%20(1).avif)
Ready To Start Your Journey to Brazil?
Begin your path to Brazilian residency with expert guidance, vetted opportunities, and a transparent step-by-step process.
Foreign Investment in Brazil: 2022 | A StartBrazil Research Report
In 2022, real estate pulled even with company investment for the first time.
Brazil published 299 investor-residency approvals in 2022, back at pre-pandemic volume. For the first time, the real-estate route (144 approvals) statistically tied the company route (148) — four years after producing zero. This report analyzes every one of them — who invested, from where, and what it set up for the years that followed.
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
40
countries of origin
299
investor residency approvals in 2022
7
startup visa approvals — more than 2018–2021 combined
The Three Pathways
2022: real estate pulled even with the company route.
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.
144 approvals in 2022 — statistical parity with the company route, four years after producing zero.
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.
148 approvals in 2022. 49.5% of the year — the first year the route fell below half
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.
7 approvals in 2022 — the route's best year until 2025.
Nationalities - All 3 Pathways
299 total investors. The most even top five of any year.
France, the United States, Italy, and Germany together represent 53% of all approvals — the most even distribution among the leaders of any year. No single country broke 18% of the total; Germany's 35 was its strongest year to that point.
Europeans make up 66% of all approvals overall. The US accounts for 12%. China represents 5% — peak Europe: the highest European concentration in the dataset.
France
51 investors
United States
37
Italy
36
Germany
35
Portugal
23
China
15
Switzerland
12
+ 33 other countries
.png)
