Sworn translation of your documents

When you need one

• Residence applications and registration with the Federal Police: its own guidance says foreign documents need a sworn translation, even when apostilled.
• Marriage, a birth registration or a divorce recognised at a Brazilian cartório.
• Enrolling at a Brazilian university, or having a foreign diploma recognised.
• Courts, the Receita Federal, the Juntas Comerciais and other public bodies that receive documents in another language.

Some agreements waive it. Under the Mercosur agreement, passports, ID cards, birth and marriage certificates and criminal records from Mercosur countries don't need translating for immigration, and the Federal Police lists other cases. Each route follows its own rule, so check yours before you pay for a translation.

Who can translate it

• Only a tradutor e intérprete público: a translator who passed a public exam and is registered with a state Junta Comercial. A translation by anyone else, however good, isn't a sworn translation.
• A registered translator can work for clients in any state, so they don't have to be from the state where you'll file.
• The Federal Police says the sworn translation has to be done in Brazil. A translation certified abroad usually isn't accepted in its place.
• Many translators deliver a digital file signed with a qualified digital certificate (ICP-Brasil). Check that the body you're filing with accepts it; some still ask for paper.

How it's priced

• It's charged per page (lauda), so a long document costs more than a one-page certificate.
• Several Juntas Comerciais publish reference fee tables, and prices vary by state, language and urgency. Ask for a quote with the page count before you agree.

Apostille and translation are different

The apostille proves a foreign document is genuine; the translation makes it readable in Portuguese. Brazil has been part of the Hague Apostille Convention since 2016, and a document often needs both.

• Get the apostille in the country that issued the document before it's translated, so the apostille is translated too.
• If that country isn't part of the Convention, the document is legalized at the Brazilian consulate instead.

Finding a translator yourself

1. Open the list of tradutores e intérpretes públicos on a Junta Comercial's website (each state has one) and look for your document's language.
2. Send a scan of the document and ask for the page count, the price, the delivery time, and whether it comes on paper or digitally signed.
3. When it arrives, check names, dates and numbers against your passport: a misspelt name can get a filing sent back.