Golden Visa via Real Estate investment

@Sampa_Brooklin

I have helped a number of people with this visa, and know all about it. Please can you advise where the investments are, the value declared in the escritura for each, if there are other names in the escritura of the owners apart from your own, and what type of investment they are?

Hi Peter - my two properties are in São Paulo. One was one time cash purchase in 2019 (270K reias). The other one is in a new condo development for which I paid down payment in 2022 and made monthly payments until last year. The value at the time of the contract was 382K reais but the final ‘resumo financeiro’ has the value of 431K reais. However the escritura has the value 382K reais that was in the contract.

This means that to reach $1M reais threshold I am either short by:

1M - 270K - 382K = $348K reais

or

1M - 270K - 431K = $299K reais

I’m looking to invest the difference in another new development to be eligible for residency based on 1M  reais real estate investment.

What I am trying to find out Is that would the purchase contract for the third property be sufficient to apply for residency or do I have to wait another two years plus to get the escritura for 3rd property and then apply for residency?

I am the sole owner of both of my properties and there is no lien on mortgage on either.

Both escrituras are  in my name only. Everything is done by the book and all taxes (IPTU etc) were/are being paid on time and in full amount.

I have all the bank records of wire transfers from US banks to Brazil for both purchases.

@Sampa_Brooklin

A few guidelines for you:

1/ To qualify for the Golden Visa, investments must be into residential real estate - not commercial nor land.

2/ Only the value as recorded in the escrituras will qualify - any interest, fines, penalties, closing costs, notary or legal fees, etc are not considered. Total value must reach, or, preferably, exceed 1M (for Sao Paulo). So you are apparently short by R$350k+

3/ Funds must have been transferred through the Central Bank of Brazil (not the same as the Bank of Brazil), and a copy of all Exchange Contracts will be required showing the currency exchange and details. This is a relatively new requirement, but your bank or transfer house should have copies, and they should have given you a copy at the time anyway.

4/ You will be required to provide a recent Criminal Record, and other US documents.

5/ I am guessing you are looking at investing in an off-plan development as the 3rd one (hence the possible 2 year delay)? It is possible that this may qualify immediately (rather than after construction and escritura) if a substantial deposit has been paid, and many other documents supplied by yourself, the constructor and the banks. However this is much more complicated, and easier to present the escritura after construction.

6/ It is granted for an initial period of 4 years, then renewed indefinitely once proof has been shown that the investments continue, however this may vary with an off-plan investment if they want to verify you are making the payments.

7/ It is possible to sell and buy other investments during this period so long as the escritura on the new investments passes the 1M mark, and are available for presentation at renewal.

Hope this helps...!

@Peter Itamaraca

3/ Funds must have been transferred through the Central Bank of Brazil (not the same as the Bank of Brazil), and a copy of all Exchange Contracts will be required showing the currency exchange and details. This is a relatively new requirement, but your bank or transfer house should have copies, and they should have given you a copy at the time anyway.

In the past, I was told that the funds needed to be sent directly to the seller for the real estate golden visa.  For example, if I send the funds to the brazilian bank (e.g., Bradesco) of the seller and is converted, does that count as being transferred through the Central Bank of Brazil as the intermediary?

Peter thanks for the details. I have the same question as sfcastro. My payments were in US dollars from Fidelity brokerage to the sellers Itaú bank. My understanding is that any money in US dollars going from USA has to go through Brazil’s Central Bank before it can be deposited in any individual’s account in Brazil. The conversion happens on the Brazil side, not on the US side (at least in my case).

I do not know how it would be possible for me to contact the Brazil central bank and ask them for proof of payments and conversion rates since one of the property was paid off over two years through monthly boletos as it was a new condo development project. What is further complicating is that apart from the first 20% down payment and the last payment the smaller monthly payments over the course of two years were paid by a third (trusted) person on my behalf in São Paulo as I do not have a bank account to pay the Boletos. I would Wise transfer monthly payment to the 3rd person and he would pay the monthly boleto for me. However, the initial down payment of ~US$15,000 and the final payment of US$45,000 was wired by me directly from US to the seller’s Itaú bank (by IBAN & SWIFT).

To clarify, both my properties in SP are residential properties and are on short-term rental platforms.

I’m sorry I don’t know what you mean by off plan development for my third property. It will be just another new apartment development project where I would put the initial down payment and pay the monthly installments during the construction period as I did for my second property. In this scenario, I will get the escritura after the project completion, which normally takes two years in São Paulo.

@sfcastro

You are exactly right - the funds must come from your US bank THROUGH the Central Bank of Brazil (who receive the foreign currency and officially exchanges it for reais, at the official rate), and then it is sent direct to the seller's bank account. If this has happened (and it usually does for larger amounts of money, eg a real estate purchase) then you should have been sent a Confirmation of the Exchange Operation (aka Exchange Contract).

Some smaller amounts of funds can be exchanged for better rates, but these will not have passed through the Central Bank.

@Sampa_Brooklin

Again exactly correct as far as the transfer is concerned. The Exchange Contract (or Confirmation of Exchange Operation) does indeed take place in Brazil, since reais are not internationally traded, so you can only send dollars or euros.

You could try to present the Wise transfers, but there is a good chance they will not be accepted, as in these cases, the dollars probably did not go through the Central Bank. Companies like Moneycorp, when dealing with larger amounts, in my experience always send through the Central Bank.

Off-plan is an English way of saying pre-construction. But you would be well advised to retain an experienced immigration attorney in Sao Paulo to advise you - you have to make application in the jurisdiction of your investments. They should be able to advise more about the transfers for stage payments and how to satisfy the Proof of Exchange requirement.

I do not know how it would be possible for me to contact the Brazil central bank and ask them for proof of payments and conversion rates since one of the property was paid off over two years through monthly boletos as it was a new condo development project. - @Sampa_Brooklin

The answer is you cannot make contact with the Central Bank without going through an official operator. Your best bet would be to go to your bank, or everyone that made the original transfers, and ask for the proof of exchanges. Collate as much of this official paperwork as possible, then take it all to your immigration attorney...

01/21/25  The answer is you cannot make contact with the Central Bank without going through an official operator. Your best bet would be to go to your bank, or everyone that made the original transfers, and ask for the proof of exchanges. Collate as much of this official paperwork as possible, then take it all to your immigration attorney... - @Peter Itamaraca

This is what the Operation Data section looks like on my last transfer; The Central Bank code is on the second-last line:

DADOS DA OPERAÇÃO

Dossiê....:XXXXXXXX

Remessa...:XXXXXXXXX

Moeda.....:0220 DOLAR DOS ESTADOS UNIDOS

Motivo....:CRÉDITO EM CONTA MESMO TITULAR

Cód.Natureza BACEN:67995.67.0.67.67

Tipo......:SWIFT

That's followed by the data on the specific transaction (source, amount, exchange rate, purpose), and that's followed by the actual text of the Exchange Contract.  The bank that handled the transaction should be able to print that out for each transfer it processed.

@abthree

Could you please elaborate on this a bit? Is this from the receiving bank or the sending bank? I sent the large  payments from my brokerage account in Fidelity (USA) to the sellers’ bank in Brazil (Itaú). It seems that the information you shared would be available from the receiver’s bank in Brazil as they are the ones getting the reais exchanged by the central bank on their side. Correct?

@Peter Itamaraca

Herein lies the rub - That is why I need to find somebody here who has successfully gone through the golden visa based on real estate process before I give $3-4K to an attorney and find out that I stand no chance because of bureaucratic reasons such as not being able to get the wire transfer records from the central bank etc.

01/21/25 @abthree
Could you please elaborate on this a bit? Is this from the receiving bank or the sending bank? I sent the large payments from my brokerage account in Fidelity (USA) to the sellers’ bank in Brazil (Itaú). It seems that the information you shared would be available from the receiver’s bank in Brazil as they are the ones getting the reais exchanged by the central bank on their side. Correct? - @Sampa_Brooklin

That is correct.

@Peter Itamaraca
Herein lies the rub - That is why I need to find somebody here who has successfully gone through the golden visa based on real estate process before I give $3-4K to an attorney and find out that I stand no chance because of bureaucratic reasons such as not being able to get the wire transfer records from the central bank etc. - @Sampa_Brooklin

@sampa_brooklin, I can vouch for what @peter_itamaraca is saying.  I successfully went through the GV process last year.  If you are interested in more details, please message me.

@Sampa_Brooklin

The reason this process is necessary when purchasing real estate is all about stopping money laundering, collecting taxes (such as IOF - tax on financial operations) and officially recording the entry of the funds into Brazil, so as to be able to avoid Capital Gains Tax when you repatriate them.

Having a friend pay a boleto because you have no bank account to pay is not going to be acceptable as part of the GV application, as there are many ways to make stage payments within the rules. Remember the GV is given to those who have 1/ official proof of transfers from abroad and 2/ invested, the minimum amount + the usual docs...

To be fair, it is much easier to plan real estate investment knowing that you may make a GV application, than trying to do it retrospectively.

It is possible that an immigration attorney local to SP may have excellent contacts in the PF, and have some kind of a work around, but you will need to collate as much paperwork as possible to present to him/her your case. I would also suggest that most attorneys in Brazil will grant an initial interview free of charge - so that may be your next step?

I cannot post a pdf in this forum, but if you would like to pm me your email address, I can send you a redacted Exchange Contract so you know what to look for, plus a contact company in the US who will always make sure your funds pass through the Central Bank of Brazil.

Peter and other folks who responded and sent me private messages- thank you very much.

Peter to your point, I’m not questioning the requirement or rationale behind it as I mention everything that I have done is by the book. Except for the small monthly boleto payments, the big down payment and the final payment for wire transfers from US to Brazil.

Getting back to the exchange record requirement I reached out to the seller from whom I bought the my first apartment in 2019. First of all, he was kind enough to engage me and reached out to his bank for the proof of such a transfer. It was for US$78,000. (equivalent of 270K reais back in 2019).

However this is a reply from his bank.

“Em atenção a sua solicitação,

Informamos que apesar dos nossos esforços, não foi possível localizar em nossos arquivos lógicos ou físicos as operações de câmbio solicitadas para o CPF/CNPJ informado.

Esclarecemos ainda que a regulamentação vigente para as operações de câmbio estabelece que os contratos de câmbio que forem assinados devem ser armazenados pela instituição autorizada a operar em câmbio pelo prazo de 5 (cinco) anos contados do término do exercício em que ocorra a contratação ou, se houver, a liquidação, o cancelamento ou a baixa.

Assim, não é possível apresentar os contratos de câmbio firmados em prazo superior, pois eles já foram expurgados.”

I understand enough Portuguese -basically they’re saying that if the records are older than five years, which in my case it is, then they may have deleted the records.

I have all the records from my side in US. Unfortunately, it’s the receiving end in Brazil from where I need the record of Wire Transfer.

thank you for those who sent me their references for the attorneys.  I would reach out to them to see what we can do here.

@Sampa_Brooklin

Have you considered utilizing the Banco Central's Registrato system?

It's the portal by which users may access, directly and instantly from the Banco Central, their purchases or sales of foreign currency that have passed through the local banking system via the Banco Central, loan history, banking relationships, and the like.

These are official reports and can be readily authenticated by third parties.

The historical database goes at least as far back as the turn of the century.

Since the international wires were apparently not destined to a local account in your name, this information, while not directly available to you, should be readily accessible to the recipients of your transfers.  Zero need for your sellers to involve their receiving banks.  If you have a decent relationship with them, ask them directly for the reports.

@Marcos999

wow - never heard of that. Thank you for the pointer, let me bird dog it and see how far I can get.

My first apt purchase in São Paulo in 2019 was directly with the seller and it was one time cash transaction. He is the one who reached out to his Itaú bank today to see if he can the wire transfer record for me. He is an international business man and his secretary does the leg work. Let me ask her about this central bank tip you shared.

My second purchase in 2022 was with Cyrela who is a well known developer company in SAO Paulo and I just received the keys about a month ago as this was a new development. I reached out to their finance dept and am waiting for a response. Since these transactions are within 5 year window, I am hoping they will come through and provide me the exchange records.

Anyhow, thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.

@Sampa_Brooklin

I did not know about that, so good luck - it may help you a lot...

@Sampa_BrooklinHave you considered utilizing the Banco Central's Registrato system? - @Marcos999

Holy smokes! Nice tool. Didn't know about it. Just checked for all of my financial institution accounts - check✔ Next I'm awaiting a "cambio" report but apparently that takes two work days.

Thanks @Marcos999

mberigan

@Sampa_BrooklinHave you considered utilizing the Banco Central's Registrato system? - @Marcos999
Holy smokes! Nice tool. Didn't know about it. Just checked for all of my financial institution accounts - check✔ Next I'm awaiting a "cambio" report but apparently that takes two work days.
Thanks @Marcos999
mberigan - @mberigan

Just checked this site and yes, it appears to have a lot of information.

This is part of Banco Central do Brasil.  Apart from giving people access to financial information, what is this site used for?  Is the information also used for determining credit or other business / informational only purposes?

If I pull a report, what can I do with this report?  Can I bring this report as an evidence of payment or transfer so that I can contest it or prove it?

There is a lot of information about how to register and pull information but it is not very clear what is the purpose of getting this report - apart from just knowing past events.

Maybe someone who is very familiar with this site can create a new thread and share the knowledge there.  I am sure that everyone who does banking in Brasil would appreciate the additional benefits of working with the Banco do Brasil.

01/25/25 Have you considered utilizing the Banco Central's Registrato system? - @Marcos999

Thanks, @Marcos999.  This is a very useful tool, and I had never heard of it.  I ran off a report of all my transfers from last year and stuck it in my 2024 Taxes folder, just in case.  It was complete and tied out to the centavo to my records from Banco do Brasil.

As an experiment, I ran the same report for 2022.  In April of 2022 I stopped using Wise and went back to using SWIFT transfers, because although I like Wise fine, I was having increasing difficulties with their Brazilian bank, Banco Rendimento.  So I wanted to be sure that my transfers through Wise made the report. 

They did.  The report is organized by bank and within bank by date, so the Banco Rendimento/Wise transfers appeared after the Banco do Brasil transfers, but they were all there and correct.  So expats using Wise to transfer funds for investment should be able to obtain the records from Banco Rendimento or the Banco Central.

@Pablo888.  I don't see a way to trace individual payments, but I didn't look at everything.  You can obtain proof of payment for any payments that went through your Brazilian bank accounts on your bank's website.  If you schedule your payments (we pay all our bills that way) they'll have two receipts on file, one for the scheduling and one for the liquidation.

@Pablo888

If you have opened bank accounts down here, and take a close look at the account opening documentation, you will note that you have given express authorization for your banks to report account movements and balances, along with detailed credit-related information to the Banco Central, which monitors the information and in turn shares your credit history with other commercial banks you have, or intend to have, relationships with.  With the passage in 2018 of the LGPD (Lei Geral de Proteçao de Dados), these disclosures, including further sharing with the Receita Federal, have only gotten more transparent.

What the Banco Central is doing here with Registrato is sharing with the actual account holders a good portion of the information in its database.  It's not every central bank (take the Fed, for example) that does this, and this transparency actually preceded the LGPD and allows bank clients to see if their information is accurate.  Errors are rare, since banks here are pretty diligent in their reporting with their primary regulator, but if you find something significant the procedure is to initially contact your bank for any corrections.   Only the actual bank client - no third parties - have access to Registrato, and the identity requirement of  Prata or Ouro for access is reasonably rigorous.

You will not find any type of individual payment information in the database - for good reason, if you are following the recent brouhaha with the Lula administration about changes (since revoked) to Pix sharing with the Receita.  You can authenticate, as @abthree has pointed out, transactions on your own bank app.  An alternative, which I don't personally recommend, is to sign up for Cadastro Positivo, which will allow certain payment information to be included in your local credit report.   Beyond the standard score, it will enable you - and interested third parties - access to your individual payments, which while (perhaps) increasing your score, may also increase your potential exposure to identity theft.     

@mberigan

I end up checking Registrato every month or so to check if a new account was opened in my name without my knowledge.  Same goes for new credit lines I didn't ask for. 

Personally speaking, I would rather get this information direct from the source, rather than signing up for a paid identity theft monitoring service with the likes of, say, Serasa Experian. 

By the way, did you know that Bradesco, Itau and Santander sold their respective interests in Serasa to Experian?   This was just over a decade ago. 

The trio has since banded back together, along with Banco do Brasil and Caixa, to form a competing credit agency,  Quod.

@abthree

Glad you found this useful.

My thinking is similar to yours.  I utilize portions of the report for both US and Brazil tax reporting.  Certainly, the exchange transactions.  And the the report's official dates on opening and closing of local bank accounts could serve as back-up for US taxpayers who need to file US Treasury FBAR reports and/or IRS Form 8938.

I was personally surprised to find that one of the accounts listed was Mercado Pago.  Apparently Mercado Livre, where I have a longstanding relationship, provided this "service," which they claim helps authenticate transactions.  As such,  the balances have been exactly zero but now I make sure to include this account for US tax reporting.     

Interesting your experience with Wise/Banco Rendimento.  I have always been a little wary about using them, although I'm sure I would get a slightly better spread there, because I was concerned that I would need to go through two different KYC bureaucracies - one for Banco Rendimento (on the exchange transaction), and then again for the local bank where I maintain an account (on the source of the funds).   Unconcerned with the scrutiny, but yes with the time lost in duplicative paperwork.  Would definitely be interested in hearing if this at all was your experience.

01/26/25 Interesting your experience with Wise/Banco Rendimento. I have always been a little wary about using them, although I'm sure I would get a slightly better spread there, because I was concerned that I would need to go through two different KYC bureaucracies - one for Banco Rendimento (on the exchange transaction), and then again for the local bank where I maintain an account (on the source of the funds). Unconcerned with the scrutiny, but yes with the time lost in duplicative paperwork. Would definitely be interested in hearing if this at all was your experience. - @Marcos999

I always had a concern about Wise, too, because although our bank, Banco do Brasil, never gave me any problems about the Banco Rendimento transfers, it worried me that I couldn't see where the IOF was coming out.  So it was a relief to see the transfers on the Banco Central Report:  somebody must be paying the IOF, so if I ever want to try Wise again, I'll do it with an easy mind.

The Banco Rendimento nightmare may just have been a regulatory overreaction at the end of the pandemic -- I saw some tightening at BB at the time, too, although nothing like this -- but their rigid practices turned it into a crisis.  In short, first they sent me a new form to fill out and return before releasing my monthly transfer.  It looked a lot like a form to open an account, and I have no need for a bank account in São Paulo, but I filled it out and returned it.  That was followed by at least two more document requests, including finally one for my income tax returns.  BB has all my income tax returns, because that's where I do my banking, and I hesitated to send them to Banco Rendimento.  The killer, though, was their bureaucracy.  They wouldn't talk to me on the phone, they wouldn't respond to WhatsApp, and they insisted on two business days to analyze every document delivery before they would respond by email.   That ate up an outrageous amount of time.  All of our major bills are scheduled to be paid on fire-and-forget mode as we receive them, and most of the payments are scheduled for the first week of the month because that's when we're sure to have money in the account, so every couple of days I was having to go to an ATM (at Bradesco, to complicate things a little further), draw money out of my US account, run over to BB, and deposit the cash in the account we use to pay our bills just to keep the payments from bouncing.  Wise was excellent about processing the refund, but there was nothing they could do about Banco Rendimento.  I sent my bank in the US a message to send a SWIFT transfer to BB, we received it the next morning, and I've never looked back.

My reaction to seeing a Mercado Pago account listed for my by the Banco Central was much like yours.  I do some shopping on Mercado Livre but always pay by (Brazilian) credit card so it should always be zero.  Good idea to check periodically to see whether any new accounts pop up.  I'll start doing that too, and suggest that my husband do the same.

@Sampa_Brooklin

About the Banco Central Registrato system, when applying for a Golden Visa. I have passed this on to my pet immigration attorney, who has advised that it will need more research - which they have undertaken to do with the Department of Justice.

As I mentioned before, it is now a requirement to show an exchange contract when applying for the GV, and this is not available through the Registrato system. So the question now is will the GV be granted purely on the info from the Registrato, or will an Exchange Contract still be required? Is an Exchange Contract for the complete minimum value required?

I will advise as soon as I have further information...

Hi all,

Thank you for this informative thread. I have been living in BR for a while and am considering a property purchase here, and this is helpful in advance of next steps. I have a Bradesco account and unclear if making the sale means transferring from the US to *my* Bradesco, then to the seller's ultimate account, or directly from the US to theirs.

Also, does anyone know if I can obtain a GV for a 1m purchase and then a spouse can apply for one based on family reunification or does that spouse need to also make another 1m purchase to be eligible?

@bolinho_expat

I received your pm, and I will get back to you on that shortly, but to answer your questions here publicly:

Transfer must be from your overseas account through the Central Bank of Brazil to the sellers account - obviously protected with a legally binding contract. In Rio this must at least equal 1 million reais (I would exceed it slightly), but in the N or NE it can be 700k.

Once you have your GV, your spouse can qualify as well, without the need for further investment.

Also, does anyone know if I can obtain a GV for a 1m purchase and then a spouse can apply for one based on family reunification or does that spouse need to also make another 1m purchase to be eligible? - @bolinho_expat

I applied for the GV and then sponsored my spouse and kids once I got it.  No need for additional investments.

I am not sure whether this would apply to "a spouse" in case it is not your one and only spouse.  Not trying to be funny here - just don't know the answer to that question.

Also, does anyone know if I can obtain a GV for a 1m purchase and then a spouse can apply for one based on family reunification or does that spouse need to also make another 1m purchase to be eligible? - @bolinho_expat
I applied for the GV and then sponsored my spouse and kids once I got it. No need for additional investments.
I am not sure whether this would apply to "a spouse" in case it is not your one and only spouse. Not trying to be funny here - just don't know the answer to that question. - @Pablo888

Haha yes, worded inelegantly, I was trying to be broad. I have one spouse (well, a civil partner, living together 10+ years). I would want to purchase the +1m residence, then get her here, rather than each of us needing to purchase 1m to get this.

02/05/25  Haha yes, worded inelegantly, I was trying to be broad. I have one spouse (well, a civil partner, living together 10+ years). I would want to purchase the +1m residence, then get her here, rather than each of us needing to purchase 1m to get this. - @bolinho_expat

If your Civil Partnership is registered with the state, the Federal Police will probably treat that document as if it were a Marriage Certificate for immigration purposes, i.e., not question it. They're familiar with the Brazilian equivalent, a registered "União Estável".   If the relationship is longstanding but informal, talk to your lawyer as you work through your own paperwork about how to document it for immigration purposes.