Permanent residency through marriage from Canada

Hello everyone, I have a question regarding the process for obtaining residency in Brazil through marriage as a Canadian. I am trying to help my son with this process. He is currently in Brazil and in love and wanting to stay past his 180 days. He and his girlfriend would likeml to get married so we have been doing research on this seemingly complicated process. The number one question I have is will he be able to complete all the necessary steps for obtaining his required documentation without leaving Brazil with my assistance here in Canada? I am ot sure if there is anyway getting around needing something notarized or legalized without being present somewhere here in Canada. Thank you!

07/20/23 @poseidon72. Good evening. How long does your son have until his time is up? That's the first important question. Most Brazilian cartórios -- registry or notary offices -- will not marry a foreigner whose visa has expired. He and his fiancée should go to the cartório and find out what the process and timing will be.


The second issue is, how close to a Brazilian Consulate do you live? Canada has recently joined the Apostille Convention, which will make using Canadian documents in Brazil much easier in the future, but unfortunately that decision won't take effect until next year. That means that in 2023 all of your son's documents will have to be legalized at the Brazilian Consulate responsible for your province.


Knowing the information above, I'll be able to make more useful suggestions.

Thank you, his last allowable day would be September 23rd. I live in Ottawa, Canada in Ontario. There is a consulate here I could easily visit but I'm not sure I could have everything legalized on his behalf while he is in Brazil.

07/20/23 Thank you, his last allowable day would be September 23rd. I live in Ottawa, Canada in Ontario. There is a consulate here I could easily visit but I'm not sure I could have everything legalized on his behalf while he is in Brazil.
-@poseidon72


In that case, his best bet would be to go home now, get his documents legalized, and return to Brazil.  The cartórios generally require a 30 day waiting period between the application for the marriage license and the ceremony, so he'd just have time to get that done and get his Authorization for Residency application in to the Federal Police right after the wedding  before his time expires.  Once the Federal Police accept his application, he comes under a different regulation and the time limit on his visa will no longer apply.


The documents that will be required for the Federal Police are basically the same ones on this list that would be required if he were applying for a VITEM XI Family Reunion Visa at the Canadian Embassy in Ottawa, including 2a, Required Documents for All Cases, and the additional documents farther down specific to the VITEM XI:


https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/embaixada- … rary-visas


Tomorrow morning I'll post any differences between this list and the Federal Police requirements, and the documents that he'll need at the cartório for the actual marriage.

Thank you! So to confirm, the papers he needs here in Canada need him to be present in Canada correct? I cannot do the required documentation preparation for him?

07/21/22 Thank you! So to confirm, the papers he needs here in Canada need him to be present in Canada correct? I cannot do the required documentation preparation for him?
-@poseidon72

Good morning. That depends on the willingness of the various authorities to cooperate.


First someone -- you or he -- needs to contact the Consular Section of the Brazilian Embassy in Ottawa and confirm that they will be willing to legalize his Canadian documents without his being physically present. If they require him to present his documents personally, then game over.


If the Consulate is willing to accept the documents from a third party (you), then you'll need to confirm that the Canadian federal and provincial authorities are willing to issue them to a third party. That will include




  • full birth certificate, including names of both parents;
  • Police Clearance from the RCMP or local police, original or with a QR code (If possible, a clearance from the RCMP will probably carry greater weight in Brazil than a local one).
  • if he has been married before, the original Marriage Certificate of the previous marriage(s), and the original Divorce Decree or Death Certificate proving that he's free to marry.


Meanwhile, the clock will be running on his visa, and he'll still need to obtain Sworn Translations of his Canadian documents after he receives them in Brazil.


Here, as promised, is the list of documents that the Federal Police will require to process an Authorization of Residency for him after his marriage. It is basically the same as the Consulate list. You can run it through Google Translate to read it, and should send the link to him and his fiancée so they can become familiar with it:


https://www.gov.br/pf/pt-br/assuntos/im … o-familiar


Here are the documents that the cartório will require. The most important ones, aside from a passport and a valid visa, will be his Birth Certificate, declaration of his single status, and proof of termination of any previous marriages. He and his fiancée will have to agree on a distribution of assets as part of the marriage: this is described on the site. This is also a site that can be run through a translator, and would be good to share with the fiancés:


https://www.casamentocivil.com.br/estra … -no-brasil

@abthree


Good afternoon, I am just pulling this back up to ask you a question. Can you apply for marriage with less than 30 days left on your extended 180 Day visa. In other words, if you are unable to register for marriage with 30 days or more will they even approve it? If the person was willing to pay the penalty while he waited for 30 days or more? Alternatively could he briefly leave the country in between the marriage registry and go ahead to marry?

09/06/23 @poseidon72.  If I understand your question correctly, your son's main problem would be with the cartório:  if the cartório's mandatory waiting period between applying for the marriage license and performing the marriage extends beyond the expiration of his visa, then the cartório may refuse to go through with the marriage.  They should warn him about that when he and his fiancée first visit the cartório, and if necessary, he can leave the country and come back just before the wedding so that he still has some days left.  That should remove any problem with the cartório.


Once they're married, the PF should process his residency application even if he's an overstay at that point, probably with a fine.