US green card holder seeking advice on marriage and moving to Brazil

Hello Haz406,

Well so many different things to address all at one time, but I'll give it my best shot anyway.

First as a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) of the United States of America, you should be aware that regardless of where you live in the world, you are going to still be required to file an annual 1040 Income Tax return with the IRS. The only way around that for US citizens is to formally RENOUNCE their citizenship, giving up their passport and all other benefits that citizenship offers, and pay a huge exit tax. I assume that as an LPR you'd need to formally renounce your LPR status and pay a similar exit tax, so you should check out all those formalities and think very seriously about the implications before you do anything else. If you retain your LPR and do file an annual return with the IRS, then you are required to report all of your Brazilian income to the IRS as part of your "Worldwide Income" and thanks to the provisions of FATCA and FBAR they're going to be getting all your bank account information too. Bear in mind that there is no bilateral TAX TREATY between the USA and Brazil, so the only protection you would have from double taxation would be any specific provisions in US tax regulations to reduce your US tax payable by any amount paid in Brazil, or partially so.

If your ultimate plan is to marry and have your wife move permanently to the USA, then losing your LPR would be a devastating blow and you'd have to start all over from square one yourself. Only after re-establishing your LPR would your spouse be able to apply for her LPR.

Regarding the actual procedures surrounding the marriage, it's really six of one and a half dozen of the other. In either case one of you is going to need to provide stacks of documents, notarized and duly translated, have the appropriate visa, which is going to be extremely important if your future bride comes to the USA to marry since getting married on a B1/2 Visitor Visa can result in being banned from entry to the USA for up to 10 years in some cases. Also if you marry in the USA she would have to register the marriage both with the Consulado-Geral do Brasil in the jurisdiction where you reside and again at the 1º Oficio do Registro Civil here in Brazil (either in the state where she resides or in the Federal District).

Also losing your LPR, would have the effect of giving up any chances of naturalization as a US citizen, which to my way of thinking would be a real "deal breaker" for me. You'd be giving up one of the most widely accepted passports in the world for one that is listed 21st on the Henley & Partners list, behind even some African nations.

If you do marry here then the process and documents required marriage and the subsequent permanency application are detailed in the following topic thread:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=280525

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank you James for your informative reply, I have no intention of giving up my LPR, I want to keep that going while I work on a permanent Brazilian visa, I understand  The issue with double taxation.  It's not ideal but it is what it is.  My Brazilian wife to be is not interested in moving to the US and our plan is to live together in Brazil, I want to keep my LPR in the US in the meantime. This may continue indefinitely as I travel back-and-forth between Brazil and the US. I may reconsider my options with regard to my LPR depending on what the future holds. I continue to practice Portuguese and it gets easier as I have developed a love for the language.  I even installed a Slingbox gadget in Brazil so I can watch a complete lineup of Brazilian TV channels in the US which helps my Portuguese tremendously.  I am curious to know if getting married in the US or Brazil makes any difference in the process of opening a permanent visa ??? I know the bureaucracy can be annoying  but I'm willing to deal with it.  Again thank you so much James for being so helpful

Other than having to go through the process of registering the marriage with the Consulado-Geral do Brasil in the US and again here in Brazil, there's not a whole lot of difference as to how that will effect the permanency process.

The real difference is in where you apply for permanency. If you apply here and all the documents are in proper order and present, you are granted permenency immediately, have the right to remain in the country and obtain your work permit right away.

If you apply for permanency in the US through the Consulado, you must wait until you actually get the visa in order to enter Brazil, you can't even enter on another category of visa while you're waiting for the VIPER.

Also, if applying through the Consulado, you will require a Certified Criminal Record Check, if applying here and you have no previous convictions a notarized Declaração de Não Condenação (that the Policia Federal will provide you to fill out) is sufficient.

Given the additional risks of getting married in the USA, on a B1/B2 Visitor Visa, I personally would recommend getting married here in Brazil.

Cheers,
James

Hi Haz  , I have a friend that did this to , married a brazilian women and  moved down here from the US . He was a green card  holder and eventually lost it because he couldn't keep up the back and forward flights .  Now he earns a lousy salary and wains about everything in this country . So I think you should consider the possibility of this happening with you . Is it worth the risk  ...?

Thank you gentlemen for the advice, I wouldn't move to Brazil without a solid business plan. I would move to Brazil because I fell in love with the people, the culture and the life there. I would not move for the money because I know I can make more in the U.S. But nonetheless I still need to make a living and I would only want to be self employed with my own business.  This will require a lot of study and research which I am in the process of right now.  I will keep reading this blog because it has a lot of great information that can help me.

Hazem