Office of International Affairs
The Office of International Affairs guides the internationalization process of the graduate programs at COPPE, including its faculty and students. It commits itself to the development of Brazilian science and technology with international academic partnerships focused on developing and improving human resources. Its role is to mediate initiatives for the internationalization of COPPE, while complying with the guidelines of the Office of International Relations at UFRJ (SGRI). More specifically, COPPE’s Office of International Affairs oversees the proposal of international academic agreements and cotutelle agreements, publicizes partnership and exchange opportunities, and offers support to international students and foreign visits to our institute.
Services for Non-Residents
Types of Visa
Applying for a Type IV Student Visa
All information regarding the issuing of visas was provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Police.
Any immigrants who wish to take a regular course of study in Brazil may be granted a residence permit for the aforementioned purpose. In that case, they may apply for a study visa at the Brazilian Consulate or Embassy in their country of origin, or otherwise, if they are already in Brazil, the application must be made directly with the Federal Police by prior appointment on their website.
Each Consular Office has its own work routine. For further details, please contact the Brazilian Consular Office that will process your application.
Procedures and requested documents may vary. Please refer to their official websites beforehand to check if there are any changes.
Required documents:
- Residence Permit Form (click here).
- A valid travel document (passport) or official identity document.
- In case the travel document does not contain the parents’ names, the applicant must submit a birth or marriage certificate.
- Criminal record certificates or an equivalent document from any place in which the applicant has lived in the past five years.
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- Federal Criminal Record Certificate (Agency: TRF2)
- State Criminal Record Certificate (Agency: TJRJ)
- Foreign students who have lived abroad in the past 5 years must provide a translated version of such a certificate into Portuguese made by a public sworn translator or otherwise duly registered with the Board of Trade.
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- Statement of no criminal records in any country in the last five years, signed by the applicant themselves (click here).
- Proof of financial capacity for the period of study or proof of scholarship award.
- Proof of enrollment in the desired course.
- Proof of payment of both fees (available here). Please note that it will be necessary to provide both the payment slip and the proof of payment.
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- Residence Permit (R$168.13 - Code 140066)
- National Migratory Registration (RNM) Card (R$204.77 - Code 140120)
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- Recent 3x4 (cm) color photo with plain white background, on plain paper, facing forwards;
- Statement of non-involvement in research and/or teaching and/or academic outreach/extension (available here).
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Renewing a Type IV Student Visa
Required documents:
- Application for renewal, available as an online form on the Federal Police website, which must be filled out, printed, and then signed by the foreign student or their legal representative (available here).
- National Migratory Registration Card (CRNM).
- Statement of no criminal records in the past year (available here).
- Up-to-date Brazilian criminal record certificate
- Proof of academic performance.
- Proof of livelihood (for more information, please check our FAQ).
- Statement of non-involvement in research and/or teaching and/or academic outreach/extension (available here).
- Proof of payment of the CRNM issuance fee (R$204.77 - Code 140120) (available here). Please note that it will be necessary to provide both the payment slip and the proof of payment.
- Recent 3x4 (cm) color photo with plain white background, on plain paper, facing forwards.
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MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL Visa
Citizens of MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay) who wish to live in Brazil may obtain a legal residence permit upon submitting proof of nationality and proof that they meet the requirements. The application must be made with the Federal Police by prior appointment, within 90 days of arriving in Brazil.
Required documents:
- Online form, duly filled out and printed (available here).
- A valid travel document (passport) or official identity document.
- Statement of e-mail address and other means of communication according to the template on the Federal Police website.
- Proof of no previous judicial and/or criminal and/or police record in the applicant's country of origin or country of residence in the five years prior to their arrival in Brazil or their application with the consulate, as the case may be.
- Statement of no international criminal or police records (available here).
- The applicant's judicial and/or criminal and/or police records certificate in Brazil.
- Proof of payment of fees (Please note that it will be necessary to submit both the payment slip and the proof of payment.
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- Residence Permit (R$168.13 - Code 140066).
- National Migratory Registration (RNM) Card (R$204.77 - Code 140120).
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- Recent 3x4 (cm) color photo with plain white background, on plain paper, facing forwards.
Applying for a CPF number
When the student is outside Brazil
The service for registration with the CPF (Individual Taxpayer Registration) for foreign persons living outside Brazil is conducted by the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate. Foreign students should seek the Consular Office at the applicable Jurisdiction and make an appointment for the CPF Application Service, through the e-consular system, for the chosen consulate or embassy.
List of consular offices: https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/assuntos/portal-consular/reparticoes-consulares-do-brasil
E-consular system: https://econsular.itamaraty.gov.br/
Required documents:
- FCPF (CPF Application Form), duly filled and signed
- Identity document (passport)
- Birth or Marriage Certificate
When the student is already in Brazil
To apply for a CPF number, in this case, the student needs to go to the link below, fill in the form, and send it in properly. They must use a Brazilian address when filling out the form.
CPF Registration Form: https://servicos.receita.fazenda.gov.br/Servicos/CPF/InscricaoCpfEstrangeiro/default.asp
Once the form has been duly filled out and submitted, the student must print out the generated protocol and go to a unit of the Brazilian Federal Revenue (RFB) Department.
List of RFB units: https://www.gov.br/receitafederal/pt-br/canais_atendimento/fale-conosco/presencial
Required document: Identity document. Examples:
- Passport
- Foreign Person Identity Card (CIE)
- National Migratory Registration Card (CRNM)
- Provisional National Migratory Registration Document (DPRNM)
The student may also go to the nearest Correios (Brazilian Postal Service) branch with one of the documents below:
- Passport; or
- CRNM (National Migratory Registration Card); or
- RNM protocol number accompanied by the printed SINCRE (National System of Foreign Persons) confirmation screen containing the registration data.
The student will need to pay a fee of R$7 for the form to be filled out at the Correios branch. Other documents that may be otherwise required are a copy of the visa and proof of residence in Brazil (for example, a utility bill containing the address where the student lives).
Opening a bank account at Banco do Brasil
General instructions
To open a checking account, the student can go to any branch of Banco do Brasil with the required documents. Foreign students can open an account at Banco do Brasil provided that they live in Brazil. The required documents to open a bank account are:
- Identity document
- CPF
- Proof of income (statement of scholarship award, proof of salary/wage, etc.)
- Proof of residence (utility bill, rental agreement, etc.*)
- National Migratory Registration Card
- Letter from the Graduate Program
* If the student has no utility bills in their name, they may then submit a statement (issued by the person whose name is on the bills) declaring that the student lives in the informed place. The statement must be signed and submitted together with a copy of the signing person's identity document and proof of residence in their name. Such a statement will remain valid for up to three months.
Academic Agreements
Our institute, in its capacity as a unit of UFRJ, establishes collaboration agreements with several international higher education institutions and research institutions. These agreements mainly contain the rights and duties of the signing parties.
Below are some of our partnerships:
International Partnerships of UFRJ proposed by COPPE
If you notice any errors or expired agreements, please report them to the following email: assessoria.internacional@adc.coppe.ufrj.br.
Establishing an Agreement
The parties of an international partnership always consist of UFRJ and a foreign partner, even if their activities are exclusively limited to Coppe. The Rector of UFRJ or their legal representative will be the one who signs the agreement. At Coppe, International Academic Agreements are established with our guidance at the Office of International Affairs, in compliance with the guidelines from the Office of Foreign Affairs at UFRJ and from the Federal Attorney-General’s Office.
We recommend that Coppe professors interested in proposing an international agreement between UFRJ and an international institution seek our advice at the Office of International Affairs.
Types of Agreement
Memorandum of Undestanding – MOU
Applicable when both parties intend to formally register their interest in cooperating, with no incurred obligations to either party. It is basically a “written handshake”.
Specific Agreement
Applies when a party wants to promote academic exchange, be it with students, faculty, or technical-administrative staff members; or when they intend to promote joint research projects.
It is also possible to sign amendments to expand the scope of an agreement in force, to rectify its content, or to extend its term of validity.
Please note that the concerned parties can only sign an amendment to extend the term of an agreement within such a term.
The Office of International Affairs submits the proposals for international academic agreements via SEI and, depending on the case, they may need approval from the collegial body of the proposing program, from the CPGP (Coppe’s Commission for Graduate Studies and Research), from Coppe’s Deliberative Council, and the Department Council at the Center of Technology before being forwarded to the International Academic Agreements Department of the Office of International Relations at UFRJ to be analyzed and signed.
Cotutelle Agreement
Cotutelle is a double degree in stricto sensu graduate studies as the result of a partnership or collaboration between UFRJ and a foreign institution. Unlike a common exchange program, cotutelle programs enable master's/doctorate students to graduate simultaneously from both institutions, being awarded two equivalent degrees at the end of the course. To this end, both institutions need to formalize a cotutelle agreement, with no need for a previous academic agreement with the partner institution in question.
There are two types of cotutelle:
- Closed Cotutelle Agreements are made exclusively for the double degree of a single student and cannot include more cases of joint supervision.
- Open Cotutelle Agreements, however, can accommodate more than one case of joint supervision.
The following types of students can apply for a cotutelle regime:
- Stricto sensu graduate students of UFRJ with active status who have had their cotutelle accepted by the foreign institution.
- Stricto sensu graduate students from a foreign institution, provided that their enrollment with such an institution is active and that they have been accepted by a graduate program at UFRJ.
In both cases, the terms of the cotutelle agreement must be approved by the applicable councils and departments from Coppe, from the Center of Technology (CT/UFRJ), and from the Assistant Rector's Office for Graduate Studies and Research (PR2/UFRJ).
The Office of International Affairs at Coppe guides the students and professors through the administrative process and the required documents. This process should preferably be opened by the program where the interested student is enrolled.
The process must contain:
- Draft of the Cotutelle Agreement in Portuguese and in a foreign language, if applicable;
- Justification for the proposed agreement and the choice of institution.
The documents below are also required in cases of closed cotutelle agreements or when including students in an open cotutelle agreement.
- Study plan proposal containing: a. justification for the joint supervision and the choice of co-supervisor(s); b. objectives and goals; and c. schedule of activities;
- Résumé of the co-supervisors;
- Student curriculum;
- Copy of the student's academic transcript;
- Copy of the student's identity document
- Term of Commitment signed by the student and the co-supervisors providing for their compliance with the terms of the cotutelle agreement.
Links
Recognizing Foreign Degrees
The application process for recognizing foreign degrees at UFRJ has been suspended since July, 2018. This suspension has been extended every 90 days by UFRJ in consultation with the Federal Attorney’s Office, as stated on the PR2 website.
How to proceed?
According to Resolution CEPG 05/2019, the recognition process must start through the Carolina Bori Platform.
Once the process for degree recognition has resumed, a normative proceeding will be published with a step-by-step process for new applications on this platform. For more information, go to https://www.pr2.ufrj.br/revalidacaoDiploma or email reconhecimento@pr2.ufrj.br.
Step by Step Cotutelle Guide to COPPE’s Doctoral Degree students:
Provides for Writing a Thesis or Dissertation in a Foreign Language
Provides for Recognizing Master’s degrees obtained abroad for enrolling in Doctoral Courses at COPPE Resolution CPGP/COPPE No 02/2012
Cotutelle Instructions
French Annex
Portuguese Annex
Guidelines for the Enrollment of Undergraduate Students in Postgraduate Courses
International Partnerships
Check out the list of UFRJ’s international partnerships proposed by COPPE
Interactive Map with currently active partnerships
Contact Us
Email: assessoria.internacional@adc.coppe.ufrj.br
International Advisor:
Jorge Alison
Email: jorge.alison@adc.coppe.ufrj.br
Interns:
Emanuelle Zamith
Email: emanuelle.zamith@adc.coppe.ufrj.br
Dora Lacerda
Email: dora.lacerda@adc.coppe.ufrj.br