In just over a week, Brazil goes to the polls. On Sunday 4 October 2026, Brazilians choose in a single day the president, the governors of every state, two thirds of the Senate and the deputies at federal and state level. Where nobody wins an absolute majority in the first round, a run-off follows on 25 October. That is what the electoral calendar says, set by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in Resolution 23.760 of 2 March 2026.
If you are an expat living in Brazil or planning to move there, three questions arise: may you vote? What changes in daily life around election day? And what can a new government change in the rules that matter to you, meaning tax and residence? The answers are calmer than the headlines of the coming weeks will suggest. This piece makes no forecasts about the outcome; it is about the rules.
What is being elected
The TSE lists the offices in its overview of the offices as follows:
The president and governors are elected by majority vote: whoever wins more than half of the valid votes in the first round is elected, and blank and spoiled ballots do not count. Otherwise the two front runners meet in the run-off. For the Senate a simple majority is enough, and this time every voter has two votes. Deputies are chosen by proportional representation, as the TSE sets out in its explanation of the electoral systems.
The scale: 158.7 million eligible voters, including 918,876 Brazilians abroad. Voting takes place at 517,206 polling stations in 5,571 municipalities and 186 cities abroad. That is what the TSE reports in its statistics of 4 September.
May you vote?
As a foreigner: no. The Constitution states clearly in Article 14, paragraph 2 that foreigners cannot register as voters. The TSE confirms in its case law collection on voter registration that registration is barred only to foreigners and to conscripts during military service. Permanent residence does not change that.
There is one exception: Portuguese citizens who have obtained the status of equal rights in Brazil. They have to prove this status when registering. If you do not hold a Portuguese passport, it does not apply to you.
It is different if you have become Brazilian. Anyone who is a Brazilian national, by naturalisation or otherwise, has not only the right but from the age of 18 the duty to vote. Under Article 14 of the Constitution voting is optional only for 16 and 17-year-olds, for people aged 70 and over and for people who cannot read or write. If you do not vote, you can justify your absence: for the first round until 3 December 2026, for a run-off until 8 January 2027, according to the TSE calendar. How you become a Brazilian citizen and what it involves is covered in our guide to Brazilian citizenship.
If you have only just been naturalised, though, you are too late for this election. The electoral roll has been closed since 7 May 2026 and, according to the calendar, reopens only on 3 November.
What applies around election day
Voting on 4 October runs from 8 am to 5 pm, uniformly on Brasília time across the whole country. In states with a different time zone, polling stations therefore open and close at different local times. The election falls on a Sunday, and for the days before and after, the TSE calendar lists some special rules:
For daily life as a foreigner, the main point is: expect a lot of activity around polling stations on election Sunday, and do not plan official appointments for the days directly before and after. If there are run-offs, the same applies again on 25 October.
The calendar until January
There are a good three months between election day and the start of the new terms. The TSE calendar sets out the milestones:
Until the new terms begin, the current government stays in office. If you are waiting for changes from a new government, you are waiting until January at least, and for new laws, the route through the newly composed Congress adds more time.
Tax: what a new government can change, and how fast
This is the question that worries newcomers most. The answer lies in the Constitution, and it applies whoever wins.
Taxes are created by law. Under Article 150, no tax may be introduced or increased without a law. A president alone therefore cannot raise income tax permanently; he or she needs Congress, which is elected on the same day. Even the detour via a Medida Provisória, an emergency decree with the force of law, helps only to a limited extent: if it raises a tax such as income tax, under Article 62, paragraph 2 it takes effect only in the following year, and only if Congress converts it into law by the end of the year in which it was issued.
New or higher taxes do not apply in the same year. Article 150 prohibits collecting a tax in the fiscal year in which the law introducing or raising it was published. For income tax this annuality principle applies, but the additional 90-day waiting period does not, according to paragraph 1 of the same article. In practice: an income tax increase that the new government pushes through Congress in 2027 can take effect from 1 January 2028 at the earliest. Some levies, such as import and export duties and the financial transactions tax IOF, are exempt from these time limits. And the limits only protect you from new or higher taxes, as the wording says. They do not apply to cuts, which can come faster.
The law for 2026 is settled. The income tax reform, Law 15,270 of 26 November 2025, applies for 2026: since January, monthly taxable income up to 5,000 reais has been relieved to the point where no tax is due, and the law introduces a minimum tax for people with high incomes. If you are taxable in Brazil in 2026, plan with these rules for this year, whatever the outcome of the election. What the reform means in detail for newcomers is explained in our piece on tax in Brazil after the income tax reform.
And your home country?
The election changes nothing about whether you also pay tax at home. Whether your home country has a tax treaty with Brazil, and what it keeps taxing once you live there, depends on where you come from. Some countries have a treaty with Brazil in force, others have none or are still negotiating one:
Whichever applies to you, that question remains the most important planning point regardless of the election result.
Residence and visas: where law ends and regulation begins
The basis for residence permits is the Migration Law, Law 13,445 of 2017. Article 30 lists the purposes for which residence can be granted: among others research and teaching, medical treatment, study, work, and investment or economically relevant activity. Added to these are cases such as a job offer or an agreement on residence and free movement.
The decisive sentence comes at the end of the list: residence can also be granted in "other cases defined by regulation". That means two things. What is in the law can only be changed by Congress. What the government adds by regulation, a government can also adjust again by regulation. The list in Article 30, for example, does not name a separate purpose for retirees. Permits that are not in the law therefore rest on rules below the level of statute, and with such rules, income thresholds and procedures generally do not depend on Congress.
What the law itself rules out, on the other hand, is stable. Under Article 30, paragraph 1, no residence is granted to people with a final criminal conviction in Brazil or abroad, provided the offence is also punishable under Brazilian law. The law itself names exceptions. So a clean criminal record remains a must, whoever governs.
Which residence permits currently exist and what they require is covered in our piece on the Brazilian residence permit. If you are planning an application, do not postpone it because of the election: the new cabinet only takes office in January, and changes to regulations then take their own time.
What you should do now
If you live in Brazil: Treat election Sundays like public holidays, avoid official appointments around 4 October and, if needed, 25 October, and follow the results through the TSE's official channels. The court itself offers a way to report false information about the election.
If you are a dual national: Check whether you are on the electoral roll, where your polling station is and how to justify your absence if you are not in the country on 4 October. For the first round you have until 3 December, for a run-off until 8 January 2027.
If you are planning the move: Base your tax planning on the law as it stands. Even an income tax increase passed in 2027 could, under the Constitution, take effect in 2028 at the earliest. For residence: what is in the law is more stable than what is in regulations.
A broader look at life in Brazil, with costs, visas and drawbacks, is in our guide to moving to Brazil, and an honest weighing-up in the Brazil reality check. The key facts on passport and residence are on the Brazil country page.
An election changes the direction of a country. It does not change overnight the rules by which taxes rise and residence permits come into being. If you know those rules, you can follow the coming weeks calmly, however the votes are split in the end.
Carpe Diem. Life is short and fleeting. One shot. Make it count.