Can foreigners use SUS, Brazil’s public health system? A practical guide

Yes: SUS, Brazil’s public health system, treats foreigners — including tourists. That short answer surprises most visitors. The full answer requires a few distinctions: what applies to someone passing through is not identical to what applies to someone who lives here, and knowing where that line runs prevents both unlawful refusals of care and expectations the system cannot meet.

Where the right comes from

The Brazilian Constitution states that “health is everyone’s right and the State’s duty” (article 196) — everyone’s, not only Brazilians’. Law 8,080/1990, which structures SUS, calls health “a fundamental right of the human being” and makes universality the governing principle of access. Neither norm requires nationality or regular migratory status.

For those who live in Brazil, the Migration Law (Law 13,445/2017) spelled it out: article 4, VIII guarantees migrants “access to public health services and social assistance and social security, under the law, without discrimination on grounds of nationality or migratory status” — on equal footing with nationals. In practice: a resident immigrant, documented or not, uses SUS exactly as a Brazilian does.

Is a tourist different from a resident?

Not for the care itself. Universality reaches whoever is on Brazilian territory, which is why a tourist treated at a public emergency unit pays nothing — there is no federal law authorising SUS to charge foreigners. The difference lies in ongoing care: residents register at their neighbourhood primary care unit, get a reference team and join waiting lists for elective procedures. A visitor is treated for urgencies and immediate needs, but does not build that ongoing link.

Documents and the SUS card

Since 2025 the National Health Card has used the Brazilian tax number (CPF) as its identifier — and the Ministry of Health itself provides the exception: groups such as “foreigners in transit” may be registered without a CPF, with a justification in the system. More important, the official guidance is explicit that patients without documents continue to be treated. No emergency service may condition care on paperwork — for Brazilians or foreigners. Resident immigrants, for their part, should obtain a CPF and the SUS card: that is what opens continuous care, basic pharmacy access and the regular queues.

Where problems appear

Three situations concentrate the cases. First, refusal of care or registration for lack of Brazilian documents — unlawful, and often solved by invoking the precise rule before any lawsuit. Second, improper billing: a foreigner treated in a public hospital who receives an invoice as if a private patient. Third, a finer one: a non-resident trying to obtain high-cost elective treatment through SUS planned from abroad — there the legal answer is less generous, because universality presupposes presence in the territory, not therapeutic tourism. Recognising that boundary is part of an honest assessment of each case.

If one of these situations has touched you or your family, the firm is available for a responsible assessment — consultations in English, by video call or in writing. You can reach us through the contact form or WhatsApp.

About the author

Ramon Martins Andrade (OAB/RJ 188.374) is a lawyer graduated from UFRJ in 2011, holding master’s degrees from the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and from the Brazilian Naval War College (EGN). He is currently a researcher in Human Rights and Health at ENSP/Fiocruz, where the concept of sanitary return emerged from his research in study groups on the Brazilian diaspora and access to healthcare.