Why it happened in Brazil???

While Decreto/Lei 6.815 Art. 75, II, a is clear that the marriage must have existed for 5 years I have not heard of a case where, once married, the expat lost PR status as a result of a divorce unless the marriage was determined to have been fraudulent (i.e. a marriage of convenience) simply geared to obtaining the visa.

Go to Canada or the USA, there marriage to a citizen isn't even a guarantee of permanency at all. Things aren't all that bad in Brazil when you consider this fact.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Dear James,

Believe me i am unable what you said?i asked very simple question from you,,,
My Question is..is it true after getting permanency based on marriage ,if divorce happened then permanency of foreigner will be revoked or it it will be still valid?????????????

please give me answer in simple words,,,

I explained the law....  It is POSSIBLE, the law requires the marriage exist for 5 year, so if you divorce, yes you COULD lose permanency.

DOES it happen? YES, but not very often that I know of. Only if the court holds that the marriage was a fraud in order simply to obtain the visa.

It is NOT automatic that one loses permanency.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

thanks James,

Dear Saim

Although I am a bit late to reply to this, however I must give my 2 cents to your question.  As you had asked 2 different questions which were "Can the residency be cancelled?" and "Why is it a possibility to be able to cancel the residency?"  I will give my answers followed by my point of view below:

a.  Can the residency be cancelled?

To put it in a short and blunt manner YES there is a law which states that if you get a divorce before being married for 5 years after receiving permanency, there is a possibility that the Permanent Visa "can" be cancelled. 

b.  Why is it a possibility to be able to cancel the residency?

The reason this law is in place is to protect the country from the people who are doing a "paper marriage" or "a marriage of convenience" just to receive the Permanent Residency. 

c.  My point of view!!

Moving forward at the same time Brazil is the only country to my knowledge who gives an option to a foreign national to apply for citizenship 1 year after having your residency and being married. Of course the process of naturalization takes anywhere from 6 months to even 2 years.

For U.S. you must be married for atleast 3 years prior to being eligible to apply for Citizenship and also keep in mind that for the initial 2 years you are given a "Conditional Residency" and of course please keep in mind that you have scheduled interviews with the immigrations officer to keep on proving that your marriage is not a sham.

For U.K. you must be married for atleast 5 years prior to being eligible to apply for Citizenship along with surprise home visits from the Immigrations department and the other things as mentioned above.

Hence based on the above I would count my blessings and be grateful for the way the laws in Brazil are structured.

Regards

Thanks Stanza,i am really thankful to you for this kind and useful information,i am also intrested to apply citizenship of Brazil.i got married with brazilian girl recently and received Permanency.I came
to know i need to pass portugese language test for citizenship.But i am not so good in portugese language.
can you tell me which kind of this test will be held by Policia Federal?and how much marks i need to pass this test?

saim chaudhary wrote:

can you tell me which kind of this test will be held by Policia Federal?and how much marks i need to pass this test?

It all depends on WHERE you apply for naturalization. In larger cities like São Paulo, Rio, Belo Horizonte, etc., they have very little time to deal with each individual. Those delegacies will usually require you to have taken the CELPE-Bras test through the Ministry of Education. They generally take place twice a year and are announced on the internet.

In smaller or very remote cities the Federal Police will probably administer their own test.

Sorry, I can't tell you what marks you need to pass.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Hi Saim

Greetings!

Mr. James is correct that in the bigger cities the CELPE-Bras test is what is honored.  For the smaller cities there is no sure answer.  However based on what I have heard so far, for one person the examiner read out loud 5 lines in Portuguese and the applicant had to write them down afterwards the applicant had to read out loud the same 5 lines to the officer as well.  Usually it is some part of the constitution.

In other places I have heard that they check your proper conversational skills to begin with. 

In the CELPE-Bras from my understand the point system is not based on how many questions or answers you got correct but is rather based on how well you utilize the language on daily usage in the real world.  You can site this link as an example which gives a brief over view of all the details

http://www.portuguesdobrasil.com.br/cer … bras-exam/

Also please keep in mind that in order to apply for citizenship there are other requirements that are needed to be met as well along with the Portuguese Fluency test.

Regards

a lot of thanks for this info

Would this 5 year period from the start of the marriage also apply to a "união estável " marriage, and if so, would I be right in thinking that the start of the 5 year period would be the date declared in the document when we started living together ?

Yes, the 5 years would also apply to stable unions and from the date on which the union was officialized. That said, I have never heard of a case where, once permanency has been granted, an expat has had permanecy revoked when they separate before that. Not that it CAN'T happen, just that it would be extremely rare indeed.

The only set of circumstances that I could envision would result in the loss of permanency would be if the Brazilian spouse were extremely vindictive, bent on destroying the expat spouse, and phoned the Federal Police on an almost daily basis complaining and demanding expulsion. They might revoke permanency just to shut the Brazilian spouse up... but then even that is doubtful.

Certainly loss of permanency is not automatic.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Thanks James
When you say officialised, is that the date mentioned in the união estável document when we started living together, (May 2012) or the date of the registration of the Union in the cartorio (September 2013) ?

Probably the latter of the two dates

Thanks again, James

As always, one point leads to another. Is the 5 year period set by law, or can it be subject to the whim of the PF officer you are dealing with ?

The 5 year period is stipulated in Decreto/Lei 6.815/1980 Art. 75 § II, a).

But as I said before while it CAN happen I have never actually heard of a case where it actually has been done. I'm sure if the Federal Police had reason to believe that the marriage or civil union was entered into fraudulently (i.e. for the sole purpose of obtaining permanency) so a marriage of convenience, they would probably take action to revoke permanency.

Usually, a (Permanent) Cédula de Identidade Estrangeiro is valid for a period of 10 years. So one would be well beyond that 5 year period when it came time to renew the CIE. I don't know how it would be possible for the Federal Police to find out about a separation or divorce unless they were informed by the Brazilian spouse, or the individual were to be charged with some kind of crime and they then had to investigate the individual's background. As I said, revocation of permanency IS NOT AUTOMATIC. Before any revocation and deportation action could be taken there would, of necessity, be a court hearing in Regional Federal Court at which time the individual would also be permitted to put on a defense.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Thanks, James. The point about the CIE validity is interesting. An English friend of mine has permanency based on his marriage and child with his Brasilian wife. His CIE, issued probably 4 years ago, has a 5 year date for renewal. Mine, issued in March 2015, has no expiry or renewal date.

Hotspur wrote:

Mine, issued in March 2015, has no expiry or renewal date.

I take it that you're 60 years old, or will be within the next 10 years then. Once over 60 you don't need to renew your CIE. The Federal Police will issue the CIE as "Validade - Ideterminado" in such cases.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team