment slots fill up in large cities, so plan around them.

• Book on arrival. In São Paulo, Rio and other big cities, the first free slot can be weeks away. Book in your first days in Brazil.
• Check the unit’s address. Some cities have more than one Polícia Federal unit, and migration services are not always at the airport office.
• Print everything. Bring printed copies of the online form, the GRU and its receipt, plus originals of your documents.
• Photograph the receipt. Keep a photo of your registration receipt on your phone until the card arrives.
• Get a CPF early. Many services ask for it alongside your registration. See how to get a CPF.

Before you go

Book your appointment in your first weeks in Brazil, well inside the deadline. Keep a copy of the visa form and your Diário Oficial page. Put your card expiry in your calendar with a reminder 90 days earlier. Route pages: work visa, student visa, digital nomad visa and every route.