Moving from France to Brazil (2026): Complete Guide

Relocating from France to Brazil means clearing two very different administrative systems: French customs and tax exit formalities on the way out, and Brazilian immigration and customs formalities on the way in. This guide is written for a French resident — French national or foreign resident of France — planning a household move to Brazil, covering both halves of the corridor plus a short note on moving back from Brazil to France. It draws only on official government sources from both countries; every claim below links to the relevant authority.

Key takeaways

• Your Brazilian immigration status (visa/residence permit type) determines whether your household goods qualify for duty-free "mudança" treatment on arrival — this is decided before customs, not at the port (Receita Federal, mudança para o Brasil; MRE, vistos).
• No French export customs declaration is required for ordinary personal effects and a private vehicle leaving the EU, but you must give French customs a change-of-residence document, a landlord/municipal attestation, and a detailed signed inventory (Douane, transfert de résidence hors UE).
• Carrying or shipping €10,000 or more in cash or bearer instruments out of France, or the equivalent of US$10,000 or more into Brazil, must be formally declared — these are two separate, independent obligations (Douane, argent liquide; Receita Federal, perguntas e respostas).
• In Brazil, unaccompanied household goods clear customs via a Declaração Simplificada de Importação (DSI) in Siscomex and must arrive within 3 months before to 6 months after you land, or a 20% penalty on the import duty owed applies (Receita Federal, mudança para o Brasil).
• Motor vehicles, motorcycles and similar are explicitly listed as goods outside the "bagagem" (personal-effects) concept in Brazil — you cannot bring your French car in duty-free as part of a relocation shipment (Receita Federal, bens do viajante).
• Dogs and cats need no prior import authorization into Brazil, but do need an International Veterinary Certificate (CVI) or MAPA-recognised passport from an official vet meeting Brazil’s sanitary requirements, checked by Vigiagro on arrival (MAPA/Vigiagro, entrar no Brasil).
• On the exit side, French customs requires an animal to be properly identified and validly vaccinated before it leaves the EU, and the exact certificate the destination country wants is set by that country, not by France (Douane, vous voyagez avec un chien, chat ou furet).
• Notifying your French tax office of your departure and filing your departure-year return is mandatory even if you become a Brazilian tax resident the same year (impots.gouv.fr, je pars vivre à l’étranger).
• Once in Brazil, foreigners must register with the Polícia Federal for a Registro Nacional Migratório (RNM) card — generally within 90 days of entry for temporary-visa holders, or 30 days of the residence authorization’s publication for residence-authorization holders (Polícia Federal, registrar-se como estrangeiro).

1. Immigration status decides the customs treatment

Brazilian customs does not treat "moving house" as a category on its own — it treats it as a consequence of your immigration status. To use the duty-free "mudança" (relocation) regime for household goods, you must be entering Brazil to establish residence, evidenced by the appropriate visa or residence authorization — Brazil’s temporary-visa system (VITEM) covers a range of purposes from work to family reunification to Mercosul residence, alongside routes for definitive residence authorization, and the category that applies to you decides which paperwork the move needs. The Ministério das Relações Exteriores runs the visa system consular-side (MRE, vistos), while the Receita Federal decides, at the goods-clearance stage, whether your shipment qualifies for the personal-effects exemption based on that immigration status (Receita Federal, mudança para o Brasil). Once physically in Brazil, foreigners holding a visa or residence authorization must register with the Polícia Federal to obtain a Registro Nacional Migratório (RNM) — the identity number and card that anchors most other formalities, including, in practice, the customs paperwork for your move (Polícia Federal, registrar-se como estrangeiro no Brasil). Confirm your visa category with a Brazilian consulate before you book the move: the exemption, the deadline for shipping unaccompanied baggage, and even whether you need a Siscomex declaration at all all flow from it.

2. The France export side: customs, deregistration and tax exit

Customs authority. French customs and excise is the Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects (DGDDI). For a genuine change of principal residence to a non-EU country, DGDDI requires no export customs declaration for ordinary personal effects and a privately used vehicle. Instead you must supply: a document proving the change of residence (passport, property deed or tenancy agreement); a landlord or municipal attestation (or a sworn declaration if unavailable); and a detailed, dated, paginated and signed inventory of the goods being shipped, provided in two copies (three if clearing through an inland customs office) (Douane, transfert de résidence hors UE; confirmed by France Diplomatie, déménagement). A small, non-exhaustive set of categories still needs a formal export declaration (document DAU) regardless of the change of residence: firearms and ammunition, gold and other precious metals (subject to a 10% export tax on private exports), works of art/antiques/jewellery over €5,000 per item or collection (6% tax), dual-use goods and technology, protected wildlife, and cultural property.

Cash. If you or your shipment carry €10,000 or more in cash, bearer instruments or gold out of France, you must declare it — free of charge, online via the Dalia service, up to 30 days before travel or at the border. Customs can ask you to substantiate the funds’ origin, and non-declaration carries fines and seizure risk (Douane, voyager avec 10 000 euros ou plus).

Tax residency exit. France has no separate "deregistration" office for movers — the operative step is fiscal. Notify your tax office of your new foreign address via your impots.gouv.fr account, and still file a French tax return for your departure year (filed in year N+1, covering income up to departure, using forms 2042 and 2042-NR). Once processed, if you keep French-source income taxable in France, the Service des Impôts des Particuliers Non-Résidents (SIP-NR) becomes your managing office; if not, state this in the return (impots.gouv.fr). Also notify your employer, pension funds and health insurer, since CPAM cover generally ends on departure to a non-EU country.

3. Ports and transit: routes from France to Brazil

France’s two relevant seaports for an intercontinental household shipment are HAROPA PORT (the merged Le Havre–Rouen–Paris port authority and France’s leading container gateway) (HAROPA PORT) and the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille-Fos, France’s major Mediterranean gateway port (Service-Public annuaire, Grand port maritime de Marseille-Fos). On the Brazilian side, the principal receiving port for European cargo is Porto de Santos, run by the state-linked Autoridade Portuária de Santos (APS, gov.br); Rio de Janeiro is a secondary option depending on final destination. Air freight and accompanied baggage typically route through Paris Charles de Gaulle to São Paulo–Guarulhos.

These are freight-industry planning estimates, not official transit-time figures from any authority: sea freight from Le Havre or Fos to Santos typically runs 5–7 weeks door-to-port including consolidation, sailing and Brazilian customs clearance (which is often the slowest link); airfreight for unaccompanied baggage typically takes 1–3 weeks all-in. Build in extra buffer for Brazilian customs clearance, since your DSI/Siscomex processing and physical inspection can add days to weeks depending on the port and season.

4. The Brazil import side: the customs process

Household goods shipped separately from you ("bagagem desacompanhada") clear Brazilian customs through a Declaração Simplificada de Importação (DSI), registered electronically in Siscomex, Brazil’s integrated foreign-trade system. The shipment must land within 3 months before to 6 months after your own arrival; missing that window triggers a 20% penalty on any import tax due, unless the delay was outside your control. Required paperwork: an itemized packing list with values per box/volume, the bill of lading, your passport/proof of arrival, and — for foreigners — evidence of the visa/residence authorization behind the move (Receita Federal, mudança para o Brasil). Used personal items, used household furniture and books/periodicals are tax-exempt under this regime; anything outside the "bagagem" definition (excess new goods, commercial quantities, vehicles) instead faces a Regime de Tributação Especial with a 50% tax rate on the taxable value of the excess (Receita Federal, perguntas e respostas). This shipped-goods "mudança" regime is separate from, and much broader than, the ordinary duty-free allowance travellers get for their accompanied luggage — check the Receita Federal’s traveller FAQ for the current allowance, since it does not cover a household relocation (Receita Federal, perguntas e respostas).

5. Pets: official rules both ends

Leaving France. There is no single EU export template for a non-EU destination like Brazil. French customs requires that any animal leaving the EU be properly identified and validly vaccinated against rabies before departure, but the exact certificate, testing and paperwork the destination country will demand is set by that country, so you must confirm requirements with the Brazilian authorities before travel (Douane, vous voyagez avec un chien, chat ou furet).

Entering Brazil. MAPA (Ministério da Agricultura e Pecuária), through its Vigiagro international agricultural-surveillance service, requires no prior import authorization for dogs and cats — accompanied or not — but does require presentation of an International Veterinary Certificate (CVI) or a MAPA-recognised pet passport, issued by an official veterinarian of the country of origin, meeting Brazil’s sanitary requirements, inspected on arrival by Vigiagro. Since 6 September 2025, under Portaria MAPA 741/2024, a specific "Certificate for Export of Dogs and Cats to Brazil" model has become mandatory, so use the current template rather than a generic health certificate (MAPA/Vigiagro, animais de estimação — entrar no Brasil).

6. Vehicles, money and things people forget

Vehicles. Don’t plan on shipping your French car duty-free as part of the move. Receita Federal explicitly lists motor vehicles, motorcycles, motorised bicycles, jet skis, aircraft, vessels and their parts as goods outside the "bagagem" (personal-effects) concept altogether, so a used vehicle brought in as part of a relocation does not qualify for the personal-effects exemption and instead needs its own import declaration and licensing under the ordinary import regime (Receita Federal, bens do viajante). Most movers sell the car in France and buy locally in Brazil.

Money. Remember the two separate cash-declaration thresholds: €10,000 or more leaving France via the Dalia service (Douane), and the equivalent of US$10,000 or more entering Brazil (Receita Federal) — these are independent obligations in two different currencies, not one combined limit.

Timing. The 3-month-before/6-month-after window for your Brazilian DSI shipment is unforgiving; align your ocean-freight booking with your actual visa/entry date, not your target moving date, to avoid the 20% penalty.

Tax residency overlap. Because your French departure-year tax return is filed the following year, you can be filing French and Brazilian tax obligations in the same calendar window — get country-specific tax advice, since this guide is not tax advice.

Reverse direction: moving back from Brazil to France

Coming back the other way follows a mirror logic. On exit, Brazilian household goods leaving permanently use the Receita Federal’s "mudança para o exterior" unaccompanied-baggage process (Receita Federal, bagagem desacompanhada e mudança para o exterior). On arrival, French customs grants duty and VAT relief on personal property for someone genuinely transferring their normal residence back to France from outside the EU — you need a change-of-residence attestation, a detailed inventory, and proof you owned and used the goods for at least six months before the move, with a residence abroad of more than 12 months; the goods then cannot be sold, lent or rented for 12 months after import. The return-specific guidance sits on the France Diplomatie site (France Diplomatie, déménagement vers la France), and you would re-register your French tax residency with impots.gouv.fr on return.

How Flyto handles your France to Brazil move

Flyto runs its own offices, warehouses, crews and vehicles across Northern, Central and Southern Europe, so the French collection, packing and export documentation on this move are handled by our in-house European team. For the ocean leg and Brazilian customs clearance we work through a carefully vetted network of subcontracted carriers, and on the ground in Brazil we rely on trusted local partners for last-mile delivery, DSI/Siscomex filing support and pet-import coordination with Vigiagro — so you get one point of contact in Europe backed by specialists who know Brazilian import procedure in detail.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a French export customs declaration for my furniture and boxes?
No — ordinary personal effects and a privately used vehicle leaving France for a non-EU country need no customs declaration, only proof of change of residence, a landlord/municipal attestation and a signed inventory (Douane).

Can I bring my car from France to Brazil?
Generally no, not duty-free as part of a relocation shipment — Receita Federal lists motor vehicles among the goods excluded from Brazil’s "bagagem" exemption category altogether, so a car needs its own import declaration and typically faces high import taxation (Receita Federal). Most people sell in France and buy in Brazil.

How long does my unaccompanied baggage have to arrive in Brazil?
Within 3 months before to 6 months after your own arrival; later than that triggers a 20% penalty on any import tax due (Receita Federal).

Do I need a permit to bring my dog or cat to Brazil?
No prior import authorization is needed, but you do need an International Veterinary Certificate or MAPA-recognised pet passport from an official vet, on the mandatory export-certificate model in force since September 2025, checked by Vigiagro on arrival (MAPA/Vigiagro).

Do I have to formally deregister when leaving France?
There’s no single "deregistration" office; the key step is notifying your tax office of your departure and filing your departure-year tax return, plus informing your employer, pension funds and health insurer (impots.gouv.fr).

What do I need to do once I land in Brazil as a resident?
Register with the Polícia Federal for your Registro Nacional Migratório (RNM) — generally within 90 days of entry for temporary-visa holders, or 30 days of your residence authorization’s publication (Polícia Federal).

Sources

• DGDDI — Transfert de résidence principale hors de l’Union européenne (expatriés)
• DGDDI — Vous voyagez avec 10 000 euros ou plus
• DGDDI — Vous voyagez avec un chien, chat ou furet
• France Diplomatie — Déménagement (formalités douanières avant le départ)
• France Diplomatie — Déménagement vers la France (retour)
• impots.gouv.fr — Je pars vivre à l’étranger, quelles démarches dois-je accomplir ?
• HAROPA PORT — official port authority (Le Havre–Rouen–Paris)
• Service-Public.gouv.fr annuaire — Grand port maritime de Marseille-Fos
• Receita Federal — Bagagem desacompanhada e mudança para o Brasil
• Receita Federal — Bagagem desacompanhada e mudança para o exterior
• Receita Federal — Perguntas e Respostas (Guia do Viajante)
• Receita Federal — Bens do Viajante
• Polícia Federal — Registrar-se como Estrangeiro no Brasil (RNM)
• Ministério das Relações Exteriores — Vistos
• MAPA/Vigiagro — Animais de Estimação: Entrar no Brasil
• Autoridade Portuária de Santos (gov.br)