Hire a Japanese Chef in Brazil: Local Pool, Work Visa, CLT Rules

Brazil added more Japanese restaurants between 2023 and 2025 than any country except Indonesia, and its Japanese community is overwhelmingly settled rather than on assignment. That changes the hiring question. Before you think about work visas, you should be searching locally. This guide covers the local route, the residence authorisation and visa for a chef coming from Japan, the 2025 change in which ministry handles it, and the Brazilian labour law rule on staff nationality that applies to restaurants by name.

1. The fastest growing large market

• MAFF counted 4,520 Japanese restaurants in Brazil in 2025, up 1,670 on 2023, an increase of more than half in two years. Only Indonesia added more.
• Latin America as a whole rose about 20% to roughly 15,300. MAFF links the growth to the popularity of Japanese anime.
• MOFA recorded 49,037 Japanese nationals in Brazil on 1 October 2025, the seventh largest Japanese community of any country, up 5.3% in a year.
• Of those, 44,461 are permanent residents, 90.7% of the total. Only 4,576 are long-term stayers.
• São Paulo had an estimated 12,000 Japanese nationals, the 17th largest Japanese community of any city.

Those figures only count Japanese nationals. Brazilians of Japanese descent who do not hold Japanese nationality are not in them.

2. Start with the local pool

Compare the Gulf or India, where almost all Japanese nationals are long-term stayers rather than permanent residents. In Brazil, nine in ten are permanent residents. A Japanese national with permanent residence in Brazil does not need a work visa to join your kitchen. Neither does a Brazilian citizen of Japanese descent who trained in Japanese cooking, whether in Brazil or in Japan.

That makes a local search the first step, not a formality. It is faster, it avoids the immigration process, and it tells you what the market pays for the skills you need. Advertise in Portuguese and in Japanese, and be specific about the cuisine: a sushi counter, a ramen kitchen and a kaiseki-style menu draw on different people. Our guides to Japanese kitchen roles and where Japanese chefs look for jobs abroad help with the brief.

Look to Japan when the local search does not produce the level you need, typically for a head chef who will set standards and train the team.

3. The work visa route for a chef from Japan

Brazil's Migration Law (Law 13,445 of 2017) and its regulating decree (Decree 9,199 of 2017) provide a temporary visa for work. For work with an employment relationship in Brazil, the decree requires proof of a job offer, which is established by an individual employment contract or a contract for services (Article 38, paragraph 1).

Two steps follow from the decree:

1. Residence authorisation first. For the work visa to be granted, a prior residence authorisation must be requested before the visa is issued (Article 38, paragraph 9).
2. Then the visa. Once the authorisation is granted, the chef applies for the temporary work visa at a Brazilian consular post.

The detailed requirements for the work visa and residence authorisation (documents, education or experience criteria, and periods) are set in a separate act, not in the decree itself (Article 38, paragraph 8). We could not retrieve the current text of that act from the official portal at the time of writing, so we are not quoting education or experience thresholds here. Before you make an offer, check with the Ministry of Justice's labour immigration portal what evidence a chef without a university degree needs to show, and start collecting employment certificates from the chef's previous kitchens early.

4. What changed in 2025

Decree 12,657 of 2025 amended the rules on work visas and work residence authorisations. As the decree now reads:

• The prior residence authorisation for a work visa is requested from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The original text named the Ministry of Labour.
• The requirements, conditions, periods and procedures for the work visa are set by a joint act of the Minister of Justice and Public Security and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, after hearing the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The original text referred to resolutions of the National Immigration Council.
• A change of workplace within the same company or economic group is recognised by notifying the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
• A chef on a fixed-term residence who wants to work for a different employer must request authorisation from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, with a reasoned request and the new employment contract (Article 147, paragraph 7).

The practical point: guidance written before 2025 may send you to the wrong ministry or cite requirements that have since been replaced. Use current sources.

5. The two-thirds rule for Brazilian staff

Brazil's Consolidation of Labour Laws (CLT) has a chapter on the nationalisation of labour. Article 352 requires businesses with three or more employees in industrial or commercial activities to keep a minimum proportion of Brazilian employees. The article's list of covered activities names hotels, restaurants, bars and similar establishments explicitly.

• Article 354 sets the proportion at two thirds Brazilian employees, unless a lower proportion is fixed for a particular activity.
• The proportion applies to the total workforce and to the payroll.
• Article 353 treats as Brazilian, for this purpose, foreigners who have lived in Brazil for more than ten years and have a Brazilian spouse or child, and Portuguese nationals.

The payroll test is the one to watch in a Japanese restaurant. A single foreign head chef on a high salary in a small team can push the foreign share of payroll above one third even when the headcount is fine. Run both calculations before you set the salary.

6. After arrival

The decree also deals with registration of the migrant and the employment record. Arrange the chef's registration with the Federal Police, and the employment registration (Carteira de Trabalho and eSocial), with your accountant before the chef lands. A clear first month, with housing, a bank account and someone who speaks Japanese in the kitchen or front office, makes a large difference. With an estimated 12,000 Japanese nationals in São Paulo alone, that last point is easier to solve here than in most markets. See our onboarding guide for a first-month plan.

For the other large Latin American market, see our Mexico guide.

7. Step by step

1. Run a local search in Portuguese and Japanese among permanent residents and Brazilian chefs trained in Japanese cuisine.
2. If sponsoring, check the current requirements on the Ministry of Justice and Public Security's labour immigration portal.
3. Check your headcount and payroll against the two-thirds rule.
4. Interview with a practical test. See remote skills tests.
5. Sign the employment contract.
6. Request the prior residence authorisation from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
7. The chef applies for the temporary work visa at a Brazilian consulate.
8. On arrival, complete migrant registration and employment registration.

General information gathered from official legal texts in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Brazil's work visa requirements were restructured by Decree 12,657 of 2025; confirm the current requirements with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and the Brazilian consulate before acting.