Temporary Visa V - FBI channeler to expedite FBI Criminal Check?

Criminal Record Certificates must be from the originating agency in the country you live in, so only the FBI issued document will do. It then must be sent to the Brazilian Consulate in your area to be legalized before you submit it for the visa process.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog

Thanks William.  I sent my fingerprints to the FBI.  I've noticed on a few of the companies specializing in obtaining visas that a local police record is sufficient to obtain a type V Visa. I think this varies depending on the consulate, but I've contacted the consulate I deal with to be sure.  Any thoughts on this?

Since I am not from the USA I can only speak with certainty about my own situation. In Canada Certified Criminal Record Checks are only issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Canada's federal police force). In Canada it can take anywhere up to six months to obtain the document and then it must pass through the Brazilian Consulate in Toronto to be legalized. The only good news is that once legalized by the Consulate it does not lose its validity after six months like all other documents in the legal process here in Brazil.

Since any dealings with the Polícia Federal and Ministério da Justiça in Brazil are the most bureaucratic proceedings you could possibly imagine it is well worth the extra time and effort you take to make sure that everything is done in exactly the correct way. Otherwise you run the risk of having to start all over from square one and obtain all the documents a second time.

It serves nothing to try and cut corners or rush things there at home when the process reaches Brazil and then gets bogged down and you end up waiting for anywhere up to 2 years for the process to be completed.

One thing you will soon learn about Brazil and the culture is that nothing is quick, nothing is simple here. This is done by design. The more complex and time consuming they can make something here, the more important the civil servants who you deal with feel they are. If anything challenges that sense of self-importance they devote all their effort to destroy it. Imagine if something you do is what challenges that feeling... you can guess what happens next.

Be extremely patient, roll with the punches and make sure that you clarify everything that you don't understand perfectly before you do anything. If necessary ask somebody else for the explanation because you may get a better answer, clearer information; at the very worst you will just get a confirmation of what the first civil servant told you.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog

Hi United,
Although William's advices are right (the process and bureaucracy can be very long) I have heard of several people who did the brazilian visa from another country than Brazil, i.e. at a consulate in foreign country, and it took only 2 months for the permanent visa to be issued once the right papers were submitted. Keep positive
In Canada, a regular document obtained in a few weeks for criminal records by private company seems to work out fine - but as William said, every country is different and of course it needs to be legalized by the consulate first, which can also take a few weeks.
Good luck
Emilie

Your criminal background check from the FBI must have the seal of the FBI attached make sure you request it with that otherwise you will have to send it to the state department to have them authenticate it then send it to the Brazil embassy that handles legalization for the area you live in ( for instance if you live it Pennsylvania or the document was issued from Pennsylvania it must go to the Brazil embassy in New York. Make sure you send the document to the correct Embassy to be Legalized based on Where it is from. You will have to wait the 8 weeks because you need a document that can be legalized the quick service locations can not do this they are for employee background checks that do not require legalization

I am going through the same process. I wonder if in the end the NY consulate accepted your local criminal record.

Thank you

Yes they did total time was 3 months 8 weeks for the FBI report and 4 weeks for the Consulate and that was because the consulate workers were on strike and they didn't process any for 2 weeks

Sorry, I am little confused. So you had to apply for the FBI check, they did not accept your local criminal check?

You have Got that right a simple recognition of my USA Marriage Certificate required these steps

1 legalize the document at the appropriate consulate in the US
in my case or marriage certificate Requires a seal from Pennsylvania department of state, the a seal from the US state Department and then sent off to the appropriate embassy for legalization.

2. take that legalized document to a translator that is allowed to do translations for legal documents ($R40) per page

3. take that same document to a judicial notary have it notarized ($R20)

4. then Hire a lawyer to present the document to a judge to have him issue an order to have it accepted at the registry for Marriage ($R1000)for the Lawyer  and (R$440) for the fees

5. WAIT 10 weeks for that because of Christmas, New Years and Carnival

6. Then get the order and have to wait more time for them to Issue the certificate and in our case we have to go before the Judge because in the US your parents names are not required on a Marriage Certificate in Brazil they do a snag that is holding it up some more

Do all of this in 6 months if you are lucky you might get it done before your Visitors Visa Expires ( If it Expires you must do it all over again in the US because you must leave Brazil and the documents you submitted are no longer valid)

Or retain a lawyer to keep pressing the issue here while you wait for it to happen and then return to Brazil to complete the process for Permanency protocol after having to have to wait 6 months out of country to return and hope to finish it again
But doing this again you must have your documents you will submit for permanency all legalized again and process repeated for translations and Notary seals its a circle that keeps getting bigger.

When she came to the US to be married on a K1 visa the marriage License took 1 hour at the court house and was issued within a week the marriage then performed 2 weeks later and we got the Certificate of Marriage that day at the end of the ceremony no need for any of her documents to be notarized they just photocopied them at the courthouse we filed a simple form to register for the license and we both signed at the clerk of courts office no notary seals, translations or any of that simple streamlined efficient.

NO has to be an FBI criminal report

I don't think they will accept one from the local police, state police as they were quite specific in my case it had to be and FBI issued one that could be legalized and it had to be translated in Brazil