Route 02
Business Investment
R$0
Legal basis: Resolução Normativa CNIg nº 13/2017
Last verified 2026-08-01
Route snapshot
- Threshold
- R$500,000
- USD
- $92,251
- NGN
- ₦142,857,143
- GHS
- GH₵1,190,476
- Typical timeline
- 5–9 months
- Business plan
- Yes
- Job creation
- Yes
- Family included
- Yes
Conversions at rates of 2026-08-01
Overview
Here the capital goes into a Brazilian legal entity — in almost every case an LTDA — as subscribed and paid-up share capital, recorded in the contrato social and registered with the Junta Comercial. The state is not buying an asset from you; it is accepting a proposition that your money will do something in the Brazilian economy. That shifts the burden of the file from title documents to argument.
The business plan is the application. It must set out the activity, the market, the projected revenue, the hiring schedule and the capital deployment, and it must be internally consistent with the amount you are actually injecting. CNIg looks for something in the region of ten jobs created over two years. That number is assessed with judgement rather than arithmetic — a capital-intensive operation employing four skilled staff can succeed where a plan promising twelve vague roles fails.
Capital must stay in. The threshold is a floor to be maintained for two to three years, not a deposit to be cycled. You may draw pro-labore as an administrator, at a defensible market rate, and the company may of course spend on its operations. What you may not do is reduce paid-up capital below R$500,000 or extract the injection as a shareholder loan repayment.
What does not qualify is worth stating plainly, because it is where most enquiries stop: listed securities, government bonds, bank deposits, cryptocurrency holdings and loans to Brazilian companies are all investments, and none of them is this. The route requires equity in an operating company you help direct.
Requirements
Cost breakdown
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Company incorporation and Junta Comercial registration | R$4,500–R$8,000 |
| Business plan preparation and financial modelling | R$12,000–R$20,000 |
| Accounting setup and first-year retainer | R$9,600–R$18,000 |
| Corporate counsel — contrato social and administrator appointment | R$8,000–R$15,000 |
| FX spread on R$500,000, 1–3% | R$5,000–R$15,000 |
| RDE-IED registration and banking setup | R$2,000–R$3,500 |
| Apostille and sworn translation | R$3,000–R$5,000 |
| Federal application fees | R$1,200–R$2,500 |
| Total | R$45,300–R$87,000 |
Total transaction cost, indicative, excluding the R$500,000 investment itself
Payroll is not a transaction cost but it is the cost that decides the route. Ten positions at Brazilian market rates, with encargos, is a real annual commitment and should be modelled before you commit capital.
Timeline
Assessment
2–3 weeks- Commercial proposition tested against CNIg criteriaLu Gold
- Source-of-funds reviewLu Gold
- Trading history and financials suppliedClient
What goes wrong on this route
Every one of these has cost someone a filing. They are set out here because you will find them eventually, and it is cheaper to find them now.
A plan written to a template
Analysts read many plans and recognise recycled ones. Generic market sections and projections unconnected to the capital figure invite an exigência at best. We build the plan from your actual operating assumptions and price the hiring schedule at real Brazilian salaries.
Hiring promised but not delivered
The employment commitment is examined at review, not forgotten. We size the plan to what the business can genuinely carry and stage the hires against revenue rather than against the application calendar.
Capital injected then withdrawn
Repaying yourself through a shareholder loan or reducing capital is the fastest way to lose the permit. We set the entity up so operating cash and invested capital are visibly separate and pro-labore is documented as remuneration.
Wrong CNAE, wrong tax regime
The activity code drives taxation, licensing and how the analyst reads the plan. Selecting it as a formality creates a mismatch between the stated business and the registered one. We choose it with the accountant before incorporation.
Absent ownership
A quotaholder living abroad with a hired manager reads as passive investment. Administrator appointment, a Brazilian address, and evidence of actual direction are built into the structure from the outset.
Documents checklist
Questions we are asked
Start with a straight assessment.
Twenty minutes, no charge, and an honest answer on whether the business investment route fits your capital and your documentation. If it does not, we will say which one does — or that none of them does yet.