Avoiding scams and illegal agents

How the consulates handle appointments and payment, and how to check an offer before you pay.

Typical patterns

• Sold appointments or "guaranteed" visas. No one can guarantee a visa. A visa cannot be bought. The consulates name no external appointment provider on the pages we read: if someone asks you for a "booking fee", check it on the consulate page first.
• Payment by PIX, bank transfer or debit card. The consulates accept the visa fee only in reais in cash or by international credit card in euros, with the cardholder present. Euro cash, cheques, debit cards and PIX are not accepted (consulate pages on the individual visas). A request to pay a "visa fee" by PIX is not from the consulate.
• Visa agencies that charge for "files", "invitations" or "placement". A real invitation or contract comes from a named German employer, school or relative. Private advisers may help with forms, but they have no special access and cannot speed up an appointment.
• Fake job offers and training places by messenger or social media, especially for "Ausbildung" or care jobs. A real offer is a contract with a named employer that you can look up in the German commercial register.
• Charges for "recognition". Free advice exists: the federal portal anerkennung-in-deutschland.de and the AHK Brazil-Germany in São Paulo (ProRecognition, free guidance, see consulate page). Do not pay anyone to "get your diploma recognised".
• Fake funding or documents, including borrowed "show money" for the blocked account, and forged apostilles. False documents lead to refusal and may lead to an entry ban.

How to check before you pay anything

• Use only brasil.diplo.de and the Auslandsportal (digital.diplo.de) that the consulates link.
• Look up the employer and call its published number; ask for the contract in writing.
• For nursing, look for employers and agencies with the seal Faire Anwerbung Pflege Deutschland.

Already in Berlin and being exploited? See Already in Berlin?. Brazilian rules on recruitment agencies and their fees were not checked.