Secretaria de Relações Internacionais
Universidade Federal de São Paulo

Undergraduate International Students

UNIFESP International Office actively promotes the internationalization of undergraduate courses by offering students the opportunity to enrich students' personal experiences and reasech skills also learning about other cultures and building a global network, which are invaluable assets in today’s interconnected world.

Academic mobility

UNIFESP accepts students from foreign Institutions to accomplish an academic period according to the requirements described below and the availability of vacancies. Interested students shall verify the procedures and send required documentation to the International Office to the e-mail: Este endereço de email está sendo protegido de spambots. Você precisa do JavaScript ativado para vê-lo..
UNIFESP privileges receiving students from institutions of higher education that have a cooperation agreement with UNIFESP. However, students who come from other institutions can also be accepted as long as they fulfill the following requirements, according to the availability of vacancies. Undergraduate students can require a studying period at UNIFESP, according to one of the three following purposes: Academic Exchange, Research Activity or Specialized Elective Activity.
1. Academic Exchange: enrollemnt  in regular courses. The complete list of the undergraduate courses offered is available on this link. Click on "Cursos de Graduação" .
2. Research Activity: participation in a reserach project, advised by a UNIFESP professor. Interested students shall contact the International Office and send a summary of the research project, informing the period they would intend to come to UNIFESP. 
3. Specialized Elective Activity: Professional activities for undergraduate students. The students will have to accomplish the offerece activities along with the undergraduate students from UNIFESP. 

Requirements

The applicant students shall accomplish the following requirements: 
1. Be enrolled in a recognized Institution at the student's country. 
2. Have the necessary proficiency in Portuguese that allows them to take classes at UNIFESP.

Mobility request

The mobility request is made by the International Office of the student's Home Institution, within mobility programs and cooperative exchange programs established with other Institutions; if there is no cooperation agreement with the original institution, the applicant himself can do it, contacting UNIFESP International Office on the e-mail Este endereço de email está sendo protegido de spambots. Você precisa do JavaScript ativado para vê-lo..
The International Office will send the request to the person in charge of the academic department in order to evaluate the possibility of receiving the exchange student. 

Mobility period

1. Academic Exchange: for undergraduate studies, exchange courses last one ter, and can be attended accourding to the following periods:
- First term: February to June:
- Second term: August to November. 
2. Research Activity:
To be defined according to the research project proposal of the candidate 
3. Specialized Elective Activity:
To be defined according to the curricular program and the availabity of vacancy 

Required documentation

Interested students shall send the following documents, in PDF format to the UNIFESP's International Office via email: international@unifesp.br
1. Academic Exchange 
- Application form filled by the student (appendix 1 - see apendix tab);
- Presentation Letter issued by the International Office of the student's Home Institution (according to the Model – appendix 2);
- Official Academic Transcript translated into Portuguese;
- Motivation Letter written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, in which the student shows the reasons for attending a course at UNIFESP;
- Study plan which shows the list of subjects to be taken at UNIFESP. The student can consult the list of subjects visiting the site: http://www.unifesp.br/prograd/uc2/filtro_uc/filtro_uc.php and make a study plan that fulfills the same time load (disciplines or credits) taken by UNIFESP students;
- A summary of the Curriculum Vitae.
2. Research Activity 
- Application form filled by the student (appendix 1 - see appendix tab);
- Presentation Letter issued by the International Office of the student's Home Institution (according to the Model – appendix 2);
- Official Academic Transcript translated into Portuguese;
- Motivation Letter written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, in which the student will have to show the reasons for attending a course at UNIFESP;
- Letter from the tutor (or other academic leader, coordinator, director, adviser or dean of undergraduate studies) from the Home Institution, supporting the student to come to UNIFESP; Summary of the research project;
- A summary of the Curriculum Vitae.
3. Specialized elective activity 
- Application form filled by the student (appendix 1 - see Appendix tab);
- Presentation Letter issued by the International Office of the student's Home Institution (according to the Model – appendix 2 - see Appendix tab);
- Academic transcript; Motivation Letter written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, in which the student shows the reasons for attending a course at UNIFESP;
- Study plan which shows the list of subjects to be taken at UNIFESP. The student can consult the list of disciplines visiting the website: http://www.unifesp.br/prograd/uc2/filtro_uc/filtro_uc.php and make a study plan that fulfills the same time load (disciplines or credits) taken by UNIFESP students;
- A summary of the Curriculum Vitae.

Deadlines

The student who is intrested in applying for an academic mobility period must send the documentation below until the following date: 
1. Academic Exchange
- Mobility during the first term (Feb-Jun): send documentation by October 15th 
- Mobility during the second term (Aug- Nov): send documentation by May 15th 
2. Research Activity
The student intrested in applying for a period of investigation must send the documentation until 4 months prior to the beginning of the proposed activity. 
3. Specialized Elective Activity 
The student intrested in applying for a period of professional activity must send the documentation until 4 months prior to the beginning of the actitivities. 

After acceptance, preparing for arrival 

- Health insurance (the student is responsible for all the expenses with health insurance); 
- Student Visa (Temporário IV) - if the student is accepted, an Acceptance Letter will be sent to the student´s Home Institution in order to file for the student visa. The Acceptance Letter is indispensable for filing for the student visa at a Brazilian Embassy.
Before coming to UNIFESP, the student have to send by e-mail (Este endereço de email está sendo protegido de spambots. Você precisa do JavaScript ativado para vê-lo.) a copy of the passport, health insurance original policy, valid while the student stays in Brazil, and a copy of the student visa. A photo 3×4 (passport sized) is also necessary for the student´s badge.

Upon arrival

Foreign students who come to Brazil in order to complete an academic mobility period have to obtain the Foreign Identity – RNE (Registro Nacional de Estrangeiros), which is the equivalent to a Brazilian citizen's identity card and is considered as such whenever a person is asked for proof of identity in Brazil. There is a 30- day deadline, counting from the student's arrival at the country. After this time, a daily fine will be charged.
Following the following steps to obtain the RNE: 
1. Fill in the available form in the Federal Police site: http://servicos.dpf.gov.br/sincreWeb/ The student will schedule a date through an online form to go to the Federal Police office – Regional Superintendence of São Paulo.
Obs: do not wait to schedule a date at the federal police department 
2. Go to the Federal Police Office – Regional Superintendence of São Paulo, at the scheduled date, carrying the following documents:
- Valid travel document. ID from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia will be accepted. For other countries, the original passport and certified copies of the passport used pages are required (to obtain a notarized copy, go to a notary publics);
- Application form to require the visa;
- Two recent photographs, size 3x4cm (colour, white background, smooth paper);
- Vouchers of two fees; one refers to the foreign card and the other one, to the foreign register. Both fees can be paid in any bank. To take the bank slip, fill in the online form: https://www2.dpf.gov.br/gru/gru?nac=1

Undergrad courses localization

UNIFESP is composed of 6 campi, in São Paulo and neighbor cities. To view the map of São Paulo and the campus localization, visit the website http://www.unifesp.br/prograd/portal and click on "Localização e Mapa".

Find out more about the city where your campus is located: