Brazil Says It Has 'Zeroed' INSS Backlog as Congress Expands Mutirão Program

Overview

• The government announced at a Palácio do Planalto event on Thursday that INSS requests in analysis fell to about 1.252 million in August and that this volume is now comparable to the institute’s monthly inflow, a metric officials use to declare the backlog 'zeroed'.
• Congress approved Medida Provisória 1.369/2026 to broaden the Programa de Gerenciamento de Benefícios by giving equal priority to new claims, shortening the wait-to-enter rule from 45 to 30 days and authorizing extraordinary pay to staff working mutirões.
• The operational push combined weekend mutirões, telemedicine, extra hiring and bonuses and cut average decision time to 34 days and average medical-perícia wait to 17 days, according to government data.
• The acceleration produced record volumes of both grants and denials—roughly 4.2 million concessions versus about 4.3 million denials in the first half of 2026—which has created a large secondary queue of denied applicants with a 30-day window to file administrative appeals.
• Auditors and analysts warn of fiscal and oversight risks: faster approvals raise benefit rolls and near-term spending, the TCU keeps concessions on a high-risk list after past error findings, and appeals bodies face capacity constraints that could leave vulnerable people without timely recourse.