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10/10/25  I’m moving permanently to Floripa in 5 months and want to know if Brasil accepts a regular IDP for a driver’s license until I get my Brasilian one? I know they are only good for a year.
Thanks! - @mdorn934

Welcome!  You can drive for up to six months on the combination of the IDP and your home state driver's license; you need to have both of them, as well as your passport (for identification and to show the date of your entry into Brazil) with you at all times when you're driving. 

You'll eventually be getting your Brazilian license on the basis of your US license from the Departamento de Trânsito de Santa Catarina --DETRAN-SC.  This page from their website documents both the requirements above, and what you'll need to have to get your Brazilian license:

Thank you so much for the information and for all you do and have done for this group.  It is truly amazing! @abthree

Mike

10/10/25 @mdorn934.  Glad to help Mike.  All the best with your move, As you work things out, we'll be here for you.

@mdorn934

I have a friend where I live who got a "Golden Visa" 3 years ago, and for various reasons, (illness, lengthy trips to the US, the distraction of frequently changing Brazilian girlfriends, etc), never got his Brazilian license until recently. He encountered no problems, but @abthree is quite correct - the law states 6 months.

@abthree Apparently my wife got an IDP using our daughter's American Adress in order to get her Brazilian Driver's License. Since we basically got our MD. Driver's License on the same day (we were born 5 days apart) and they both expire in 2027, I was thinking of doing the same thing.

Just tagging you for your feedback.

Roddie in Retirement😎

10/13/25 @roddiesho.  Howdy.  The IDP is the "International Driving Permit" that a US driver can get from AAA to use with his/her US license in Brazil for up to six months.  It's not a Brazilian Driver's License.

A Brazilian Driver's License is called the Carteira Nacional de Habilitação -- CNH -- and you and your wife can get it, if you haven't already, based on your Maryland licenses from DETRAN Ceará, DETRAN-CE:

As long as you do it before your MD licenses expire, you won't have to take the road test, but you will have to take the eye test and the psychological test.  Every state's requirements are a little bit different, so you want to follow the ones you see on Ceará's site.

Once you have your Brazilian license, you can get a Brazilian IDP to allow you to drive anywhere, (the majority of countries  accept IDPs), based on your Brazil license, including the US and Europe. No need for anything else...

Be prepared to be able to speak Portuguese at your DETRAN office to be eligible to start your process to receive your Brasil driver license.

@kevinmiller1957

I got a Brazilian driver's license ten years ago without speaking much Portuguese.

10/15/25 @kevinmiller1957
I got a Brazilian driver's license ten years ago without speaking much Portuguese. - @alan279

The rule as it appeared on Amazonas's form when I got mine was "Foreign driver must speak/understand Portuguese".  That leaves plenty of room for interpretation to every state, and I suspect to every clerk.  In a few months with Duolingo or Babbel or Rosetta Stone -- or private lessons -- most expats should be able to pick up enough broken Portuguese to make it through, being pleasant and friendly at DETRAN. 

I went through the process at the height of the influx of asylum seekers from Venezuela, and the applicants invariably were me and a roomful of recently arrived Venezuelans.  Most of them got their licenses, too.