Russian families increasingly travel to Brazil for birth-tourism and dual citizenship
Russian couples are flying to Brazil to have their children born there, securing Brazilian passports that allow visa-free travel worldwide.
A Russian couple, Yulia and Dmitri, traveled to Brazil while pregnant and paid roughly €10,000 for delivery and related expenses, including intensive-care treatment for their newborn daughter at a private clinic in Santos. The child automatically receives Brazilian nationality, enabling visa-free travel to most countries, which the parents view as a strategic advantage. Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, tighter visa rules have pushed more Russians toward Brazil, especially after Argentina imposed a two-year residency rule for citizenship.
Lawyers and support groups note a surge in Russian women seeking prenatal care, with 136 Russian pregnant patients recorded in 2025, and a nascent service sector helping them navigate housing, healthcare, and paperwork. Brazilian authorities are now conducting stricter address verification, but there is no evidence of systematic entry bans; only one documented case of a pregnant Russian initially denied entry was later resolved after legal intervention.
