Brazil issues new regulation on immigrants’ working papers

Amid the migration crisis facing a number of countries and the coming of Venezuelans into Brazil via the northern state of Roraima, the Brazilian Ministry of Labor has passed a regulation on the procedures for the issuance of immigrants’ working papers.

The regulation mandates that a work record booklet—or Carteira de Trabalho, as it is known in Brazil, a document very similar to a passport which registers a citizen’s formal jobs, with details on contracts and changes over time—must be ready for collection in 15 business days. The document expires in one to nine years, depending on the circumstances under which the immigrant has entered the country.

The longest term (nine years) is meant for immigrants holding a residence permit as refugee, stateless person, or political asylee. Their document is issued after a document entitled Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório is produced.

The regulation also specifically covers Haitians, people with a residence permit for the purposes of humanitarian shelter, people with a temporary residence permit or a residence permit for the purposes of family reunion, people with a residence permit for the purposes of employment in Brazil as athlete or for studying, people living on national border areas, and immigrants under international agreements with specific countries.