Couple in their 30's - Potentially relocating to Brazil

Welcome! 

Like you, I have a longterm connection to Brazil.  I learned to speak Portuguese in college, came here in the Peace Corps immediately on graduation, and have been back and forth ever since.  I met my now-husband in 2014, we got married in 2017, and I moved here for good in November of that year.  I was naturalized in 2019, and now am a dual citizen, US and Brazil.

We live in Manaus.  It's a big city and a great one to live in, but quite isolated.  My husband's family lives here, and he studies law in the state university.  When he graduates, we'll probably move.  A lot depends on where he decides to develop his career, of course, but we're looking hard at Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, a city we both like very much.  If we go to São Paulo, we'd probably look first in Bom Retiro, Consolação, or my favorite, Moema.  If it's Rio, we'll start looking in Humaitá or Botafogo.  We also have some Northeastern cities on the list. 

Some time back, I posted a list of things that I wish I had included in my move.  You can find it here:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 40#4903867

On reflection, there's only one thing I'd add -- lamps! 

Enjoy your planning.

TudoBenK,

Welcome.

I've had a thing happening with Brazil since the late 70s. I'm a Wisconsinite now living in Campina Grande, Paraíba - since 2009 - but I've spent time all around Brazil. I nearly stayed in 1984..... but this is Brazil and sometimes having a relationship with Brazil works better from abroad.

I mostly recommend that people get what they need here in Brazil except for things that are near impossible or too expensive here in Brazil. I've seen people ship full containers with their collected wealth of things. I came pretty light and I do have a few items I wish that I had brought but I normally resolve those things in subsequent visits.

It also used to depend a lot on where you end up living. Now days one can get most everything quickly and online. My region used to be complicated for certain items. Just a few weeks ago I ordered, and have since received, a refrigerator from southern Brasil (PS - cool thing=Brastemp is a Whirlpool company). I also do my best to buy-Brazilian. Better to pack light and have the $$ resources to get what you need here.

That said, yes there are things one cannot get here easily or have huge import taxes. Certainly there must be some advantageous rules that allow new residents to bring in items without heavy taxation.

here are a few things you might consider:
-A VOIP telephone service (probably needs an "appliance") with a phone number from your American place of origin because 1) your friends can easily stay in tune if they still use telephones 2) when you need to spend long waits to get American services (think IRS) it is handy to have a "normal" phone.
-A good unlocked cell phone that you pre-load with all of your favorite/necessary apps, especially financial apps, but everything that you might NOT be able to load here in Brazil given regional protection by the app "owner" (e.g.. I cannot download my bank's app here, I cannot load my VOIP provider's app here - in spite of using a VPN).
-A good NAS (network attached storage) which you put copies of ALL of your documents, family photos, music files and to which you can attach whatever computing device you might use here to manage those files.
-Bring buckets of patience. Brazil can be quite a challenge as it can also be quite rewarding.

MattB
...in Big Campina

Abthree - I'll second that desire for a covered roasting pan!! Happens I have an excess of basters right now from my last set of visitors. My visitors know what to bring: fly tape (yup), Maple syrup and pancake mix (OK - I know I should just make it from scratch), Alka-selzer, all of the gadgets I buy online and send to their USA address 

A note on phones (sorry, AppleFans, I only know Android):

As mberigan says, an unlocked phone (at least one) is a must-have.  Your choice of apps is based on what country your Google Play account is registered for, and you can change it -- but only once a year!, so it requires more planning than it should.     Here's how:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/a … id&hl=

Since you're a couple, you may find it useful to leave one phone registered in the US, and register the other in Brazil; Play Store registration is independent of the country of the phone number.  My phone is registered in the US Play Store and my husband's is in the Brazil Play Store, and it works pretty well for us.  The only Brazil-based app that I'd really like to have but can't get is the Digital Labor Card, but since I have my hard copy Labor Card and am retired anyway, it's an annoyance, not a real hardship.  Curiously, many other Brazilian Government apps are available in the US store, just not that one.

We also have cheap (but still Internet-enabled) US cellphones (i.e., with US numbers) through Consumer Cellular, that we got just before we moved definitively to Brazil.  Besides being our "main" phones when we're Stateside, they work here wherever we have an Internet connection, and are life savers for the growing number of US sites that require two-step verification through texting a US cell number.

abthree wrote:

A note on phones (sorry, AppleFans, I only know Android):

To add a little, American iPhones for the most part operate on different bands than here.

As of now, they are somewhat compatible with Vivo 4G, in a few locations with TIM, and from my research, not at all with the other major carriers.

Mine works reasonably well here with Vivo; never got a shred of 4G with TIM. 

You can also change your region, etc., as you wish, but you’ll need to enter your CPF if you want to localize.

HaDov wrote:

To add a little, American iPhones for the most part operate on different bands than here.

As of now, they are somewhat compatible with Vivo 4G, in a few locations with TIM, and from my research, not at all with the other major carriers.

Mine works reasonably well here with Vivo; never got a shred of 4G with TIM. 

You can also change your region, etc., as you wish, but you’ll need to enter your CPF if you want to localize.

Great point!  It's been so long, that I'd forgotten about compatibility issues.

There are several sites you can check for this; it's probably a good idea to cross-check a couple.  This one is very easy to use, and seems to be pretty comprehensive:

https://willmyphonework.net/