New ‘digital ID’ begins to be issued within the states; see the way it will work

A new RG model, now digital and unified by the CPF, begins to be issued in Brazil. See how to update the document and for whom it will be mandatory

Brazil will have a new identity card – the popular “RG” -, with digital reading and valid for the entire country. The new format of digital ID starts to be issued this Tuesday, 26, in the Rio Grande do Sulthe first state to offer the document in this template.

New states begin issuing the digital ID also in the next few days. In addition to Rio Grande do Sul this Tuesday, Acre, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Minas Gerais and Paraná will distribute the new document.

For the other states, there is still no exact forecast for the start of the issuance of the new identity card, but the transition must occur in 2023.

See below how the new digital IDwho needs to renew the document and how the issue will be made for those who have the old format.

What will the new digital ID look like?

The document, called the “National Identity Card”, was established in accordance with decree nº 10.977/2022.

The new ID card will adopt the registration number in the Individual Taxpayer’s Registry (CPF) as a general record, abandoning the old RG number.

The model will be unique and valid for the entire country. According to the current model, each state generates a RG number, which means that, in practice, the same citizen could have different numbers in two states. Now, the documentation will be unified by the CPF number and unique nationally.

The new digital ID will also come with a QR Code that can be read by any appropriate device, such as a smartphone. There will be a physical and a digital version.

Biographical and biometric validations will be carried out before issuing the document. In this way, the government claims that it will be possible to confirm the authenticity of the document and to know if it was stolen or lost.

Will the new ID be mandatory?

The new ID will be mandatory as of 2032 for anyone under 60 years of age.

Before that, the current identity card, with an ID number issued by the states and on paper, will remain valid for the next ten years. That is, Brazilians will not be obliged to make the exchange until at least 2032.

The exception is documents that have expired before that. That is, whoever has an ID issued in 2020 would invariably have to update it in 2030, after ten years. When this exchange is made, the new digital wallet will then be issued.

Citizens who live in states that have already started offering the digital ID can also, if they wish, look for the responsible bodies to anticipate the exchange of document.

What is the validity of the new RG?

As with the current document, the new RG will be valid for 10 years for people up to 60 years of age.

For those over 60, the old RG will continue to be valid indefinitely.

How to get the new ID?

In states with the issuance of the new digital card, the citizen who wishes to issue the new document can look for the same identification establishments that already issue the common ID and request a new copy normally.

But, in order to obtain the unified digital ID, the citizen must first of all have his CPF updated, since this will be the number used in a unified way.

The list of documents and measures necessary to update the CPF is available on the Federal Revenue website (access the page related to the CPF here). Before issuing the digital ID, the citizen can check that there are no pending issues with his CPF.

Which states will have digital ID?

Rio Grande do Sul is the first state to issue a digital ID, as of July 26.

As of August 4, other states will also begin issuing the new document. The following states will have digital ID at this first moment:

• Acre
• Federal District
• Goiás
• Minas Gerais
• Paraná

For the other states, there is still no forecast for updating the document. The deadline for states to adapt the systems is until March 2023. Thus, from next year, the projection is that all states will issue only the new digital ID.

What documents will be in the digital ID?

The new ID card will have the following information:

• Federal entity that issued the document;
• Issuing agency;
• National general registration number (now the CPF number instead of the old RG number);
• Name, parentage, sex, nationality, place and date of birth;
• Unique number of the holder’s birth or marriage certificate;
• A 3×4 photo, signature and fingerprint of the holder (of the right thumb);
• Signature of the director of the issuing agency;
• Expression “Valid throughout the national territory”;
• Expiration date, place and date of issuance of the document;
• Bar code in the QR Code standard;
• Mechanical reading zone, according to the standard established by the ICAO.

Will the new ID work as a passport?

This new version of the identification document will serve as a travel document, due to the inclusion of an international standard code called MRZ, the same used in passports.

So far, however, Brazil only has agreements for the use of identity documents at immigration posts with Mercosur countries. For other countries, the passport remains mandatory.

Is it possible to get a digital ID at Poupatempo?

The state of São Paulo has not yet started issuing the new National Identity Card. In this way, Poupatempos, a document issuance project in the state, will still deliver to citizens the old RG, on paper, in the coming months.

São Paulo already has a digital version of the RG, with an application that replicates the paper document. But the option still concerns the old document, with the General Registry number, and not just the CPF and unified registry. The new digital ID will be a different document.

The deadline is for all Brazilian states to start issuing the new digital National Identity Card by March 2023.

Brazil Agency