questions about engineers and student visas in brazil

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I am going back to Brazil in February and applying for a student visa in Campo Grande. I hope others can share their experiences about SV

Many universities offer Portuguese courses for foreigners that are student visa eligible.  One of the best ones for you may be the one offered by the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), which would let you get a feel for São Paulo at the same time, with some local guidance.  Here's the info on their course:

https://www.pucsp.br/sites/default/file … 202018.pdf

Google can help you find others, in other parts of the country.  Other PUCs may have similar courses, if one of their cities appeals to you.

Getting into an engineering program poses the basic question of higher education in Brazil:  public, or private?  The public universities are good, (virtually) free -- and notoriously competitive and hard to get into.  The usual path to entry is an entrance examination called the "Vestibular", which is like a SAT on steroids.  Last year, my husband passed (for Law, but Engineering would be at least as competitive) and there were 52 candidates for each slot in his class.  People who can afford it generally take paid preparation courses just to take the test.  If the college you graduated from in the US has any partners that are public universities in Brazil, that could conceivably provide you with a "back door"; otherwise, you'll be in the scrum.

The Catholic university system is also good, but almost as competitive, and expensive.    Other private colleges and universities are of highly variable quality.  Once you learn Portuguese, you will undoubtedly be able to find one that will accept you:  it will be up to you to determine whether the degree you get from them will be worth the time and the money that you'll need to invest in it.

The language of instruction in Brazilian universities is Portuguese.  I'm aware of one private business school in São Paulo that teaches courses in English; that's the only institution of higher education I know that does, and have never heard of any technical school doing so.

The whole job market in Brazil is still crushed from the worst recession in the country's history, from which it is only slowly beginning to emerge, so predictions about job prospects are impossible to make.  Right now, there just aren't any jobs; we have to hope that the recovery will take hold in 2019, because the country can't continue this way indefinitely, but there are no clear signs of improvement.  In a few years though, who knows?

Getting any "decent job", as you put it, without speaking Portuguese well is and will be pretty much impossible:  this is, to all intents and purposes, a monolingual country.

Your Plan C is always feasible, depending on the course of true love.  Be clear from the start that you want to stay in Brazil:  that will winnow out the MANY girls who will see you as their ticket to moving to the US.

Plan C is your most feasible option

Don't waste time and money on investors visas and that crap

Just come study Portuguese , find a way to make money ( Teach English) meet a girl
You don't even need to get married at first.....it's true many woman will see you as a USA ticket, but hey maybe you'll both want to go back there after some time

"People who can afford it generally take paid preparation courses just to take the test.  If the college you graduated from in the US has any partners that are public universities in Brazil, that could conceivably provide you with a "back door"; otherwise, you'll be in the scrum."

interesting.

i guess i can look into this more after i have become fluent in portuguese and if i want to go to grad school in brazil after this.  my college has 4 brazilian colleges in its international partner list.

do you have any idea of how i would take advantage of this "back door?"  would i just go to the brazilian international partner school, apply, and mention that i went to their international partner school in america?  if you don't know, that's fine, i could do a little digging when/if i decide to go to grad school in brazil.

studying for a public university test would suck, but i do well on standardized tests.  i got a 1500 out of 1600 on my SAT, so i would probably do well on a "SAT on steroids" test once i get to a high portuguese level.

"Your Plan C is always feasible, depending on the course of true love.  Be clear from the start that you want to stay in Brazil:  that will winnow out the MANY girls who will see you as their ticket to moving to the US."

yeah, i would definitely be honest about that. 

"Plan C is your most feasible option"

we'll see.  i don't even know how long i would have to keep renewing student visas to find a girl to marry.  i might have to be a student for a long time before finding a soulmate to marry in brazil.

is there a limit to how many times i can keep getting student visas, or can i keep doing it indefinitely? 

for example, could i get a student visa for 15 years in a row if i wanted to?

thanks

You don't have to get married, you just get a spousal(partner ) visa , gives you temp permit every 2 years to renew, but same rights basically as a PR
This is how many gay men do it or used to not sure on current Brazil gay marriage laws

Brazil has marriage equality:   same rules for marriage and união estável that apply to straight couples. 

Listen my friend , What Line of Engineering are you in?

I ask because once again I will recommend Sao Jose dos Campos, it has a huge Engineering school , is the capital of Brazilian Aviation Engineering and I met many Engineers from Minas and Belo Horizonte who had moved there to study,
I would say it's a capital of engineering as well as being one of the safest larger cities in Brazil, rapidly expanding yet still surrounded by rolling green hills and 2 hours from gorgeous coast or beautiful Mountains .....one of the few places I met foreign Students( a Nigerian in this place, studying on an Engineering exchange program) I forget the name of the university but I'll try to look it up, but I really think you should consider it, it's almost 1 million population but forms part of a greater region with many other mid sized citites a few mins drive away

"You don't have to get married, you just get a spousal(partner ) visa , gives you temp permit every 2 years to renew, but same rights basically as a PR"

interesting.

how does the marriage visa compare with the the uniao estavel in terms of how often and how frequently you have to renew it?  and how long does each take before you get permanent residency?

seems like it's easy to get a temporary visa for uniao estavel, but it pretty much requires you to be living together for over a year/almost married to get permanent residency.  i looked this up in another thread about what documents you need to get permanent residency under uniao estavel:

"    A document that demonstrates the existence of a stable union, such as:

The certificate of stable union issued by the competent authority of the country of origin of the call or;

O Proof of a stable bond issued by a competent court in Brazil or a corresponding authority abroad

    In the absence of the aforementioned documents, proof of a stable union may be made upon presentation of the following documents:

O The presentation of a certificate or similar document issued by a national civil registration authority, or foreign equivalent;

The declaration, under the penalties of the law, of two persons who attest to the existence of a stable union and, at least, one of the following documents:

O Evidence of dependency issued by a fiscal authority or a body corresponding to the Federal Revenue Service;

The religious marriage certificate (a minimum of one year will be required for proof)

O Provisions testamentary that prove the bond (it will be required the minimum time of one year for proof);

The life insurance policy in which one of the parties is listed as the insurer and the other as the beneficiary (the minimum time of one year for proof is required);

The Deed of purchase and sale, registered in the Property Registry of Real Estate, in which the interested parties are listed as owners, or lease of immovable property in which they appear as renters (a minimum of one year will be required for proof);

O Joint bank account (a minimum of one year will be required for proof),

The birth certificate of the foreign child of the couple."

source:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=668199

so the uniao estavel appeals to me; however, it sounds like you basically have to almost be married already.  it basically indicates that you have lived together for over a year to get permanent residency.  the thread i linked to above indicates that getting married is easier.

stevefunk,

i'm not an engineer.

i have an undergraduate psychology degree.  it's hard to get a good job with a psychology degree in america.

i just have the idea that if i could go back in time and redo my education, i would get an engineering degree.  i have a personality type and thinking style that would probably make me a good fit for engineering. 

i guess i would learn electrical engineering.  i was just thinking that this could be a second chance to actually get a useful degree.  i'm aware that you said that engineering is not a good degree (in Brazil) in my other thread, but i'm just finding out about all my options.

i don't like the small size of sao jose dos campos (population 688,597 per wikipedia) at all, but i'm open to at least finding out about the school.  if i do plan A, it might be good to apply to numerous engineering schools. 

thanks

A "união estável" functions very much like a Domestic Partnership in the US.  The one year requirement only applies if you and your partner haven't documented the relationship officially, and need to use alternate documentation.  If you go to a Cartório -- a notary office -- and make a legally binding declaration together, your relationship is effective and recognized immediately.
The same is true if you get married.

"do you have any idea of how i would take advantage of this "back door?"  would i just go to the brazilian international partner school, apply, and mention that i went to their international partner school in america?  if you don't know, that's fine, i could do a little digging when/if i decide to go to grad school in brazil."

No, you would want to contact your university's office that handles partnership relations, and see whether they can help you arrange to study at their partner school.