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Pension questions

Brazil pension questions

These are the questions people search about a pension left in Brazil. Each page answers its question in the first two sentences, and we show those two sentences below, read from the official source with the date we read it. We identify where a pension is likely held and the route to it. We do not give advice.

English

  • How many contributions do I need for an INSS age pension?

    The INSS holds a contribution record under your CPF, where an age pension needs 180 monthly contributions, the carencia set by Law 8.213/1991, and nothing partial is paid below it. A benefit can be granted only once the minimum number of monthly contributions required for that specific benefit (periodo de carencia) has been accumulated.

    • Source: gov.br/inss, planalto.gov.br and fgts.gov.br, read 4 October 2026
    • Source: planalto.gov.br, read 1 September 2026

  • How do INSS beneficiaries abroad do the proof of life?

    An INSS beneficiary living outside Brazil must complete proof of life once a year, in their birthday month, or payment is blocked and the benefit suspended. The life certificate or INSS form used for proof of life from abroad is valid for only 90 days, counted from the date of signature on the document issued by the Liaison Body of the agreement country, from the legalisation of the document by a Brazilian Embassy or Consulate, or from the date of the apostille.

    • Source: gov.br, read 1 September 2026

  • Do foreigners who worked in Brazil have an FGTS account?

    Separately, Caixa Economica Federal holds an FGTS account in your name, funded by employer deposits of 8 per cent of salary, and it exists whatever your contribution total. Meu INSS and the FGTS app sit behind a conta gov.br, and that account cannot be opened at all without a CPF already registered in the Receita Federal database.

    • Source: gov.br/inss, planalto.gov.br and fgts.gov.br, read 4 October 2026
    • Source: gov.br/governodigital and fgts.gov.br, read 4 October 2026

  • Can I receive an INSS pension while living abroad?

    Once a benefit is in payment and you live outside Brazil, comprovacao de vida is required once a year, in your birthday month. Law 8.213/1991 sets a decadencia of ten years and limits unpaid instalments to the five years before the application, so an age pension runs from the date you apply and anything further back is lost.

    • Source: planalto.gov.br and gov.br/inss, read 4 October 2026

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