Brazil’s Consulate-General in Lisbon has become the first diplomatic post outside the country to issue the Carteira de Identidade Nacional (CIN), the biometric national identity card that is replacing the legacy Registro Geral across all Brazilian states.
The pilot launched on April 16 at the Lisbon consulate, with Minister Esther Dweck of the Ministry of Management and Innovation attending the ceremony. The initiative is a partnership among Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Management and Innovation, and the Federal District Civil Police, and is part of the Itamaraty’s broader Digital Transformation Plan for consular services abroad.
Applicants access the e-consular system, which routes them to the Federal District Civil Police’s scheduling platform for biometric enrollment. Once an appointment is confirmed and documentation submitted, fingerprint and facial biometric data collection takes place at equipment installed within the Lisbon consulate, with remote technical assistance available throughout the process.
Once issued, the CIN grants holders access to the Gov.br platform’s “conta ouro” (gold account), which unlocks more than 4,000 digital services. These include electronic signatures, digital certificates, electoral services, vaccination records, criminal background checks, and tax regularization, all of which become accessible from abroad without requiring a return trip to Brazil.
The CIN uses the CPF as a unified national identifier and integrates fingerprint and facial biometrics, making it significantly more resistant to fraud than the old RG system. The government’s domestic biometric verification infrastructure is built on Serpro’s platform, which exceeded digital ID revenue targets by 40 percent in 2025 and performs both one-to-many and one-to-one biometric checks.
Brazil has been accelerating domestic issuance through the PROCIN program, which transferred R$44.25 million to states with lower adoption rates. The country aims to reach approximately 130 million CINs issued by the end of 2026, covering nearly two-thirds of the population.
The card has also become central to social benefits access. Brazil has mandated biometric verification for social benefit recipients, with staggered deadlines beginning in January 2027 for those without existing biometric records and January 2028 for those already enrolled through the electoral authority, driver’s license, or passport systems.
The Lisbon pilot is expected to serve as a model for extending CIN issuance to other consulates worldwide, though no timeline for additional locations has been announced.
Sources: Publico Brasil, DN Brasil
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
