Immigrant visa interview scheduling was paused worldwide on August 25, 2026, with no resumption date. On the Brazilian side, exit filings, powers of attorney and probate cannot wait for a consular calendar that no longer exists.
The hook
On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of State paused immigrant visa interview scheduling at every embassy and consulate worldwide, with no announced resumption date and reports of appointments already on the calendar being rescheduled. The pause followed an August 21 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York vacating the consular guidance that had suspended immigrant visa issuance for nationals of 75 countries.
What happened
Three connected facts, all from August 2026, and all relevant here only as background:
On August 21, 2026, in Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) v. Rubio, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, per Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, vacated State Department guidance, in effect since January 2026, instructing consular officers to withhold immigrant visas based solely on the applicant's nationality across 75 countries — Brazil among them. The court found the policy eliminated the individualized assessment required by immigration law, set aside refusals grounded solely on the measure, and ordered case-by-case adjudication to resume. An appeal remains available.
On August 25, 2026, the Department of State paused immigrant visa interview scheduling worldwide, citing global officer training on the uniform application of the public charge ground of inadmissibility. Family- and employment-based consular cases are affected; temporary visas — visitor, business, student — are not. No resumption date has been announced.
On September 1, 2026, the September Visa Bulletin — the last of the U.S. fiscal year — takes effect. Brazilian nationals fall under All Chargeability Areas, where family-based final action dates advanced sharply: F1 to January 22, 2020 (more than thirteen months); F2B to August 22, 2019 (nearly twenty months); F3 to October 22, 2014 (about twenty-nine months); F4 to October 22, 2011 (more than two years). On the employment side, EB-1, EB-2 and EB-5 are current; EB-3 stands at September 1, 2024 and EB-4 at December 15, 2022. The Bulletin warns categories may become unavailable before September 30 if annual limits are reached.
None of this is advice on U.S. law. It is the context that explains why a set of decisions on the Brazilian side needs to be revisited this week.
The technical reading
A note on how Brazil works, which U.S.-based readers often learn the expensive way. Brazil determines your tax residence by its own rules, independently of your immigration status anywhere else. Brazilian real property transfers only upon registration at the Real Estate Registry — a signed deed is not enough. And Brazilian courts hold exclusive jurisdiction over the distribution of estate assets located in Brazil: a U.S. probate order, however final, does not transfer a Brazilian apartment.
With that in place, the issue is not immigration. It is that relocating to the United States is usually the trigger for a chain of Brazilian decisions — selling the apartment, winding down the company, making advances on the children's inheritance, filing the Communication of Definitive Departure with the Brazilian federal tax authority — and those decisions were scheduled around a consular date that, since August 25, no longer exists.
The costliest mistake here is filing the Communication of Definitive Departure early. Brazilian tax residence is governed by Normative Instruction SRF No. 208/2002, and the system works like this: a person leaving permanently becomes non-resident on the date of departure (art. 3, II), but only if the Communication of Definitive Departure is filed (arts. 11-A and 11-B); someone who leaves without filing it continues to be treated as resident for the first twelve consecutive months of absence (art. 2, V); and someone leaving temporarily becomes non-resident only from the day after twelve consecutive months abroad (art. 3, V).
The operative point is that the communication presupposes a departure that has already happened. Filing it because a consular interview is on the calendar — and then staying in Brazil because the interview was postponed — creates a mismatch between declared and actual status, with consequences for how income is taxed, which returns are due, and how capital gains are computed on any sale in the meantime. Unwinding it is laborious and entirely avoidable.
The mirror-image point is the one worth acting on: a Brazilian power of attorney becomes more valuable, not less, as the calendar becomes uncertain. While the move had a date, deferring signatures until "next time I'm in Brazil" was reasonable. Without a date, the instrument is what separates property you can still manage from property that freezes. For dispositions of real estate, Brazilian law requires a public instrument with specific, express powers (Civil Code, arts. 108 and 657) — a general power of attorney will not support a sale, a mortgage, a pledge, or a partition. Executed abroad before a local notary, it requires an apostille under the Hague Apostille Convention, in force in Brazil under Decree No. 8,660/2016, plus a sworn translation. Executed at a Brazilian consulate, no apostille is needed. Both routes work; they differ in time and cost, and the choice is worth making deliberately.
One technical detail routinely surprises people, because it changes who owes the tax. On the sale of an asset located in Brazil by a person resident abroad, art. 26 of Law No. 10,833/2003 places the duty to withhold and remit capital gains tax on the Brazil-resident purchaser or — where the purchaser is also non-resident — on the seller's attorney-in-fact. Accepting a power of attorney to sell Brazilian property for a non-resident carries a tax liability of its own. That is a concrete reason to draft the instrument precisely, and to choose its holder carefully.
Finally, estates. A Brazilian estate with an heir abroad is already the scenario in which every new requirement costs another round of power of attorney, apostille and translation. With consular scheduling suspended, "we'll handle it on the next trip" stops being a plan. Article 23, II of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure reserves to Brazilian courts the exclusive authority to distribute assets located in Brazil, even where the decedent was a foreign national or resided abroad — meaning the Brazilian proceeding cannot be resolved by a foreign decision, and there is no shortcut around it.
Who this affects
- Brazilians with a pending consular immigrant visa case and property, a company, or an estate in Brazil
- Families in the family-based queues — F1, F2A, F2B, F3, F4 — whose relocation plans depended on a date
- Heirs living abroad in Brazilian estate proceedings stalled for want of a valid power of attorney
- Non-residents selling Brazilian real estate, and the attorneys-in-fact who represent them
- Foreign nationals with a Brazilian company, property, or family tie requiring personal appearance
- Anyone who has already filed definitive departure with the Brazilian tax authority and has since had the move postponed
What to do, and by when
- Do not file the Communication of Definitive Departure because of a consular appointment. Brazilian law keys the change of status to the departure itself, not to an expected visa.
- Put in place or refresh a Brazilian public power of attorney with specific, express powers for whatever must keep moving — estate proceedings, sales, corporate representation, banking — checking its validity period and the apostille and sworn-translation chain.
- If definitive departure has already been filed, confirm that declared status matches actual status, and consider amending before it affects the next return.
- Complete what depends on time rather than presence: clearing the property registry record, recording construction, opening the estate proceeding within the two-month period of art. 611 of the Code of Civil Procedure, updating the articles of association and the ownership record.
- In any sale of Brazilian property by a non-resident, agree in writing, before the deed, who computes and remits the capital gains tax, in light of art. 26 of Law No. 10,833/2003.
The cost of doing nothing
An estate, a sale or a company that depends on one in-person signature stays frozen for as long as the consular queue lasts — and no one knows how long that is.
Scope note: This content addresses Brazilian law only. Matters governed by foreign law are handled in partnership with lawyers licensed in the relevant jurisdiction.
Editorial record
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Pillar: 6 — Ties to Brazil
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Related service (performed in Brazil): public powers of attorney and apostille, Brazilian estate and partition proceedings, regularization and sale of Brazilian real estate by non-residents, tax residence status, corporate representation of shareholders abroad
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Editorial tier: Gold
Sources: U.S. Department of State — Visa Bulletin for September 2026 · Fragomen — United States: State Department Temporarily Pauses Immigrant Visa Interviews Worldwide · Fragomen — United States: Federal District Court Vacates State Department's 75-Country Immigrant Visa Ban · Boundless, 26/8/2026 — State Department Pauses Immigrant Visa Appointments Worldwide · NILC — CLINIC v. Rubio (documentos do processo) · U.S. News / Reuters, 25/8/2026 — Trump administration issues pause on visa appointments for applicants worldwide · Mintz — State Department Suspends Immigrant Visa Processing for 75 Countries (lista dos 75 países, com o Brasil) · Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners, 24/8/2026 — Federal Court Vacates State Department's 75-Country Immigrant Visa Suspension · Instrução Normativa SRF nº 208, de 27/9/2002 — arts. 2º, V; 3º, II e V; 11-A e 11-B (residentes, não residentes e saída definitiva) · Lei nº 10.833/2003, art. 26 — retenção do ganho de capital de não residente · Decreto nº 8.660/2016 — Convenção da Apostila da Haia · Código de Processo Civil, art. 23, II — competência exclusiva da autoridade brasileira
Notice
This content is strictly informational, produced under Provimento No. 205/2021 of the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), with no commercial or client-solicitation purpose. The practical guidance is general and does not substitute for analysis of a specific matter. Artificial intelligence assisted in research and drafting, under the full professional review and responsibility of the signing attorney, in accordance with Recommendation No. 001/2024 of the Federal Council of the OAB.
Scope
This content addresses Brazilian law only. Matters governed by foreign law are handled in partnership with lawyers licensed in the relevant jurisdiction.
Verification record
Every provision was checked against primary sources on August 31, 2026: the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in CLINIC v. Rubio (August 21, 2026); the U.S. Department of State announcement of August 25, 2026 pausing immigrant visa interview scheduling worldwide; the September 2026 Visa Bulletin; Normative Instruction SRF 208/2002 (Articles 2, V; 3, II and V; 11-A and 11-B); Law 10.833/2003, Article 26; Decree 8.660/2016 (Hague Apostille Convention); Civil Code, Articles 108 and 657; and Code of Civil Procedure, Article 23, II.
An appeal remains available in the S.D.N.Y. matter, and no resumption date has been announced for consular scheduling. Those are matters of United States law and appear here as context only; none of the Brazilian rules described depend on them.
A note on the English edition. This piece is an adaptation, not a translation. Legal citations keep their Portuguese designations, because those are what a Brazilian notary, registry office or court will recognize.
About the firm
Andrade & Cintra Advogados is a boutique law firm dedicated to Civil, Corporate and Real Estate Law, with a focus on Family and Succession Law, concentrated on estate and succession planning, the structuring of family and asset-holding companies, corporate governance and the organization of wealth for succession purposes — always with business purpose, substance and legal compliance. International practice in cooperation with Sintra Legal & Partners.
About the author
Dr. J. Guilherme de Andrade Cintra — Founding Partner · OAB/SP nº 220.915. Editorial co-authorship assisted by artificial intelligence (Anthropic Claude) as editor, under the review and responsibility of the signing attorney.
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