How do you apostille documents for Brazil in 2026?

For residence authorisations, CRNM registration, family files, civil registration and many school or diploma packs, foreign public documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, criminal-record extracts and school histories often must carry an apostille from the competent authority in the country that issued them: Apply for a residence permit and Get a CRNM. Get the apostille before you fly when possible. Brazilian desks rarely apostille another country’s papers.

If the issuing country is outside the Hague Apostille Convention, you need Brazilian consular legalisation instead. Ministério da Justiça and MRE guidance treat apostille or legalisation plus a Portuguese sworn translation as the standard pack for documents that must produce effects in Brazil.

After the apostille, most desks still require a tradução juramentada by a public translator registered with a state Junta Comercial. Keep the apostilled original and the translation together. Names and dates must match your passport and CPF spellings: Get a CPF and Portuguese bureaucracy without Portuguese.

School enrolment often asks for apostilled and translated histories before placing a child in the right year: Enrol in public school and Children in school without Portuguese. Later indefinite-residence or nationality files also lean on civil packs: Get permanent residence. Household customs and commercial invoices follow Receita Federal rules that may sit outside the Apostille Convention: Import household goods. Sequence apostilles inside the wider arrival stack: Paperwork after moving.