Guidance

Brazil: Knowledge Base profile

Published 25 March 2025

Version 7.0

About: Brazil

This document contains useful information about Brazil which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the guidance and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the guidance has factual errors then email the Guidance team

If you notice any formatting errors in this guidance (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the guidance then you can email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 7.0

• published for Home Office staff on 21 March 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This guidance has been updated with formatting changes.

Brazil: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Brazil.

Brazil follows the Hispanic naming convention which carries on the paternal and maternal family ties.

Names in Brazil consist of:

• a forename

• the father’s and mother’s surnames

When a male receives the same forenames and surnames of their father, the name can have a suffix of Filho (Son) or Junior. If it is the same as the grandfather, it can have the suffix of Neto (Grandson).

Change of name

After marriage both husband and wife can change their family names or add their partner’s family name to their own.

A name change because of a divorce must be agreed to by the courts.

Names can only be changed legally under specific circumstances if:

• an obvious written error is made while registering a child’s name

• a person, within 12 months of their 18th birthday requests to change their first name only

• a person’s name exposes them to ridicule

• a person is recognised publicly by another name, they can request a name change or addition. They must provide three testimonials

• a person is transgender and they change their name through a self-proclamation. Evidence of the self-proclamation is sufficient to evidence the name change

• a father’s paternity is recognised, the father’s surname can be added to the child’s surname

• a person is in a witness protection programme. This allows for changes of forename and family names

Names are allowed to be changed by the Notary Public:

• when a child is adopted. The child is entitled to receive the new parents’ surnames, the child’s forename can only be changed through a legal act

• after a couple become married

• after a couple enter into a civil union or partnership

All other name changes must take place by court order. A Brazil national overseas can sign a Power of Attorney for someone to represent them in Brazil to apply for a name change.

Name changes for adopted children cannot proceed without the Brazil Superior Court accepting the adoption first.

Brazil: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Brazil.

Dual nationality is recognised in Brazil.

Brazil nationals who have dual nationality can renounce their Brazil nationality. Brazil nationality can be reacquired after previously being renounced.

Brazil: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Brazil.

Legitimacy

Brazil does not recognise a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births. This means that all births are considered legitimate whether a child’s parents are married or not.

There may also be an acknowledgement of paternity through the courts, birth certificate, deed poll or will.

Parental responsibility

Parental responsibility is shared equally between both parents in Brazil. Where both parents have died, a guardian (usually a child’s relative) will be appointed.

Brazil: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoptions in Brazil.

Adoption is legal in Brazil.

Brazil: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Brazil.

Surrogacy is legal in Brazil.

Brazil: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Brazil.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Brazil and can be documented in their gender of choice.

Brazil: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about civil partnerships and marriage in Brazil.

Civil partnerships and same sex marriage are legal in Brazil.

If the marriage takes place outside of Brazil, the marriage must be registered at a Notary Public in Brazil or a Brazil consulate if overseas.

Brazil: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Brazil.

Registration for births, deaths and marriages is not centralised in Brazil, these must be registered locally where the event occurred.

Birth certificates

Children must be registered within 15 days of the birth or 45 days if the parents live more than 30km away from the nearest register office. Late registrations are allowed.

Where a child is born in hospital, the mother will receive a Declaração de Nascido Vivo (live birth) certificate, which confirms the parents’ names and that the child was born alive. However, this document cannot be accepted for HM Passport Office purposes. The parents must register the birth at the notary public’s office to receive a birth certificate.

The Declaração de Nascido Vivo is not needed if the child was not born in hospital. Instead, either parent or an authorised person needs to make a declaration in front of a notarial agent.

A child’s father can recognise paternity after the initial registration and a new birth certificate can be reissued with his name.

A new birth certificate must be issued if there is a mistake on the original certificate.

Regulations allow for an additional parent to be named on a birth certificate when someone is acknowledged as a socio-affective (based on affection and emotional bonds) father or mother of the child. In that case, after due process, the socio-affective father or mother can be included in the birth certificate, in addition to the biological parents.

Where it is not possible to determine who the biological parents are by the regular birth certificate it will be necessary to request a detailed certificate (certidão de nascimento de inteiro teor) issued by judicial authorisation in Brazil.

The Brazil authorities can provide copies of birth certificates for a fee (in a new format, which contains a digital QR code).

Marriage certificates

Brazil nationals married outside of Brazil are advised to register their marriage at the Brazil Embassy or Consulate in the country where the marriage took place. The embassy or consulate are able to grant a Brazil marriage certificate which will enable the couple to change their surname if they wish to do so.

Stable union declarations

In Brazil, a stable union declaration gives a couple some of the rights they would receive if they were married but does not replace a marriage certificate, or alter their marital status. The document is used to prove the couple live together continuously.

Stable union declarations are performed at a local register office.

Death certificates

Death certificates are issued for all deaths.

Identity documents

A local residence permit or identity card can be used to evidence a person’s identity in Brazil.