Newbie looking for advice on moving to Curitiba, Brazil

There are ONLY two VITEM Temporary Visas, that you may qualify for, which will allow you to remain in Brazil for any more than the 180 day per year maximum permitted on a VITUR Tourist Visa.

The first would be, as you guessed, the VITEM-V Work Visa which is usually granted for a period of two years (renewable). However it requires you to have a CLT Work Contract with a Brazilian company, which must be confirmed in writing. The downside to that is Brazilian law requires all employers to prove that they have exhausted all efforts to place a qualified Brazilian in any job vacancy before they can fill it with a foreign national. Also since English is not widely spoken even in the workplace your lack of Portuguese language skills is going to put you at a definite disadvantage in finding a job. While your computer degree may be of help somewhat, your present job experience in car sales isn't worth anything to you here unfortunately. Sadly, about the only work readily available to expats without reasonable fluency in Portuguese is teaching English, Spanish, French, etc., and those don't pay well or qualify for VITEM-V work visas.

VITEM-IV Student Visa, issued for qualifying post-secondary education courses and usually issued for each semester. You must continue to be enrolled in the program in order to renew the visa and your ability to work during studies is seriously restricted or non-existent depending on the course. Usually it is only for those courses that require some practical internship. There is also the requirement to prove that you have sufficient funds to support yourself for the duration of the validity of the visa, without working.

I'm afraid you're in for some tough uphill sledding my friend.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank you for the swift reply James.

I understand that my inability to speak the local language prohibits me from a lot of options, as I thought it would.

Is it possible to get a travel visa, then apply for a work visa whilst on the travel visa? On the basis that I got offered a job during my time visiting in April, July & December this year.

While it is possible to APPLY for a VITEM-IV work visa through the Ministério de Trabalho e Empregos - MTE from within Brazil should you receive a concrete job offer; Brazilian bureaucracy is such that you are required to return to England to receive the visa at the Consulado-Geral do Brasil that has jurisdicition over the city where you reside there in order to receive it. It must be affixed to your passport and you can only collect it in person.

Brazil didn't invent BUREAUCRACY - They just refined it into a SCIENCE.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Would a student visa not be best suited?

You should consider the option of requiring a permanence visa on the basis of the stable relationship with your brazilian girlfriend . Was recently introduced in the law of immigration and maybe James can give you some more information about this.

portal.mj.gov.br/data/Pages/MJA1BC41DEITEMIDB08CEBC98C4944DFB8CEAFCD2B18330APTBRIE.htm

It`s a little bit complicated but I think it's your best option if your girlfriend approves .