Hello,
First of all I want t say what a brilliant website with some brilliant people in it, very nice and very helping people. May god bless you's!
I'm going to try give you a shortened story of my situation without boring you to death.
My name is Norm, I'm a British citizen from Scotland. I'm 23 years of ages. Fluent in English and Portuguese (also speak a little Spanish - currently leaning).
My partner is Brazilian, 29 years of age from Igapora, Bahia.
We have a baby boy of 8 months. He was born in Brasilia, Brazil. He has dual citizenship. British and Brazilian passports.
We are currently living in the UK at the moment.
I'm self employed with a good wage and good buisness. My partner is here on a tourist visa. She is currently working (illegal I know but needs must and unfortunately money doesn't grow on trees).
We are planning on moving back to Brazil in January, not 100% sure on where but at the moment it's looking like São Paulo. She has a lot of family there and from what we have seen and heard there is a good place to start for work.
Our plan is this.. leave the UK for Brazil with enough cash to purchase a house out right and have around $R50'000 in savings.
My partner doesn't like living in the UK, I also love the Brazilian culture and would love to live in Brazil.
I would like to teach English, this is my plan but we will see how things go.
I'm currently applying for my Brazilian documents (work documents, passport ect ect.)
I would love to hear from anybody who has done the same as I am planning on doing. Advice and tips would be extremely appreciated.
Have a great day and thanks in advance to your replays!
😀
Planning on moving to Brazil.
I did pretty much this about two years ago.
If you are planning to teach English get yourself a Celta or Delta Cambridge certificate if you don't already have one - this is the bench mark of a serious English teacher in Brazil.
Learn all you can about preparing students for English certificate exams as that's what people are really willing to pay for with regards to private classes.
I'm not sure what your English teaching experience is but you really don't want to be learning it on the fly here....take it from me thats what I did- learning on the fly that is:)
The only well known chain of schools really worth teaching for is Cultura Inglesa....you will receive a salary that is just livable with medical benefits for your family. They require you to do there own fairly extensive training program in SP before you start work.
Other than that you might find some individual specialist schools that pay ok, other than that it's just private classes and in company corporate is another good market to explore.
Also bare in mind that English teaching in SP often involves a lot of long hours commuting from place to place and often means leaving early in the morning and only arriving back home late at night.
A busy teacher in SP can expect to make R$5000- R$7000 a month. It seems to be hard for teachers to break the R$7000 a month barrier and your looking at 12 - 18 hour days to make that kind of money in the beginning, as you find your niche and build up a healthy amount of students it gets better and you can charge more, this takes about 2 years.
All this rules apply to São Paulo city, as soon as you get out of there it gets a bit harder to earn an equal amount , although not impossible.
Ok, I did this a year ago! I have a pension so it helps me to to be a little free. I also go to school online for my MBA (paid for by my benefits) and get a little extra money for that. Then I teach for ABC English online for a Chinese company from 6am - noon and get paid in dollars. It works very well with lining up with Beijing evening time. So three sources of income in dollars. I also teach private lessons here in the afternoon or evening, nothing too serious and I currently have 3 students. I charge around R$90 an hour...expensive. Also, Brazilians are real shady...they will tell you yes I want classes let's start next Tuesday. Next Tuesday they will cancel and tell you next week. This will continue for a little while. I've learned to tell them what you will do and then leave it up to them to arrange with you. Don't waste your time. In other words don't count your chickens until they hatch. It's a culture thing and you need to learn that Brazilians are great people but they are noncommittal with a lot of things in their lives.
To live comfortably here depends on how you want to live. I chose to build a mansion and live in a condominium. It's like living in America, no walls or fences and kids run free. I forget to lock the doors a few days a week. This type of living is expensive but extremely safe. Now, to live cheap it comes at a cost of living with walls, fences and the electric fence and glass imbedded on the top of the walls. Safety is a little less and you better lock up and secure your belongings. Beware of your surroundings.
A car here cost an arm and a leg! A decent used car will start out at around R$50.000 and around R$2.000 a year for taxes. Taxes are a nightmare here. My house is R$600 a month. Health insurance is roughly $700 a month but I can tell you the health care is real good here.
I also think groceries are expensive here too. Some things are cheap but other things are ridiculous. If you can bring all your furniture and appliances do it. Depends on where you go but some of the country is 110 and the other 220. I have voltage regulators here and there.
I would say I need roughly R$12.000 a month to cover expenses. It just depends how you want to live. I am currently applying for another job at the moment and hopefully I will quit one of the others. For an expat you are either going to buy a business, start a business or teach English. There is not much else for you to do here.
Also, since you have a Brazilian child just wait until you get here and go to federal police for permanent residency. I filled out some paperwork, pictures and fingerprints. Walked out that day with passport stamped permanent resident. Got RNE card a few weeks later. Registering marriage is a pain.
PM me if you have other questions.
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