Which Brazilian Documents to Apostille for Use in Portugal

In short: to be valid in Portugal, a Brazilian document generally needs an apostille from a notary's office in Brazil. The most requested are full-content (inteiro teor) birth and marriage certificates, the criminal record certificate and the diploma. Since they are in Portuguese, they do not need translation, but they have a validity period: request them close to the filing date.

The apostille is an official seal, with a QR code, that the notary's office adds to the document. It proves to the other country that the signature and the stamp are genuine. It is valid in the countries that have signed the Hague Apostille Convention, including Brazil and Portugal. The apostille does not check the content of the document: if there is an error in the certificate, the error remains.

This article answers three practical questions: which documents to apostille, in what order and how long each one "lasts". The general rules are on our page on apostille and document translation.

Checklist: which documents, for what

The list that counts is always the one from the entity that will receive the application. The table shows the Brazilian documents that appear most often in the official lists.

There are dedicated pages on the website on citizenship by marriage or stable union, recognition of diplomas and transcriptions (the registration, in one country, of an act performed in the other).

Birth and marriage certificates: ask for "inteiro teor"

At a Brazilian notary's office, there are two main types of certificate:

• Breve relato (short form): the standard certificate, with the basic data.
• Inteiro teor (full content): the complete copy of the record, with all later annotations, such as divorce or change of name. These annotations are called averbações.

For citizenship, the Portuguese Nationality Regulation requires full-copy certificates, made by photocopying the record, whenever possible (Art. 37(3)). In Brazil, this corresponds to the full-content (inteiro teor) certificate, which can be issued as a copy or in electronic format (Art. 19, § 1, of Law 6,015/1973). Other applications in Portugal also usually require the full-content certificate.

To request the full-content certificate, the notary's office requires a written request, with a notarized signature or a digital signature (such as gov.br), stating who is requesting it and why (Art. 117 of the CNJ National Code of Rules).

Before getting the apostille, check:

• whether names, dates and parents' names match the passport and the other certificates;
• whether the divorce, the new marriage or the change of name appear on the certificate;
• whether a marriage performed outside Brazil has already been registered in Brazil.

Example: on Maria's birth certificate, her mother appears as "Ana Souza"; on the marriage certificate, as "Ana de Souza". The apostille does not fix this. In general, the correction is made first in Brazil, through correction of the registry record.

Criminal records

The Federal Police criminal record certificate is issued online and is free of charge. According to the service on gov.br, it is valid for 90 days and is issued only in Portuguese. Three points to watch:

• Get an apostille. The MNE asks for the certificate with a Hague Apostille in the list of documents for residence visas. And AIMA warns that documents obtained online and without an apostille require an extra confirmation by the consulate (AIMA, recognition of documents).
• Leave it for last. Between issuing, apostilling and filing, 90 days go by quickly.
• Check the entity's validity period. Some set their own periods. What counts is what is on the application's list.

Example: João has a consulate appointment on November 20. If he gets the certificate in July, it will expire before that date. The safest approach is to issue it and get the apostille a few weeks before the appointment.

Diplomas and school transcripts

Brazilian diplomas and transcripts are in Portuguese and do not need translation in Portugal. What changes is the form of authentication:

• University: Ordinance 33/2019 (Portaria) requires a copy of the diploma "authenticated by the competent authorities", and each institution decides how. An apostille obtained in Brazil is the most common route.
• School (elementary and high school): the DGE, the Portuguese body that grants school equivalence, asks for documents with a Hague Apostille or legalized by the consulate.

According to the CNJ (Brazil's National Council of Justice), only public documents, or private documents whose signature has previously been notarized, can receive an apostille. For this reason, the diploma from a private university may need a notarized signature before the apostille. Ask the notary's office.

The CNJ electronic apostille

In Brazil, apostilles are issued by registered notary's offices, using the CNJ electronic system, with a digital signature (Art. 8 of CNJ Resolution 228/2016). In practice:

• A document that was born digital (for example, a digitally signed electronic certificate) can receive an apostille without printing, if the file is compatible with the system. The apostille is attached to the same file and delivered by email or on digital media (Art. 14 of the National Code of Rules).
• Online verification: the QR code and the apostille code allow the Portuguese authority to check the document on the CNJ validation page.
• One apostille per document, regardless of the number of pages (Art. 11).
• Time at the notary's office: five days at most (Art. 9).

Before sending a digital file, confirm whether the Portuguese entity accepts that format and through which channel. Some still ask for paper.

The apostille does not expire, the certificate does

According to the CNJ, the apostille has no expiration date, but it does not extend the validity of the document either. What counts is the date of the certificate. And that validity period is almost never set in Brazilian law: the receiving entity decides. Some periods with an official basis:

• Certificate of capacity to marry (a document stating that the person is free to marry): less than six months, unless the country of the bride or groom sets a different period (Art. 166 of the Civil Registry Code).
• Birth certificate for family reunification: one year, according to the AIMA FAQ.
• Federal Police criminal records: 90 days, according to gov.br.
• Statement from the Portuguese partner that the de facto union (the Portuguese stable union) continues, in a citizenship application: less than three months (Art. 14(4) of the Nationality Regulation).

What about the well-known six months for certificates at the IRN? The Nationality Regulation does not set a general validity period for Brazilian certificates. But the lists used in applications for citizenship by marriage usually ask for a marriage certificate issued less than six months earlier, as we note on our page on citizenship by marriage. The safe approach is to follow the application's list and get the certificates close to the filing date.

Translation: for Portugal, it is not needed

In Portugal, only documents in a foreign language need translation (Art. 49(8) of the Civil Registry Code; Art. 37(2) of the Nationality Regulation). Brazilian documents are in Portuguese and fall outside this rule.

Translation is only needed again if the document is not in Portuguese. Example: Pedro lived in the United States for three years and needs the criminal record certificate from there, which is in English. According to AIMA, the translation can be certified in Portugal by a notary, lawyer, solicitor or chamber of commerce, among others.

Step by step: in what order

1. Get the official list for your application (consulate, AIMA, IRN or educational institution) and note the validity period of each document.
2. Check the records: names, dates and annotations. Correct anything that is wrong first.
3. Request full-content certificates, preferably digital ones.
4. Get the apostille in Brazil, one apostille per document.
5. Leave the criminal records for last, because of the 90 days.
6. Organize the file with the date of each document visible and check everything again before the appointment.

Common mistakes

• Getting an apostille on the short-form certificate when the application requires the full-content one. You will need to get another certificate and pay for another apostille.
• Getting an apostille on a certified copy instead of the certificate. In that case, the apostille only confirms the notary's signature (Art. 9, § 3, of the National Code of Rules).
• Paying for a translation of a Brazilian document to use in Portugal.
• Getting everything too early and seeing the certificates expire before the appointment.
• Filing criminal records obtained online without an apostille, which may require confirmation at the consulate.
• Forgetting annotations: a divorce that has not been annotated makes the certificate show the wrong marital status.

• Portuguese Nationality Regulation — Decree-Law 237-A/2006, consolidated version (Arts. 14(3) and (4), and 37(2) and (3))
• Civil Registry Code (Arts. 49(8) and 166)
• Law 6,015/1973 — Public Registries Law (Art. 19, § 1)
• CNJ Provision 149/2023 — National Code of Rules (Arts. 9, 11, 14 and 117)
• CNJ Resolution 228/2016 (Art. 8 — electronic apostille system)
• CNJ — Frequently asked questions on the Hague Apostille (validity of the apostille; documents eligible for an apostille)
• CNJ — Apostille validation
• gov.br — Issue a criminal record certificate (Federal Police; valid for 90 days)
• MNE — National visas: supporting documents (residence)
• AIMA — Recognition of documents; Service Portal frequently asked questions
• Ordinance 33/2019 (recognition of foreign degrees)

Sene & Araújo Sociedade de Advogados team. Content prepared and reviewed by the firm's lawyers, admitted to the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and the Portuguese Bar Association (Ordem dos Advogados), with offices in São Paulo and Albufeira. The provisions cited were checked against the official sources listed above. Meet the team.