⚠️ Important notice
This is not a government website. Certificado Digital Global is a Registration Authority accredited to the Certisign network, a brand of Kindness in Business Consulting Ltd (UK Company No. 10386293), serving clients from London. Issuance depends on identity validation, documentation and ICP-Brasil rules. Do not send CPF, passport or sensitive documents via WhatsApp or the initial form.
O que é
The letting agent, the bank or the vehicle registry return the document with the same line: “the signature must be notarised”. For someone in Brazil, that's a trip to the notary; for someone living abroad, it becomes…
Para quem
Qualified signature waives notarisation · e-Notariado alternative with a notary
Como resolve
Video validation in any time zone · Registration Authority accredited by Certisign CA, in London
Limite
Não é site do governo. Emissão sujeita a validação de identidade, documentação e normas da ICP-Brasil.
The case
Real case
Illustrative scenario. A Brazilian university lecturer based in Santiago, Chile, lets out the flat he kept in Campinas. The letting agent sends the tenancy agreement with a warning: the landlord's signature must be notarised, a requirement of the rental guarantee insurer. The approved tenant is waiting; the lecturer teaches all week and the nearest consulate works by appointment with a queue. He searches for “digital signature authentication” and finds three answers that look like competitors. Let's walk through them with him. — A typical situation for owners living abroad who keep a rented property in Brazil
Route 1: sign with an ICP-Brasil certificate and skip notarisation
Signature notarisation exists so that a notary can attest that a signature on paper truly belongs to the person. A qualified digital signature does that by construction: article 10, paragraph 1 of MP 2.200-2/2001 presumes a declaration signed with an ICP-Brasil certificate to be authentic with respect to the signer. There is no signature to notarise because authorship is already proven cryptographically, and anyone can check it on ITI's validator. For the letting agent, that means a PDF signed in PAdES by the landlord, verifiable in seconds.
- Legal basis: MP 2.200-2, art. 10, §1, and Law 14.063/2020 (qualified signature).
- Where to do it: on your own computer, with an A1 e-CPF installed, or on your phone with a cloud A3.
- What to deliver: the signed PDF, unprinted, with the address validar.iti.gov.br in the message.
- Limit: the other party must accept the digital format; the insurer, in this case, accepted after checking at ITI.
Route 2: notarisation through e-Notariado
When the recipient insists on a notarial act — or when the document requires a notary by its nature — the e-Notariado platform, run by Brazil's notary offices, allows acts by video call. The person identifies themselves with a digital certificate (notarised or ICP-Brasil), signs before the notary and receives the electronic act. It is a legitimate and entirely remote route, with the notary's mediation and fees.
When to prefer it
If the institution expressly demands a notarial act, or if the document is a deed or public power of attorney.
What's required
A digital certificate to access the platform, an appointment with a notary office and the fees from the state's table.
Timing
Depends on the chosen notary's diary; the act itself is done in one video session.
Relation to route 1
The same e-CPF that signs the contract directly also identifies you on e-Notariado. Issuing the certificate opens both doors.
Route 3: the consulate
Brazilian consular offices notarise signatures on physical documents, by appointment and in person. The route is valid, but face-to-face, limited by the post's capacity and dependent on the document then travelling to Brazil on paper. For anyone living hundreds of kilometres from the consulate or with a packed diary, it tends to be the slowest of the three.
Need to leave home?
No · No · Yes
Reusable for other documents?
Yes, unlimited during validity · Each act is new · Each act is new
Who attests authorship?
The signature itself, by law · The notary · The consular officer
Final document
Signed PDF · Electronic notarial act · Paper with consular seal
Recurring cost
None per document · Fees per act · Consular fee per act
How the case ended
The lecturer issued an A1 e-CPF after a video validation booked for the Santiago evening, signed the agreement in PAdES and sent the file with the validator's link. The insurer checked, the agent accepted and the tenant got the keys the same week. Months later, the same certificate signed the rent-review addendum — with no new debate about notarisation. Format details by document type are in digital signing of Brazilian documents abroad; the step-by-step for signing is in signing documents while living outside Brazil.
Before you decide
“What if the other party won't accept a PDF?”
Most do once they see the report from ITI's validator. If the demand is for a notarial act, route 2 uses the same certificate.
“I'm in a time zone far from London”
The validation session is booked at an agreed time, including slots that work for the Americas and Asia.
“My Brazilian ID is about to expire”
It only needs to be valid on the validation date. A passport, RG or CNH within its term will do.
“Is the cost worth it for a single contract?”
The certificate signs this and every following document during its validity — addenda, powers of attorney, declarations — while each consulate or notary visit is paid for again.
Transparent pricing
An e-CPF replaces signature notarisation on contracts, private powers of attorney and declarations, and also grants access to e-Notariado when a notary is indispensable.
Reference price for individuals; A1 or A3 and the validity period change the amount, confirmed on WhatsApp.
Issue the e-CPF and skip the notary