Since the creation of the new website for online renewal, the introduction of the NISS has been a problem for those who have a degree without a NISS requirement, such as digital nomads, retirees and students.
"NISS not recognized," "NISS not located," and Social Security refusals to issue the document are some of the problems faced for months by immigrants trying to renew their residence permits through the new portal . The website, launched in July by the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) , is available for documents expiring between July and October — those valid until November should be included later in the month.
However, the NISS (National Social Security Identification Number) has been one of the main challenges in renewing the document, a situation that has persisted for over three months . Under the previous system, it was not necessary to include the NISS (Social Security Identification Number). Some residence permits do not even require this document, such as those for minors, students, digital nomads (prevented by law from making contributions in the country), retirees, and others.
Even though it wasn't mandatory, many immigrants requested the number to renew their licenses. In August, Social Security assured DN Brasil that the document would be issued to foreigners who needed it for renewal . Despite this, the newspaper received reports of people who had their requests denied or didn't even receive a response—which impedes the process from moving forward.
The situation has left Brazilians and immigrants of other nationalities concerned. This is the case of Brazilian businesswoman Aline Belo, who lives in Portugal on a self-employed visa and has had her residence permit expired for three months. "It's impossible to renew on the AIMA portal due to a lack of a NISS (National Institute of Social Security Number); the site doesn't load documents and returns incorrect information ," she explained to the newspaper.
The businesswoman needs the document for business trips, which has been detrimental to her business. "I travel for business to countries like Spain and Belgium, and right now, I'm stuck in Portugal," she laments.
There are also those who have obtained their NISS number but are unable to enter it into the system. This is the case of an American citizen who wrote to DN Brasil and preferred to remain anonymous. "We already have NISS numbers, but despite several attempts to use the AIMA contact form, we continue to receive error messages," she reports.