Route 03
Technology & Innovation
R$0
Legal basis: Resolução Normativa CNIg nº 13/2017, innovation provision
Last verified 2026-08-01
Route snapshot
- Threshold
- R$150,000
- USD
- $27,675
- NGN
- ₦42,857,143
- GHS
- GH₵357,143
- Typical timeline
- 6–11 months
- Business plan
- Yes
- Job creation
- No
- Family included
- Yes
Conversions at rates of 2026-08-01
Overview
R$150,000 is the lowest entry point into Brazilian permanent residency, and it is also the file most likely to be refused. The two facts are connected. The reduced threshold exists because the state wants innovation capacity, not capital; in exchange it examines whether what you are building is genuinely innovative far more closely than it examines a million-real apartment purchase.
The activity must sit inside a restricted set of CNAE codes: 62.01-5 software development, 62.02-3 IT consulting, 62.04-0 technology support, 72.10-0 research and development in the natural sciences and engineering, and 72.20-7 research and development in the social sciences and humanities. Registering one of these codes is necessary and nowhere near sufficient — the operation has to look like the code.
The business plan carries a heavier load than on the business route. It must describe what is technically novel, how it will be developed in Brazil, who will build it, and what intellectual property or research output results. Revenue projections matter less here than a credible development roadmap and a technical team.
You must run it. Active management is assessed through the corporate documents and through the plan: an applicant who appears as a funder with a Brazilian operator in the chair does not meet the standard. Affiliation with an approved incubator, accelerator or recognised innovation programme is expected, and a letter from one is among the strongest documents in the file.
We offer this route selectively
If your business is conventional consulting or e-commerce with a technology component, this route will not hold, and we will tell you so at assessment rather than at rejection.
Requirements
Cost breakdown
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Company incorporation and Junta Comercial registration | R$4,500–R$8,000 |
| Innovation business plan and technical dossier | R$15,000–R$28,000 |
| Incubator or accelerator programme fees, first year | R$6,000–R$24,000 |
| Corporate counsel and administrator appointment | R$8,000–R$15,000 |
| Accounting setup and first-year retainer | R$9,600–R$18,000 |
| FX spread on R$150,000, 1–3% | R$1,500–R$4,500 |
| Apostille and sworn translation | R$3,000–R$5,000 |
| Federal application fees | R$1,200–R$2,500 |
| Total | R$48,800–R$105,000 |
Total transaction cost, indicative, excluding the R$150,000 investment itself
Note the ratio. On this route the cost of assembling a credible file can approach a third of the investment itself. That is the real price of the lower threshold.
Timeline
Technical assessment
2–4 weeks- Innovation claim tested against precedent decisionsLu Gold
- Honest go / no-go given to the clientLu Gold
- Technical documentation and team CVs 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.
The innovation claim does not survive reading
A familiar product with a new interface is not innovation. We test the claim against recent decisions before you spend anything, and decline the route rather than file a case we expect to lose.
CNAE registered, activity elsewhere
Code and reality must match. We align activity, contracts, invoicing and the plan so the registered purpose is what the company visibly does.
No programme affiliation
Without an incubator or accelerator behind it, a R$150,000 file has little external validation. Securing acceptance comes before filing, not after, and it drives the timeline.
Founder present on paper only
Passive equity fails this route. Administrator appointment, a technical role in the roadmap and time in Brazil are structured in at the start.
Capital untouched at review
Development spend is evidence. We build a deployment schedule against the roadmap so the accounts show the money doing the work the plan promised.
Documents checklist
Questions we are asked
Start with a straight assessment.
Twenty minutes, no charge, and an honest answer on whether the technology & innovation route fits your capital and your documentation. If it does not, we will say which one does — or that none of them does yet.