What Documents Do I Need to Register via REDESIM/gov.br?
Registering a company in Brazil through REDESIM on gov.br needs CPF, address proof and a CNAE code at minimum; LTDA also needs articles of association.
Every company registration in Brazil runs through REDESIM on gov.br, and the document list depends on the legal structure: a MEI needs only CPF and address proof, while an LTDA needs articles of association signed by every partner plus each partner’s CPF.
What documents do I need to register a company in Brazil?
At minimum, every registration needs a valid CPF for each partner, proof of the business address, and the CNAE code describing the activity. A MEI registers with just CPF, address and CNAE through the gov.br MEI portal. An LTDA or SLU additionally needs the articles of association (contrato social), signed by all partners, filed with the Junta Comercial through REDESIM before the CNPJ is issued.
Do I need a CPF before I can register a company?
Yes. CPF is required before REDESIM will process any company registration, for Brazilian citizens and foreign partners alike. See Do I need a CPF before getting a CNPJ? for how foreign partners obtain one.
Do foreign partners need extra documents?
A foreign partner needs a CPF and, in most cases, a power of attorney granted to a Brazil-based representative, since REDESIM correspondence and notifications are handled through that representative until the foreign partner has a permanent presence in the country.
Does the CNAE I choose affect which documents REDESIM asks for?
Yes. Activities classified as higher risk by the municipality, such as food service or health-related CNAEs, trigger an additional licensing step after CNPJ issuance, requiring sanitary or environmental permits before the company can legally operate, even though the CNPJ itself is issued faster under Brazil’s risk-based registration rules.
How long does REDESIM take to process the documents?
Brazil’s average registration time was 21 hours in the second four-month period of 2025, according to the federal government’s Mapa de Empresas report, once all documents are correctly filed. States vary widely: Piaui and Sergipe averaged 7 hours, while Sao Paulo, the state with the highest volume of registrations, averaged one day and 10 hours. Missing or inconsistent documents, not the CNAE itself, are the most common reason a registration takes longer than that average.