Brazil's INSS grapples with platform outages and tighter rules for depression retirement

The Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS) oversees benefits for Brazilian workers, including retirement on the basis of severe depression. Applicants must undergo a medical examination that assesses the disorder's impact on work capacity, with documentation such as psychiatric reports, medication records, and functional limitations required for either temporary disability aid or permanent retirement.

At the same time, the digital portal Meu INSS, used to file and track these requests, has been experiencing frequent slowdowns, crashes, and data entry errors. An internal audit of the first half of 2025 found that over half of the 543,419 electronically processed requests were automatically denied, prompting the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) to order the INSS, the Ministry of Social Security, and Dataprev to revise the automatic concession model within 180 days. The backlog of benefit applications fell from more than 3 million in February to about 2.2 million in May, yet persistent platform problems risk leaving many claimants outside the official queue and generating additional administrative appeals.