DERI

International Office

PRO TIPS!

Unicamp does not have a student residence and does not provide accommodation for students. However, students usually choose between three types of housing:
1. Republics: are houses rented and shared by several students, Brazilians and foreigners, from different courses at the university. The republics can be mixed (men and women in the same republic), only male or only female, in addition to being able to offer shared or single rooms. They are a more economical housing option than the others, but they require the student to adapt to living with people of the most diverse personalities and temperaments. The positive point is that foreign students living in republics can get to know Brazilian culture more closely, thus enriching the exchange experience.
2. Kitchenettes / Kitchenettes: are small apartments normally composed of three rooms, being a bedroom, a kitchen-service area and a bathroom or a kitchen-living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. They are individual housing options, but they tend to be more expensive than the other options, mainly because most are already furnished and with the cost of water, electricity and wireless internet included in the rent.
3. Pensionatos: These are shared houses managed by the owner of the establishment that usually offer single rooms and shared bathroom. They can be mixed (men and women in the same republic), only male or only female and not all offer meals. The advantage of boarding houses is that they are furnished and have ready-made infrastructure for accommodation. They are also usually more relaxed than republics, but they have stricter rules of coexistence that may not suit everyone.
To activate a telephone line in Brazil, it is necessary to have a CPF (Individual Taxpayer Registration) number. Therefore, we strongly recommend that foreign students apply for the CPF along with the visa at the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in their country of origin. The main cell phone operators operating in the country are Claro, Vivo, Tim and Oi, and all of them have prepaid and postpaid plans. To choose the best option and the best plans, we suggest that international students talk to other regularly enrolled students. A communication tool widely used in Brazil is Whatsapp. For communication abroad, we suggest that students use services such as Skype or others connected to the internet, as international calls are usually more expensive.
To get around Unicamp, students can use the Internal Circular. To get around in the district of Barão Geraldo and in the city of Campinas, the option is to use public transport managed by Transurc. To do so, it is necessary to request a ticket called Bilhete Único and recharge at various points in the city, as public system buses cannot be paid with cash or with a credit or debit card. The fare is R$4.95 and the closest place to Unicamp for issuing and recharging the Single Ticket is the Barão Geraldo Terminal. For more information, visit the Transurc website. Other transport options in the city of Campinas are transport via applications such as Uber, 99 and Cabify. The city also has a taxi service, but these are usually much more expensive than the other options.