New regulation clarifies procedures for conversions of temporary work visas to permanent visas

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Justice published a new regulation (Depacho Conjunto nº 1) this week that clarifies procedures that must be followed for applications that were filed before Nov. 21 to convert a temporary work visa to a permanent visa. (Nov. 21, 2017, was the publication date of Decree nº 9.199, which gave the Ministry of Labor responsibility for these applications.)

What does the change mean? Effective immediately, applications that were filed before Nov. 21 seeking to convert from a temporary work visa to a permanent visa must be refiled with the Ministry of Labor. This is because of differences in the data systems between the Ministry of Justice (which previously handled these applications) and the Ministry of Labor.

• Implementation time frame: Immediate.
• Visas/permits affected: Temporary work visas (under Normative Resolution 99) and residence authorizations.
• Who is affected: Applicants changing from temporary work visas to permanent visas.
• Business impact: Businesses should provide new residence authorization applications for their employees according to the requirements of the new normative resolution. New government fees will not be charged.

BAL Analysis: The additional regulation clarifies procedures for applications that were not processed because of unforeseen compatibility issues with the ministries’ data systems when Brazil’s New Immigration Law was passed.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group in Brazil. For additional information, please contact brazil@bal.com.

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