Information please on new Evisas for Canadians

Hello everyone,

Happy to be here on the forum! I want to start by saying hello to everyone, this is really a fantastic site full of really great information and expertise.

I'm planning to make the move to Brazil to be with my girlfriend (soon to be wife). We met here in Canada when she was doing the exchange portion of her PhD and has a fantastic job waiting for her back at home in Vitoria.

We're talking about living together in Brazil for a while, as I can work remotely. This will, of course, involve marriage and the permanency process for me, but first I'll need to visit Brazil, meet her family, and all of that.

Here's the question: The good fortune (I think) for Canadians is that, as of yesterday, we qualified for an EVisa to Brazil for tourism. As far as I can tell it is the standard 90 day visa, but with much less hassle. So, my plan is this.

1) Get the visa
2) Go for two separate trips to Brazil this year for one month each (total of  around 60 days)
3)  In fall of this year, she'll come back to Canada and we will marry there.
4) I'll then return to Brazil (using my last month of eligibility on the tourist visa) and register the marriage there, then start the permanency process. I might need to utilize an extension in order to make this happen, as I'm aware there is probably hellacious red tape.

The catch: When I looked into applying for the tourist visa, I was told by the consulate here in Vancouver that the visa is not extendable. Okay, so maybe this is a quirk of the new Evisa, so I emailed and asked if the standard tourist visa could be extended. I was told that NO visa is extendable and I would need to apply for a new one when the 90 days was done (what???).

My understanding of the situation is that this is not the case and renewing for a second 90 days was a fairly simple matter. Has this changed?

Second question: I'm very curious as to how the days on the visa are counted. I've read that the days are consecutive, but this doesn't match with anything else that I have read. Do days outside of Brazil count toward my maximum 90 (There is absolutely nothing in anything from the consulate or in the guidelines that mentions that 180 day rule).

So, could I spend 30 days in March, return to Canada for several months, spend 30 days in June, return to Canada, and then return to Brazil after getting married while still holding a month's worth of status? It would be a total of 90 days in Brazil and over 90 outside, in Canada.

Can I divide up my days this way?

I get the feeling the consulate is going to say that I can't, but I also get the feeling that either I'm not talking to them in 'official' language, or that the consulate doesn't understand the law. I read the actual law on the website (I believe) and it seems to support my theory.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks so much!

Daniel.