Brazil is home to just over 2 million international immigrants, including permanent and temporary residents, refugees and asylum seekers, representing 200 nationalities across all of the country’s states and the Federal District. Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Angolans are among the most prominent groups. An estimated 680,000 Venezuelans were living in Brazil at the beginning of 2026, with women and children (ages 0 to 14) accounting for a larger share.
The figures appear in the 12th Annual Report of the Observatory of International Migration (OBMigra), “Migration Policy in Brazil: Evidence for Managing Flows and Sectoral Policies.” Presented this Thursday (30) by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Brasília, the document makes numerous recommendations for the effective integration of these populations into Brazilian society.
The survey aims to support implementation of the new National Policy on Migration, Refugees and Statelessness (PNMRA), enacted late last year under Decree No. 12,657/2025, which replaced the 2017 Migration Law.
The analysis examined changes in the intensity of migration flows, entry points into Brazil, composition by sex and age, geographical distribution among the states, and strategies for regularizing migrants’ status in the country.
The findings also assessed the circumstances of migrants, refugees and stateless people in four areas: employment, education, social protection and local governance.
Brazil’s welcoming policy
The current representative of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Brazil, Davide Torzilli, says updated public data help address global and regional challenges related to migration.
“I want to highlight [Brazil’s] commitment to continually strengthening its public data systems to ensure that reliable, transparent information about refugees, forcibly displaced people and stateless people is maintained and improved. Reliable data help us respond to the contemporary challenge of human mobility.”
Davide Torzilli stressed that the new national policy is unique in the world and that Brazil has consistently demonstrated its commitment to governing the social protection system on the basis of human rights, international cooperation and shared responsibilities.
The presentation of the report precedes the Brazilian delegation’s participation next week in a United Nations meeting in New York, United States, to discuss the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Victor Semple, director of the Migration Department at the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, said the federal government had recently formulated the National Plan on Immigration, Refugees and Statelessness, provided for in the new national policy.
“The federal government reaffirms its commitment to this issue and Brazil’s calling as a welcoming country. It also confirms the prospect of inclusion in government policies.”
Employment and income
At the report’s launch, Labor and Employment Minister Luiz Marinho emphasized that the search for work is the primary driver of global migration and an essential means of integrating foreigners into society.
OBMigra’s 12th Annual Report shows that the number of migrant workers in Brazil’s formal labor market rose by 54% between 2023 and 2025. The number of formal employment relationships involving immigrant workers exceeded 414,960 in 2025.
Of this total, 43% are concentrated in industrial production, particularly animal slaughtering in southern Brazil.
Applications for residence permits to work in Brazil rose by 68% between 2022 and 2024, indicating increased employment opportunities in the country.
“This is due to greater demand for migrant labor in Brazil, as the country is currently experiencing a situation of full employment,” the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) said.
By nationality, more than 201,000 Venezuelans worked in Brazil’s formal labor market in 2025. Haitians came next, with a 20.4% increase between 2023 and 2025 and a total of 51,200 Haitians formally employed last year. Cubans ranked third, with 30,700 formal workers.
However, the report notes that many college-educated immigrants face a mismatch between their qualifications and employment status, holding low-skilled, low-income jobs and consequently earning less.
To address this, the report recommends that public authorities promote recognition of foreign diplomas, help match qualified workers with employers, and reduce institutional and educational barriers to improve occupational placement.
The updated international migration data also show that the vast majority of migrant domestic workers are employed informally, without formal labor contracts. In 2024, 78.8% of domestic workers (1,184 people) lacked formal contracts, while only 21.2% (318 people) were formally employed.
The study drew on the Annual Social Information Report (RAIS) database maintained by the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), as well as data from the Labor Immigration Coordination Office (CGIL) at the MJSP.
Minister Luiz Marinho warned that poorly organized integration into the labor market can create a high risk of exploitation and working conditions analogous to slavery, undermining the entire market by allowing competition through the erosion of rights. To monitor such situations, he recalled the current federal administration’s revival of the National Immigration Council and efforts to combat labor exploitation.
Marinho also noted that the strategy of relocating migrants to other parts of Brazil will only succeed if accompanied by training.
“Relocating people into precarious work does not solve the problem; it merely moves it. Relocation combined with training and productive inclusion, on the other hand, generates local development, strengthens regional economies and promotes social integration.”
Social protection
In the area of social protection, the report highlights the link between international mobility and socioeconomic vulnerability.
It identifies a significant increase in migrants enrolled in the federal government’s Unified Registry for Social Programs between 2023 and 2024. The number of migrants in the CadÚnico database grew from 562,687 to 650,683 over that period.
Women predominate among registered migrants, accounting for 55.6% in 2024.
In terms of age, CadÚnico data show particularly strong growth in the number of migrant children and adolescents ages 0 to 17, from 159,011 in 2023 to 188,531 in 2024, an increase of 18.6% in just one year.
This result points to the growing number of migrant families with children in the social assistance system. The report underscores “the need for coordination among social assistance, education and child protection policies.”
The report indicates greater access to social programs such as Bolsa Família. Of the 562,687 migrants registered with CadÚnico in 2023, 302,497 were Bolsa Família beneficiaries, while 260,190 did not receive the benefit.
The report therefore recommends:
• Reducing the time between registration and access to benefits by improving transparency and communication about criteria and procedures;
• Improving mechanisms for monitoring and managing waiting lists for social programs.
Geographical distribution
CadÚnico data show a high concentration of registered migrants in a relatively small number of states, especially major economic centers and states strategically important to migration.
Three states account for a significant share of migrants registered in the country. In 2024, São Paulo remained the state with the largest number of registered migrants, with 140,033 records, followed by Paraná (102,046) and Roraima (86,845).
Santa Catarina (71,055) and Rio Grande do Sul (61,386) also stood out in 2024 as centers of economic opportunity attracting and retaining migrant populations.
Education
In its section on education, the study confirms consistent growth in immigrant enrollment in basic education between 2010 and 2024, demonstrating expanded access to the right to education.
During that period, enrollment across the three stages of basic education, together with immigrant enrollment in secondary-level technical education and Youth and Adult Education (EJA), rose from 41,916 to 224,924 students—an increase of 437%.
Since 2010, the number of migrants in higher education institutions has grown 77.5%, from 16,696 in 2010 to 29,635 students in 2023.
Nevertheless, despite the growing presence of migrants in public education policies, the study concludes that challenges remain in language inclusion, teaching adaptation and the institutional capacity of local education systems.
Although schools are central spaces for socialization and social mobility, they can also reproduce structural inequalities.
In light of these findings, the study recommends that educational institutions, at both basic and higher levels, provide “spaces for dialogue, experience and learning rooted in respect for human dignity.”
Municipal and state public schools should also ensure sufficient capacity to accommodate migrant populations in line with local needs.
In higher education, factors such as food, housing, health care and employment should be considered to promote immigrant, refugee and stateless students’ access to—and continued participation in—education.
Local governance
In Brazil, migration policy is the federal government’s responsibility, but the public services people use—schools, health clinics and social assistance—are largely provided by state and municipal authorities.
The report therefore also focuses on the greatest challenges for public administrators in improving services on the ground, particularly in the municipalities where migrants live.
It proposes clearer technical and financial cooperation among all three levels of government—federal, state and municipal—to establish permanent, well-prepared structures that can serve migrants, refugees and asylum seekers fairly throughout the country.
“Consolidating national migration policy, especially its integration component, depends on strengthening the federal pact, local governance, the institutionalization of municipal responses, and mechanisms that ensure sustainability, territorial equity and effective access to rights for migrants and refugees in Brazil,” the report concludes.
The document recommends expanding programs to welcome and relocate migrants beyond Roraima, an entry point for people arriving from Venezuela.
Source: Agência Brasil
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