Getting married in Brazil, Permanent Visa and documents required

I just completed my application for a permanent visa here in Fortaleza. Here's my experience:

My wife (Brasileira) and I were married in the US in 2004. We have two children together. My wife was diligent in getting everything registered (the marriage, the births) at the Brazilian consulate in Miami fairly quickly after each event. She also made sure to get both US and Brazilian passports for the kids at our first opportunity. And she got the marriage certificate and both birth certificates authenticated at a cartorio here in Fortaleza many years ago.

Before applying for a visa, I had read through the websites of the Brazilian consulates in Miami and Chicago. From everything I read there, I thought I would be applying based on "Family Reunion" (which would be based on my having two children who are both Brazilian citizens.) I spent a lot of time and money gathering all the documents listed on the consulate websites.

Since my wife had gone to Brazil ahead of me, we decided to apply for my permanence down there. To enter Brazil, I just applied for a tourist visa. It was super simple. They asked for proof of exit (a round trip ticket), and to keep the paperwork simpler, I just bought my return ticket for 28 days after my arrival. If my planned stay had been more than 30 days, the consulate would have required bank statements, etc. to prove I had financial means. The crazy thing is that once the tourist visa is approved (which only took 2 weeks), it's valid for 10 years. A standard maximum stay of 90 days was listed on the visa itself, and when I entered the country through immigration at the airport in Sao Paulo, the immigration officer just looked at the visa and stamped my passport indicating a 90 day stay.

About 10 days after my arrival here, my wife and I called the Federal Police here in Fortaleza. Someone on the phone was very helpful and indicated that it would be better to base my application on Casamento (marriage). The next day, we went to the Federal Police complex just to confirm exactly what we would need. A very nice young man, working the reception desk, gave us a simple list of documents that would be required for an application for permanence based on Casamento:

1. The application itself, which I completed in about 5 minutes on a computer terminal there at the Federal Police complex;

2. Two 3x4 photos;

3. An authenticated, clear and complete copy of my passport. I took my passport to a cartorio and had every page copied and authenticated. This cost a total of about R$94;

4. Certified copy of the marriage certificate. My wife had taken care of this years ago;

5. Authenticated copy of my wife's Brazilian ID. We got this at the same time we got my passport copied and authenticated;

6. Declaration that we are not separated, with "recognized signatures." The declaration itself was a form provided by the helpful receptionist. For the "recognized signatures," we went to the same cartorio. They already had a card on file with my wife's official signature, because she had handled that earlier. I had to sign a small card three times, which provided them with my official signature. We then signed the declaration form in the presence of the cartorio, and she certified that the signatures were recognized. This whole thing cost less than R$10.

7. Declaration that I have not been prosecuted or convicted, etc. However, this requirement only applies if you've been married less than 5 years. Since we have been married for 12+ years, this was not required. Note: an application based on "Family Reunion" does require information about a criminal background, but these requirements were removed in our case (a marriage longer than 5 years).

8. Proof of payment of three fees, totaling a little less than R$500. We paid these fees at a local casa loterica, but you can also pay them at any bank.

That's everything that was on the list. While we were there at the Federal Police complex, we scheduled an appointment to apply the next business day. Then we left and took care of a couple of items that we hadn't done yet (the photos, the declaration, the fees).

We went back at our scheduled time and everything went off without a hitch. It took a total of about an hour, most of which was spent waiting while the representation entered all the information into the system. I was given an RNE (Registro Nacional de Estrangeiro), which is my official ID number as a Foreigner. I also received a new stamp in my passport indicating permanence and a document (valid for 180 days) granting me permanent status while the application is being processed.

The only minor wrinkle was an inconsistency in the way we had listed my mother's name. On the application, I listed her last name as it appears on my birth certificate. She has since changed her name, so it was listed differently on the authenticated copy of the marriage certificate. The representative really focused in on this discrepancy. We tried to explain that women in the US change their last names based on marriage and divorce, and he understood, but he was basically saying that the application couldn't proceed unless all of the names were consistent. I suggested that I just change the way I listed her last name on the application (my birth certificate is not part of the process, so it shouldn't matter if her name on the application matches the name on my birth certificate). He was reluctant about this idea, saying that it could cause future problems if they ever asked to see my birth certificate in the future. Thankfully, the representative at the next booth was a bit nosey and leaned over to put in his two cents. He indicated he didn't think it would ever be a problem, so we just took some white-out and changed my mom's last name on the application so it would match the way it appears on the marriage certificate.

And that was it. Now I'm just waiting (about 60 days) to go back and check on the status of the application.