158 investors, one pathway: 2018 was the company-route year.

2018 is where the dataset begins — the first full year of approvals under RN 13/2017. Brazil published 158 investor-residency approvals, and virtually all of them came through a single door: the R$500,000 company route. This report analyzes every one of them — who invested, from where, and what it set up for the years that followed.

Source: Diário Oficial da União (DOU) · MigranteWeb · CNPJ corporate registry

Published: July 15th, 2026

Research: Daniel Atz & Suzana Vilela Caetano Castro

Part of the yearly Foreign Investment in Brazil series — all editions & the 2018–2026 dashboard →

Written By: Daniel Atz & Lauren Lowell

countries of origin

158

investor residency approvals in 2018

startup visa approval — the route's first

Explore every approval in the interactive dashboard →

The Three Pathways

Three pathways existed on paper. In 2018, only one was used.

Brazilian law offers foreign nationals three routes to residency by investment. They share an underlying legal framework but diverge sharply on cost, outcome — and who actually uses them.

Real Estate Investor

(RN 36/2018)

USD 190,000

≈BRL 1,000,000

Buy qualifying property in Brazil. Receive a 4-year temporary residency, then convert to permanent afterwords if you continue to meet the criteria.

0 approvals in 2018 — RN 36/2018 was published in November 2018; its first approvals came in 2019.

Company Investor

(RN 13/2017)

USD 95,000

≈BRL 500,000

Invest in a Brazilian company. Receive permanent residency immediately, provided capital stays active for three years.

157 approvals in 2018. 99% of the year — led by Italian and Chinese capital

Startup Investor

(RN 13/2017 ART 3)

USD 29,000

≈BRL 150,000

Invest in an innovative Brazilian startup. Receive permanent residency immediately — the same outcome as the BRL 500,000 company pathway, at less than a third the cost.

1 approval in 2018 — the route's first.

Approvals by pathway in 2018. Company-route registrations: São Paulo 54, Ceará 32, Rio Grande do Norte 19, Bahia 10 — real-estate approvals publish no state in the DOU.

Nationalities - All 3 Pathways

158 total investors. Two countries account for almost half.

Italy and China together represent 45% of all approvals. Italian capital spread across coastal ventures and small enterprises; Chinese investment concentrated in São Paulo commerce.

Europeans make up 58% of all approvals overall. The US accounts for 3%. China represents 21% — the origin pattern that defined the company route's early years.

Italy

38 investors

China

France

Spain

Portugal

Germany

United States

+ 18 other countries