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In the world · Migration · 6 December 2002

Mercosur Residence Agreement: the path for newcomers

Signed in Brasília in December 2002, the Mercosur Residence Agreement gives South Americans 2-year residence with little paperwork. How it works.

bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published

The Agreement on Residence for Nationals of the Mercosur States Parties, Bolivia and Chile was signed in Brasília on December 5 and 6, 2002, and enacted in Brazil by Decree 6,975 of October 7, 2009. It allows citizens of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay to apply for temporary residence of up to two years in Brazil with a short list of documents, and then convert it into permanent residence. In 2025, the "South America agreements" were the second most used legal basis for regularizing immigrants in the country, according to OBMigra.

What happened

The agreement was born at the 23rd Meeting of the Common Market Council and took almost seven years to enter into force in Brazil, after approval by Congress in 2005. The logic is simple: nationality is enough. A person from a participating country does not need to prove employment, enrollment or a tie to a company to live in another.

The text of the decree sets out three central points:

  • Temporary residence of up to two years, granted with a valid passport or identity document, criminal record certificates and payment of the fee;
  • Conversion into permanent residence, requested up to 90 days before expiry, with proof of lawful means of subsistence;
  • Equal civil, social, cultural and economic rights with the nationals of the receiving country, including the right to work on one's own account or for others.

Colombia joined in 2012. At the time, the news about its accession summed up the effect for those who wanted to come: Colombians "will no longer need a tie to an educational institution or company". Today the application is made through the Federal Police: online form, appointment, document check and biometric collection. The National Migration Registration Card (Carteira de Registro Nacional Migratório) takes on average 90 days to be ready, according to the IOM guide. In October 2024, the federal government announced measures to speed up visas and residence permits for migrants from Mercosur and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Why it matters

Before the agreement, a South American who wanted to live in Brazil almost always depended on a company or a school to bring them in. That left the migrant tied to whoever held the bond. The agreement reversed the logic: the right to stay came to belong to the person, not the employer.

In practice, it works. OBMigra shows that, in 2025, this route came ever closer to the top among regularization bases. For Bolivians, Paraguayans, Argentines and Colombians, it is the natural path to regularization.

The limit lies outside the paper. The document requires an appointment, fees and papers from the country of origin, and those who do not know where to start fall behind. Lack of information is the first barrier.

In Bairo's view

The agreement was signed in December 2002, the same year Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez, born in Colombia in 1982, arrived in Brazil. In the story he tells, Brazil was a boyhood certainty, and capoeira was the bridge. The chapter Capoeira was the bridge tells that beginning.

In his reading, what the agreement did in 2002 was remove, from many people's path, dependence on a single tie. For Bairo, an immigrant who can stay because of who they are, and not because someone holds on to them, has the freedom to take risks, change course and start a business. He often says the sun is for everyone, but shade, in the heat, is for few. For Bairo, an up-to-date document is the first shade a migrant can have.

Where this meets the ecosystem

The agreement creates a South American space in which people can move and work. Bairo designs his ventures for the same space. CEASA Bank, a financial platform for agribusiness that operates on the infrastructure of an authorized institution, has a Bolivian entity being incorporated and the vision of opening accounts for clients in their own country, connecting producers and buyers in the region. It is a proposal, subject to each country's regulation.

CLAIN proposes niche AI agents that explain, in Spanish and Portuguese, the step-by-step of a residence such as Mercosur's, with the decision and the responsibility always resting with a person and the application made through the Federal Police's official channels.

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