How many foreigners live in Floripa, Rio and São Paulo — by police registrations and the census

Where the numbers come from and what each counts

All numbers below were calculated on 2 Oct 2026 from open files, not taken from secondary accounts. There are three datasets, and they count different things.

SISMIGRA, active registrations. This is the Federal Police registry. It includes every foreigner who was allowed to live in the country: resident, temporary, provisional, border; how the registration and the CRNM card itself are structured is described in Registration with the Federal Police and the CRNM card. The file lists all records with status as of 31 Aug 2026: 2,080,214 active, 1,230,125 expired, 500,062 cancelled, 63,671 inactive and 5217 deleted. Only active ones are counted here. There are breakdowns by state and by country, but not by municipality.

SISMIGRA, registrations by year. The same records, broken down by year of registration, from 2010 through August 2026, but with municipality of residence. This is a flow, not a stock: how many people registered in the period. The status field in these files is almost everywhere "active", even for temporary cards of 2018 that should have long expired. It appears it is not updated, so this field is not used for stocks.

Census 2022, table 10157. All residents of the municipality by citizenship: Brazilians by birth, naturalized and foreigners. Countries are not in this table. Tables "foreigners by country of birth" for 2022 were not found in the SIDRA database on 2 Oct 2026: such tables exist only for 2000 and 2010.

What none of the three sources sees:

• tourists and everyone who is in the country under visa-free entry or on a visa without registration. Someone who lives on the island on tourist terms does not appear in SISMIGRA at all. The difference between a visa and residence is explained in Visa and residence permit — what is the difference and where to start (in Russian);
• those who have Brazilian citizenship. Naturalized people leave the foreigners registry, and the census counts them as a separate line without country;
• where the person lives now. The municipality in SISMIGRA is recorded at the moment of registration. In Santa Catarina for 7–10% of records of each year it is not indicated at all, therefore city numbers are a lower bound;
• one person in multiple records. There is no identifier in the files: someone who changed the basis or registered again may be counted twice.

Two more remarks about the data. In 2017 the citizenship field is empty in all 102,721 lines, therefore for that year country of birth was substituted. Country names in different years are recorded differently ("RÚSSIA" and "FEDERAÇÃO RUSSA", "REINO UNIDO" and "GRÃ-BRETANHA", "HAITI" and "REPUBLICA DO HAITI"), and they were merged in the count.

The OBMigra aggregate figure matches the country-level count. The Observatory in its annual report for 2025 estimates the number of immigrants at the beginning of 2026 at just over 2 million, and Venezuelans at approximately 680 thousand. The estimate is assembled from active registrations together with asylum applications not yet reviewed. In the file on 31 Aug 2026 there are 2,080,214 active registrations, of which 643,151 are Venezuelans.

Florianópolis and neighbouring municipalities

Census 2022. Foreigners in Greater Florianópolis (the four municipalities of the agglomeration) total 12,952, which is 1.2% of residents.

Registrations in Florianópolis by country. The window 2019 — Aug 2026 is closer to the current composition. The window 2010 — Aug 2026 shows who registered earlier and may already have left.

Year by year, registrations in the city are increasing. In 2019 there were 2130, in 2020, during the pandemic, 589. Then growth: 2327 in 2022, 3106 in 2023, 4094 in 2024, 4508 in 2025 and 2858 for the eight months of 2026.

São José, Palhoça, Biguaçu. For 2019 — Aug 2026 there are 5230, 4120 and 756 registrations respectively, and almost all of them are Venezuelan, Cuban or Haitian. Russians in São José zero, in Palhoça 41, Americans none. Together with Florianópolis for this period: Venezuela 10,371, Argentina 6171, Cuba 5402, Haiti 2363, Russia 1749, Uruguay 800, Colombia 627, Chile 600, USA 455, Germany 248, total 30,885.

This distribution seems to reflect how the field is filled in rather than geography. Registration for the whole agglomeration is conducted by the police unit in Florianópolis (addresses in Where to go to the Polícia Federal in Florianópolis and Santa Catarina — addresses of its offices (in Russian)), and probably the city of application remains in some records. Therefore the aggregate number for the agglomeration is more reliable than its breakdown by municipality. What distinguishes the island from the mainland municipalities as a place to live is discussed in Living in Florianópolis — the island through the eyes of a resident, not a tourist, and the city itself for newcomers is described in Florianópolis — a quick guide.

Santa Catarina: active registrations on 31 Aug 2026

Total 219,076, of which 137,768 are residents, 62,497 temporary and 18,811 provisional.

Russia is in 12th place (1501), USA in 13th (1223). An overview of the state is in Santa Catarina — overview of the state and how it is organized (in Russian).

São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

São Paulo. Active registrations in the state on 31 Aug 2026 — 683,487. Top ten: Bolivia 150,102, Portugal 64,953, Venezuela 50,326, China 45,164, Japan 36,542, Haiti 34,687, Argentina 25,388, Italy 21,326, Peru 21,073, Colombia 19,719. In the city itself for 2019 — Aug 2026 there were 215,114 registrations: Bolivia 64,832, Venezuela 18,814, Angola 17,623, China 14,509, Haiti 11,634, Peru 7489, USA 6960, Colombia 5821, Paraguay 5289, Argentina

1. The 2022 census counted 159,146 foreigners in the city, 1.4% of residents.

Rio de Janeiro. Active in the state — 169,713. Top ten: Portugal 55,933, Argentina 18,937, Italy 7057, USA 6638, Spain 6629, France 6375, China 6236, Venezuela 6146, Colombia 5311, Peru 3862. In the city itself for 2019 — Aug 2026 there were 41,084 registrations: France 3704, Argentina 3226, Venezuela 3066, USA 2784, Colombia 2654, Portugal 1736, China 1525, United Kingdom 1421, Russia 1325, Peru 1321. Census 2022 — 39,202 foreigners, 0.6% of residents.

As for how many Americans are in Rio: in the state of Rio active registrations of US citizens are 6638 (fourth place), and in the city itself for 2010 — Aug 2026 there were 10,270 of them, more than any other country. How many of them live in the city now is not published.

Whole country. Active 2,080,214. Top ten: Venezuela 643,151, Bolivia 176,955, Portugal 149,004, Haiti 129,121, Argentina 111,183, Cuba 91,520, Colombia 71,448, China 67,470, Uruguay 59,510, Paraguay 57,212. Census 2022 — 793,000 foreigners and 216,341 naturalized, 0.4% and 0.1% of the population.

Summary table by country

Columns BR, SC, SP and RJ show active registrations on 31 Aug 2026 by country and states. The last three are registrations 2019 — Aug 2026 in the cities themselves.

Portugal, Italy and Japan rank high in active registrations, but low in recent registrations. These are old permanent cards issued decades ago. They do not expire, and such a card remains "active" even if the owner has left or died.

Russians and neighbours: the wave after 2022

Registrations of citizens of Russia by year (2026 — January–August):

The turning point is 2022: nationwide registrations doubled, in the state they tripled. For 2022 — Aug 2026 there are 6220 in the country, and one in four was in Florianópolis. Within the state five of six are also in Florianópolis: 1558 out of 1857, another 249 without city indicated. The year 2026 already surpassed 2025 for the country, state and city in eight months.

By municipalities in the country for 2022 — Aug 2026: Florianópolis 1558, Rio 1175, São Paulo 654, Recife 246, Santos 179, Curitiba 171.

The legal basis for Russians in Florianópolis in this period is almost always the same: family reunification (reunião familiar), 1390 out of 1558, that is 89%. Nationwide the figure is 72%. This group also includes the residence of a parent of a child born in Brazil; how it works is discussed in Residence for family reunification and for marriage to a Brazilian (in Russian). Work and investments produced 72 registrations in Floripa, study 37.

Other countries of the same group have few registrations in the state and city:

Kazakhstan: 7–39 registrations per year nationwide, 1–8 in the state. In Florianópolis the first seven appeared only in 2026. Citizens of Israel in Florianópolis for 2019 — Aug 2026 account for two registrations.

Active registrations on 31 Aug 2026: Russians 6212 nationwide and 1501 in Santa Catarina, Ukrainians 1565 and 132, Belarusians 277 and 62, citizens of Kazakhstan 161 and 26. Community and religious life in the city is described in Communities of Florianópolis — where to find community and help.

Discrepancy in sources

Census versus registry. The 2022 census counted 72,793 foreigners in Santa Catarina, while active registrations in the state on 31 Aug 2026 — 219,076, three times more. Part of the difference is growth after 2022, primarily Venezuelan. The rest is the registry's structure: an "active" card does not mean the person is in the country. The census, conversely, counts only those found at home and usually undercounts recent arrivals and those who move frequently. The truth is somewhere in between, and no single figure serves as "exactly how many live there".

City in the registry. In Florianópolis the census records 8253 foreigners, while registrations for 2022 — Aug 2026 alone number 16,893. That means many who registered in the city have already left, live in a neighbouring municipality or were counted twice. Zero Russians and Americans in São José, against hundreds in the state capital, point the same way.

OBMigra report and file count. The report names "just over 2 million" immigrants at the start of 2026, the file on 31 Aug 2026 gives 2,080,214 active registrations. The numbers are close but count different things: the report adds asylum applications not yet reviewed, while the file does not contain them.

Sources

1. T1OBMigra / Polícia Federal — SISMIGRA, registrations by status on the last day of the monthgov.br · primary source
2. T1OBMigra / Polícia Federal — SISMIGRA, registrations by year of registrationgov.br · primary source
3. T1IBGE, Censo 2022 — population by citizenship, sex and agesidra.ibge.gov.br · primary source
4. T1OBMigra — Relatório Anual 2025: just over 2 million immigrants at the start of 2026, about 680 thousand Venezuelansgov.br · primary source

T1 — primary: law, agency site, price list. T2 — secondary: press, specialist sites. T3 — other.