Dear folks,
I need to have an Brazilian account (or multi currency account which has Brazilian Real currency available).
Nevertheless, i'm not Brazilian and don't live there (actually living in Europe).
Should i rather find use a offshore multi-currency account ?
If yes, could you recommend me some banks ?
In the case the best option is the opening with a Brazilian bank, would bradesco be the best option ?
Are there some Brazilian mail forwarding services which forward to Europe ?
Thanks,
L.
okay, cool. i feel relatively safe in answering this one.
can i give a quick geography/history lesson ? dont worry, it wont be worthless reading and it will all connect in the end. lol.
i would like to start off with a quote, very famous in brazilian business culture
"brazil is not for beginners"
which translates to: the amount of bureaucracy + system loopholes + potential for profits Brazil presents, are huge, so if you are willing to take a bet, you are welcome, you can be greatly rewarded, but you better come out at your best shape (and lawyers, and connections and networking)
Brazil bordes 10 out of 12 south american countries , we are a huge hub in south america, I think when it comes to borders we only come behind china and russia, which have borders with 14 different countries. but here is the catch, unlike them, we are a multiethnic nation, what it means is, anyone with any physical biotype can claim to be brazilian and go under the radar, you will never look like an alien, it doesn't matter your ethnicity , combine that with the border weak patrolling and you get this explosive result, brazil is #1 runaway go-to to a lot of people (not saying is your case, lol. please!)
on top of all that , multiethnic + religion freedom + huge boarders with weak patrol and easy escape routes, you have the "
friendliness stereotype" by other nations, you may not know hack about brazil, but whenever the name its brought up, people come up with this image of football, endless summer, hot chicks, music, nice people, a country with a non war, conflicts and interference history, and so on.. which is not far from the truth. at the other side we do have the heavy bureaucracy , mild corruption (
mild, not like african type or eastern european type corruption, but not as clean as those nordic countries). overall if you put all the pros and cons in a balance, it is definitely a pro to invest in brazil, dont take my word for it, just look at all the multinationals that come here.
now, finally, lets get to the point, you are not here for a lesson history..
how to open a bank account as a non-brazilian citizen or resident (and why all the above introduction will make sense now)
straight to the point: no you are not going to open an account in brazil as a tourist.
HOWEVER, as we have learned above, brazil is not beginners, with the right connections and loopholes, you can get a brazilian bank account. as a quick example, I can mention the huge influx of venezuelans crossing the boarder nowadays. they all got bank accounts at federal banks without being citzens, why ? there are two powehouses state banks in brazil (state banks, not the private ones) , CAIXA ECONOMICA FEDERAL and BANCO DO BRASIL, so those banks were magically allowed to start opening account for this people independent of their status in Brazil. Now, thats not your case, so below I will describe what would be my options to you:
1.
apply for a RNE , the equivalent of a social security in brazil . not easy, but not impossible, you can even hire people to do it for you.
2. proxy/outsource , someone mentioned this here, yes, its a valid option, you gotta have a lot of trust in the person. there will be people willing to "rent" their name and cpf (cpf = brazilian social security) to you, as well as go to the bank, open the account, then give you password/pin so you can operate online yourself. its like buying a all-in-one solution.
3. start a company. I can ask my accountant (I googled it, but my accountant is better than google , lol) and I can find out the details, shortcuts and hurdles for a foreigner open a company and subsequently open business bank account in brazil. my accountant (just like many accountants) got his networking, and might be able to help you, if you wish , let me know, I send you my whatsapp/skype by PM and we talk face to face and try to assist you.
4. brazilian banks abroad: there are branches of brazilian banks abroad, like Bradesco, Itau, Banco do Brasil, however, I truly don't know their opening process , plus, many times, the simple fact you have opened a bank account at a brazilian bank abroad not necessarily means it will be a brazilian account. An example for that would be Santander. Santander is a spanish bank, with branches everywhere in Europe, Brazil, USA .. I have a Santander account, that doesn't mean I have a EURO account, it means I have an account at Santander Brazil, even though they have the same name, its the same bank, they are not connected. (odd right..) but it definitely I believe its a facilitator, I mean, if you already a , lets say, Banco do Brasil client in wherever you are, visiting Brazil getting into a Banco do Brasil branch , introducing yourself as a client already, sending and keeping and holding a account in BRL must be less bureaucratic than start from the scratch.
thats about it. I hope to have helped.
