Brazil Extends 90-Day Online Sick Pay Rule Without In-Person Exam Until September 2027 Brazil has renewed Atestmed rules until September 2027, allowing workers to receive temporary incapacity benefit for up to 90 cumulative remote days without an in-person exam. The Brazilian government has renewed the Atestmed rules that allow workers to receive temporary incapacity benefit for up to 90 days without an in-person medical examination. The measure was published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette on Monday, 21. The extension runs until September 2027. Under the renewed rules, workers can continue to receive the former sickness benefit for up to 90 days based on medical documents submitted online through Meu INSS. They do not need to attend an in-person medical assessment at a social security agency.The 90-day ceiling was first introduced as a temporary increase from 60 days in March and had been due to expire this month. All other rules from the March ordinance remain unchanged.The most important detail is that the 90-day limit is not reset after each claim. It adds together all non-consecutive periods granted through the document-review system. A worker who has already received 30 days via Atestmed can therefore receive at most another 60 days through the same remote route before being sent for an in-person or telemedicine examination.Atestmed was created in 2023 as a government effort to speed up benefit decisions and reduce queues at INSS. It also covers work-related absences. In those cases, the worker should submit the employer-issued workplace accident communication, known as the CAT, together with the medical documents. An INSS medical expert can still recognise an occupational origin through the so-called Nexo Técnico Previdenciário even without the CAT.Because the cap counts all remote grants, even non-consecutive ones, the practical effect is a hard clock on how long a worker can rely on document-only analysis. The calculation in the ordinance is explicit: if a worker has used 30 remote days in the past, only 60 remain, regardless of whether the new leave is for a different condition. That is a verified rule from the ordinance.In practice, it means chronic or recurring conditions will hit the in-person examination threshold faster than a single long absence. Longer or repeated claims are shifted back toward agency appointments.The benefit amount is the same whether the cause is ordinary illness or a work accident. The differences are in employment rights. An employee off work because of a work-related accident or disease cannot be dismissed for 12 months after returning. The employer must keep depositing FGTS during the leave. Neither of these applies to ordinary sickness benefit. The accident-related benefit also does not require the usual 12 months of INSS contributions.Diego Cherulli of the Brazilian Institute of Social Security Law, IBDP, notes the contrast: an employee gains a series of guarantees after a work accident, while an individual contributor gains nothing extra. That distinction is central for self-employed and informal workers using the same system.The Atestmed limit has changed several times in less than a year. It was set at 30 days, then raised to 60 days in December, then to 90 days in March. Now the 90-day version has been extended to September 2027. The one-year extension provides short-term stability, but the repeated adjustments show the remote medical-assessment policy is still being tuned. Workers and employers should treat the September 2027 expiry as a real date for possible further changes rather than a permanent design.Verify the medical certificate before uploading. It must contain the patient's full name, date of issue, ICD code or written diagnosis, the doctor's CRM signature and stamp, and the estimated rest period. Illegible, incomplete or altered documents can send the claim to an in-person examination.Because the 90-day cap is cumulative across non-consecutive periods, someone who has already used 30 Atestmed days has only 60 left before the in-person or telemedicine requirement applies.If the absence is linked to an accident or occupational disease, attaching the employer's workplace accident communication together with the medical documents can unlock 12 months of job protection and continued FGTS deposits after return. It also removes the 12-month contribution waiting period.A work-accident classification does not bring employment stability or FGTS for self-employed workers, and the benefit amount remains the same. The main advantage is the absence of the 12-month contribution requirement.Once the total remote-grant period exceeds 90 days, INSS may require an in-person or telemedicine assessment. Longer or repeated absences should not assume uninterrupted remote processing.The cumulative cap means workers with recurring conditions face the in-person examination threshold sooner than those with a single long absence. The rule adds together all periods granted through document review, even when they are not consecutive and even when the new leave is for a different condition.For work-related claims, the CAT should be submitted along with the medical documents. Even without the CAT, an INSS medical expert can still recognise an occupational origin through the Nexo Técnico Previdenciário. This can unlock the additional employment protections that ordinary sickness benefit does not provide.The benefit amount remains identical whether the cause is ordinary illness or a work accident. The differences are only in employment rights. Employees with work-related claims gain job stability and continued FGTS deposits, while individual contributors gain only the removal of the 12-month contribution waiting period.Workers and employers should treat the September 2027 expiry as a real date for possible further changes. The policy has been adjusted repeatedly in less than a year, showing that the remote medical-assessment design is still being tuned rather than permanently settled.