Brazilian Naturalization: How Many Applications Are Being Reviewed?

Aug 20, 2026

How do people write these things lately? URGENT! IMPORTANT! 🥹

Here are some interesting new statistics on naturalization in Brazil.

Brazil's Ministry of Justice has published internal performance indicators for the Divisão de Naturalização (DINAT) covering May–July 2026.

And the numbers are actually quite interesting. 😎

For May–July 2026, decided initial applications and appeals divided by received initial applications and appeals, multiplied by 100, reached 83.06%; the target was 65%. This is an internal flow indicator, not the share of the entire pending backlog completed.

(At this point, special thanks to my mother for making sure I understand what the word “target” means 😂)

The indicator includes not only initial naturalization applications but also administrative appeals — the recursos filed as part of the administrative review process.

There is another interesting indicator concerning the time cases spend under review directly within the division.

The Ministry uses the following internal performance scale:

• 1–30 days = 100% • 31–40 days = 75% • 41–50 days = 60% • 51–60 days = 50%

For May–July, the result was 75%, which corresponds to an average processing range of 31–40 days according to this internal scale.

But there is one VERY important clarification.

This does NOT mean that Brazilian citizenship is now granted within 30–40 days. 😅

This is an internal performance indicator for a specific division of the Ministry of Justice. It is not an official statutory processing time for naturalization, nor does it mean that the entire procedure — from filing the application to the final decision — takes 30–40 days.

Still, I think the statistics are quite revealing.

DINAT is currently reviewing cases at a rate above the performance target established for the division.

So, for those whose naturalization applications are currently with the Ministry of Justice, the news is rather positive. 🙂

Source: Portaria CGGE/SPO/SE/MJSP nº 31, de 10 de agosto de 2026.

P.S. I’ll keep sharing updates and interesting data about Brazilian immigration procedures — but only if you’re interested 😄