Limited liability Company (Sociedade Limitada/Ltda in Brazil) is the most common legal entity for foreigners starting in Brazil.
● Minimum Two Quotaholders (partners can be Foreigners, Brazilian, Individuals or Legal Organization)
● No minimum start-up capital (however with R$150k or R$600k capital you may apply for permanent visa)
● It takes 20-45 days, (from time properly prepared documents are ready)
● Company can be Formed Remotely (No need for Quotaholders/Partners to come to brazil)
In general, there is no minimum required for start-up capital, however, if you wish to apply for an investor/permanent visa for partner or company officer/administrator, you must invest a minimum of R$ 150K or R$ 600K. To obtain the visa, you will need to show/proof of capital, of at least this amount, in your Brazilian bank account.
No, in 1995 an amendment was passed in the Brazilian Constitution to amend the legal differences between foreign investments and domestic local investments. However, there are still some formal requirements that must be fulfilled in order to complete the registration process for your company. Things like:
● Document preparation (notarized and apostilled by Brazilian consulate).
● A Brazilian resident must be the legal representative for the foreign Quotaholders (partners need legal representative “Attorney-in-fact” temporarily till they obtain residency in Brazil)
“Any goods, machines and equipment coming into Brazil with no initial foreign currency expense, for the production of goods or services, as well as financial and monetary funds coming into Brazil to be invested in economic activities, provided that in both cases these assets belong to individuals or legal entities either domiciled or headquartered abroad.” (Law n. 4.131/62).
The visa allows a foreigner to live and work permanently in Brazil.
Of course, in fact you can take it back any time, even when it's in your legal entity’s bank account, you still have control over it to do whatever you want. However, if you already have an investor visa and your case is reviewed by the authorities after 2 years, they will find that you have repatriated the capital and will not renew your visa. In order to renew the visa, you need to keep the minimum investment amount in the country. Note that this does not include any profit generated from your investment in Brazil (e.g.
No, in order to fulfill the requirements for an investor visa, the money has to be transferred to the bank account of a Brazilian legal entity.
The investment will be put in the bank account of a legal entity set up by us and owned by you. From there, it can take almost any form you wish, as explained in the next question.
To become eligible for an investor visa a foreigner must invest R$ 500,000 in either an already existing Brazilian legal entity or in a new Brazilian legal entity. Therefore, they need to set up a company first, then wire in the capital (R$500,000) to the bank account of the legal entity and only then apply for the visa. We can take care of all of this on your behalf at Establish Brazil.
In order to maintain permanent residency status based on an investor visa, the main applicant only needs to visit Brazil once every 2 years. There is no minimum stay period other than that.