Iceland

How do Brazilian citizens apply for the Iceland Long-Term Visa for Remote Workers?

Worth knowing: A Brazilian passport passed the eligibility test that closed this route to most non-EU nationalities, and that is the single most important nationality-specific fact here. Article 5(a) of Regulation 540/2017 opened the visa only to a foreign national 'sem er undanþeginn aritunarskyldu', one exempt from the visa requirement, and the Directorate's own published condition read 'You can be issued a long-term visa for remote work if you do not need a visa to enter the Schengen area.' Iceland's visa checker returns requiresVisaToComeToIceland: false for Brazil, and Brazil sits in Annex II of Regulation 2018/1806, so a Brazilian cleared that gate where a Chinese or Indian applicant failed it outright. Because Brazil is visa-exempt, the second sentence of Article 5(a) also applied: a Brazilian already in Iceland on the 90-day visa-free allowance could apply from inside the country for a further 90 days, rather than the 180 days available when applying before arrival. The route is nonetheless gone. Act No. 37/2026 on visas, passed 4 May 2026, repealed Article 20 of the Foreign Nationals Act No. 80/2016 outright ('20. gr. laganna fellur brott') and rewrote Article 21 as a short-term residence permit whose published purposes are close family visits and artists, scientists or athletes, with remote work absent. Two money facts survive the repeal and both cut against Brazil: there is no social security agreement, so no certificate of coverage carries INSS contributions into Iceland, and the Brazil to Iceland double taxation treaty was agreed in October 2024 but is still not in force, so Iceland is absent from the Receita Federal list of agreements in force and a Brazilian remote worker had no treaty relief to rely on.