Brazil has begun 2026 with its most sweeping immigration reform since the 2017 Migration Law. Inter-ministerial Ordinance 60/2025, in force since 1 January 2026, scraps the patchwork of country-specific humanitarian visa programmes that had accumulated since the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Separate tracks for Afghans, Haitians, Syrians, Ukrainians and others are replaced by one umbrella regime that can be activated, nationality by nationality, whenever Brazil’s justice and foreign-affairs ministries jointly recognise a crisis.
In the short term the change has created a vacuum. Consulates worldwide have halted new humanitarian-visa appointments while they wait for the first eligibility list, prompting NGOs that had sponsored January departures to cancel flights or rebook applicants into other visa classes. Fragomen and other immigration practices report a spike in “switch” requests from Afghans and Haitians who are trying to convert pending humanitarian filings to student or family-reunification categories in order to keep relocation timelines on track.
For companies the immediate operational headache is a brand-new “hosting-commitment” letter. Any future applicant must be backed by a Brazilian NGO that has a formal cooperation agreement with the federal government and can prove it has sufficient accommodation, language training and integration resources. Corporations that have used humanitarian visas to move at-risk staff—particularly journalists and contractors from conflict zones—will now have to establish partnerships with accredited NGOs before travel can be booked.
![Brazil Pauses Humanitarian Visas as New Single-Framework Takes Effect]()
Meanwhile, firms and individuals navigating these new rules can tap VisaHQ’s Brazil desk for hands-on support. Through its online portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) VisaHQ offers up-to-date guidance on document requirements, tracks consular announcements as they happen, and can help coordinate with accredited NGOs to secure the mandatory hosting-commitment letter—streamlining an otherwise unpredictable process.
Legal advisers urge mobility teams to update compliance check-lists straight away. Although salary thresholds and work-authorisation rules remain unchanged, document packs must now include the NGO undertaking and may require fresh police-clearance certificates if the pause drags on. Humanitarian-visa holders already in Brazil keep their current residence cards, but any extension or family-reunification request filed after 1 January will be processed under the new rules.
Brasília argues that a single framework will end the ad-hoc improvisation that characterised past emergencies and allow faster, more predictable responses. Mobility stakeholders will judge success by how quickly the first eligibility list appears—and by whether NGOs can scale up fast enough to meet the new sponsorship demand.
In the short term the change has created a vacuum. Consulates worldwide have halted new humanitarian-visa appointments while they wait for the first eligibility list, prompting NGOs that had sponsored January departures to cancel flights or rebook applicants into other visa classes. Fragomen and other immigration practices report a spike in “switch” requests from Afghans and Haitians who are trying to convert pending humanitarian filings to student or family-reunification categories in order to keep relocation timelines on track.
For companies the immediate operational headache is a brand-new “hosting-commitment” letter. Any future applicant must be backed by a Brazilian NGO that has a formal cooperation agreement with the federal government and can prove it has sufficient accommodation, language training and integration resources. Corporations that have used humanitarian visas to move at-risk staff—particularly journalists and contractors from conflict zones—will now have to establish partnerships with accredited NGOs before travel can be booked.
Meanwhile, firms and individuals navigating these new rules can tap VisaHQ’s Brazil desk for hands-on support. Through its online portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) VisaHQ offers up-to-date guidance on document requirements, tracks consular announcements as they happen, and can help coordinate with accredited NGOs to secure the mandatory hosting-commitment letter—streamlining an otherwise unpredictable process.
Legal advisers urge mobility teams to update compliance check-lists straight away. Although salary thresholds and work-authorisation rules remain unchanged, document packs must now include the NGO undertaking and may require fresh police-clearance certificates if the pause drags on. Humanitarian-visa holders already in Brazil keep their current residence cards, but any extension or family-reunification request filed after 1 January will be processed under the new rules.
Brasília argues that a single framework will end the ad-hoc improvisation that characterised past emergencies and allow faster, more predictable responses. Mobility stakeholders will judge success by how quickly the first eligibility list appears—and by whether NGOs can scale up fast enough to meet the new sponsorship demand.
