Guidance

Notarial and documentary services guide for Brazil

Documents, certificates, letters and notes available from British consulates in Brazil.

From:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
8 July 2013
Last updated
3 October 2023 — See all updates

Overview

The British consulates in Brazil can provide a range of notarial and documentary services for British nationals. Where local notaries can provide services, the British consulates will not provide them. In many cases local notaries or lawyers can provide services more cheaply, quickly and conveniently.

The services we do provide are available at the British Embassy in Brasília, British Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro and British Consulate General in São Paulo. You must make an appointment for each service that requires your personal attendance.

Before booking, make sure you have selected the correct service and that the document will be accepted by the relevant authority. This could be the local town hall, registry office, tax authorities, immigration office or another authority either in Brazil, the UK or a third country.

Services we provide in Brazil

Consular staff in Brazil can:

  • administer an oath, affirmation or affidavit (only in relation to marriage)

  • certify copy of a British Passport

For information about documents relating to marriage, such as a certificate of no impediment (CNI) and affirmations or affidavits of marital status, see getting married abroad.

If you can’t find the service you are looking for on this page, see other services provided by the British embassy in Brazil.

What to bring to your appointment

See the individual services below for details of supporting documents to bring. Make sure you have acceptable proof of identity, and payment for any fees. See the full list of consular fees.

Payment

We accept payment by credit card by Visa or MasterCard in sterling. Fees cannot be refunded if the service you have request is incorrect or the document provided is not accepted to the requested authority.

Once appointment is confirmed an email with payment instructions will be sent.

Proof of identity

For all appointments for notarial services, you will need to bring acceptable proof of your identity. We accept passports or national identity cards as proof of identity.

Administer an oath, affirmation or affidavit

The only type of oath/affirmation service offered at the British diplomatic missions in Brazil is for British nationals who would like to get married in Brazil. This service does not allow you to affirm that you are already married and if you are already married this service is not available to you.

To get married in Brazil you may need to make an affirmation or affidavit of marital status. We recommend you speak to your notary before booking the appointment. See getting married abroad to find out what you need to do.

For marriage affirmations, see the standardized template. For other types of oath/affirmations bring your own document. The Consulate cannot draft documents for you.

Important: Please do not sign the document before attending your appointment.

What you will need to bring with you:

Make a certified copy of a British passport

This service is for customers who need certified photocopies of British passports.

What you will need to bring with you:

Services provided elsewhere

  • we no longer witness life certificates for British nationals claiming a British pension abroad. Please refer to the list of people working in a recognised profession who can do this for you.
  • we no longer provide Consular Certificates (“Certidão de Inscrição Consular”). Please refer to this informative note.
  • we no longer issue Notices of Marriage and Certificates of Non Impediment. Please refer to the announcement.
  • we no longer legalise documents issued in Brazil to be used in the UK. Please refer to the announcement for the new process adopted by the Brazilian government.
  • we no longer provide certified copies of UK educational certificates or UK driver’s licenses. Please refer to the legalisation office.

Informative notes

You can download the following free of charge:

If you require a signed and stamped version of the above mentioned documents, please be aware that Fee 2i will be charged for documents issued in English, and Fee 2ii for documents in Portuguese.

Data protection

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office holds and uses data for purposes notified to the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998. Such personal data may be disclosed to other UK government departments and public authorities.

Disclaimer

This information is provided as a general guide and is based upon information provided to the embassy / consulate by the relevant authorities and may be subject to change at any time with little or no notice. Accordingly the FCDO and the British embassy / consulate will not be liable for any inaccuracies in this information. For all notarial and legalisation services it is the responsibility of the customer to ascertain the precise requirements of the person requesting the notarial or legalisation service and to satisfy themselves that the service provided by the embassy/consulate will be accepted.

Published 8 July 2013
Last updated 3 October 2023 + show all updates

  1. More assertive wording explaining the "oath/affirmations and affidavits" service.

  2. Oath/affirmation: added more clear wording stating that the service is only available for British nationals planning to get married in Brazil, and people that are already married cannot request this service.

  3. Updated the services provided.

  4. Added: • informative note about matrimonial property • informative note about name discrepancy on British documents

  5. Removed notarial services from Recife

  6. Update on legalisation

  7. Update on legalisation in Brazil

  8. CABs update.

  9. Clickbook information update.

  10. Annoucement added.

  11. Announcement about centralization of notarial and legalization services added.

  12. First published.

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