Brazil MEI program extends INSS retirement and social benefits to micro‑entrepreneurs

Opening a Microempreendedor Individual (MEI) in Brazil not only formalises a business but also grants the owner coverage under the Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS). MEI contributors become eligible for retirement, sickness, disability, maternity benefits, as well as survivors’ pensions and auxiliary‑reclusão for dependents, provided they meet the legal requirements.

Eligibility depends on age, contribution time and a minimum contribution period (carência). Contributions may be non‑consecutive, but a lapse of more than 12 months can suspend the “quality of insured” status, temporarily halting benefit rights. All contributions recorded since July 1994 are counted; benefits are calculated on the total contribution history, typically at the minimum wage level for those who have only paid the MEI rate.

Since the 2019 pension reform, women must be at least 62 years old with 15 years of contributions, and men at least 65 with 20 years. Transitional rules apply to contributors who were already paying before the reform.