How to Renew a Brazilian Passport: Documents, Fees, and e-Consular

To renew a Brazilian passport from outside Brazil, you complete an online application on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) website, gather your old passport and proof that you’re current on military and voting obligations, submit everything to the Brazilian consulate with jurisdiction over your address, and pay the consular fee. An adult common passport is valid for ten years when you hand in your previous passport, and four years if that passport was lost or stolen.¹

Find the Consulate That Covers Your Address

Every Brazilian consulate abroad has a defined geographic jurisdiction, and you can only apply at the one responsible for your current residential address. An application filed at the wrong post is rejected. The Itamaraty website has a directory that returns the correct office when you enter your address, and the e-Consular platform will only display the consulate that serves the country and area you select.²

Fill Out the RER Online First

Before you print anything or book anything, complete the digital application on the Itamaraty site. Submitting it generates the Application Delivery Receipt, known by its Portuguese initials as the RER (Recibo de Entrega de Requerimento). The RER confirms your data is in the system and works as the cover sheet for your file.³ Print it and sign it before your appointment.

Documents to Gather

With the signed RER in hand, put together the following originals:

Your previous passport, even if expired. Presenting it is what qualifies you for the full ten-year validity. If you want the canceled passport back, ask the consulate to return it.
Proof of Brazilian nationality: a Brazilian identity card (RG), a Brazilian birth certificate, or, if you were born abroad and registered at a consulate, the Consular Certificate of Birth.⁴
One recent color passport photo, 5×7 cm, with a white background, showing head and shoulders from the front, with no borders on the upper or lower edges.⁴
Name-change documentation if your legal name is different from the one on the previous passport, whether from marriage, divorce, or a court order.

Clear Your Military and Electoral Obligations Before You Apply

Brazil ties passport issuance to two civic duties. Failing either one blocks the renewal, and these are the requirements that most often derail a straightforward application.

Military Service (Men 18 to 45)

Brazilian men between 18 and 45 must prove they are in good standing with military service. Acceptable proof is a Military Enlistment Certificate (Certificado de Alistamento Militar, CAM), a Certificate of Exemption from Incorporation (CDI), or a Certificate of Military Service (Certificado de Reservista). If you never enlisted because you were already living abroad, the consulate can process the enlistment for you, but that has to happen before your passport appointment, not during it.⁵

Electoral Status (Citizens 18 to 70)

Voting is mandatory for Brazilian citizens between 18 and 70, and optional for those 16 to 17 and over 70.⁶ To renew a passport, you have to be current on electoral obligations. The simplest proof is an Electoral Discharge Certificate (Certidão de Quitação Eleitoral), which you generate online through the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) website. If you missed elections without formally justifying your absence, you will have outstanding fines, and the TSE will not release the certificate until they are paid.

People who have been abroad for years often discover they have several missed elections on their record. Check your electoral status early. Clearing fines and justifications takes time, and the consulate will not process a passport without the certificate.

Book and Attend Through e-Consular

Most consulates use the e-Consular platform to pre-screen documents before releasing appointment slots. You upload digital copies of the signed RER, your photo, your identity documents, and your civic-obligation proofs. Consular staff review the uploads, and only after they validate them can you pick a date.⁷

Validation is not instant. Plan on up to ten business days for the confirmation email, longer in unusual cases. Walk-ins and phone scheduling are not options at posts that use e-Consular. Not every consulate worldwide has adopted the platform; if yours hasn’t, you’ll be sent to its own website for instructions.²

At the in-person appointment, bring all the originals. Uploading copies doesn’t replace presenting them; it just keeps you from arriving with something missing. Staff will verify your identity and take biometrics, including fingerprints and a digital photo.⁷

Some consulates also offer a mail-in option, typically requiring a trackable outbound shipment and a pre-paid, self-addressed return envelope. In the United States, that return envelope is usually a USPS Priority Mail or Priority Express flat-rate. Whether mail-in is available at all depends on the post.

Fees, Payment, and Processing Time

The consular fee for an adult common passport at Brazilian consulates in the United States is US$120.⁸ In other countries, the fee is set in the local currency equivalent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so the amount depends on where you apply. Confirm the current figure with your consulate before your appointment.

Accepted payment methods are strictly limited. Most consulates do not take cash, personal checks, or credit cards. In the United States, payment is by USPS money order made payable to the Consulate General of Brazil. Confirm the accepted instrument with your consulate before buying anything.

Processing after submission and payment runs roughly 10 to 15 business days, though it varies with each post’s workload.³ Brazilian consulates do not offer an expedited or rush service. If you need to travel before the new passport is ready, the emergency travel document described below is likely the only route.

Collection procedures depend on the consulate. Some hand the passport over in person; others mail it back in the return envelope you provided at submission.

If Your Old Passport Was Lost or Stolen

The renewal still works, with two differences. First, in place of the old passport you submit a police report from the jurisdiction where the loss or theft happened, along with a signed declaration of loss form supplied by the consulate.⁹

Second, the validity of the new passport is cut. Instead of ten years, you receive four.¹ The penalty escalates with repeat incidents: a second loss cuts validity to two years, a third to one year, and a fourth to seven months. Repeated losses can eventually prevent a new passport being issued at all.¹⁰ The consular fee is the same regardless of the reduced validity.

Renewing a Child’s Passport

Passports for children under 18 follow the same general process, with added parental consent requirements and shorter validity periods.

Parental Consent

Both parents must sign a Consent Form for Minors authorizing the passport, regardless of custody arrangement. If both attend the appointment together, they bring the form unsigned and sign it in front of consular staff. If one parent cannot attend, that parent’s signature must be notarized by a notary public and then authenticated with an apostille from the appropriate authority (in the United States, the Secretary of State or County Clerk). If the absent parent is in Brazil, the signature is notarized at a Brazilian notary office (Cartório).¹¹

A court order giving one parent sole custody does not automatically remove the other parent’s signature requirement. Both signatures are still needed unless the ruling specifically exempts one parent from passport and travel authorizations.¹¹

Documents for a Minor

Along with the consent form, you need the child’s previous passport (if one exists), an original Brazilian birth certificate or Consular Certificate of Birth Abroad, and a passport photo in the same 5×7 cm format as for adults. A Brazilian parent signs the RER for the minor. Children born abroad who have not yet been registered at a Brazilian consulate need to complete birth registration before applying for a passport.¹¹

Validity by Age

Validity depends on the child’s age at the time of issue:¹²

Under 1 year old: 1 year
1 year old: 2 years
2 years old: 3 years
3 years old: 4 years
4 to 17 years old: 5 years

The lost-or-stolen penalty applies to minors as well: without the previous passport, the new one is issued with reduced validity.¹²

If You Have to Travel Before the Passport Is Ready

When you need to return to Brazil urgently and cannot complete a regular passport application in time, the consulate can issue an Authorization to Return to Brazil (Autorização de Retorno ao Brasil, ARB). It’s a single-use emergency travel document, issued free of charge, that covers one direct journey to Brazil.¹³

The ARB is valid only for the time needed to complete the trip, usually up to seven days, and consulates issue it at their discretion based on your circumstances. Some posts require the request at least 15 days before your travel date, so don’t leave it to the last minute.¹⁴ The ARB doesn’t replace a passport for later travel. Once you’re in Brazil, you’ll need to obtain a regular passport through the Federal Police before traveling internationally again.

1
Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Passport – Over 18 Years Old
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Sistema e-consular
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Passport
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Brazilian Passport
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Military Service
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Superior Electoral Court. Voters Abroad
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. e-Consular Frequently Asked Questions
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Taxas (Emolumentos) Consulares
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Lost or Stolen Passport
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Stolen, Lost or Damaged Passport
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Passports for Minors Under 18
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Passport – Under 18 Years Old
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Authorisation for Return to Brazil – ARB
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Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Return to Brazil Travel Authorization (ARB)