I am a Canadian citizen currently in Fortaleza on a tourist visa. I have exactly two months remaining on my tourist visa, having already extended it three months. My fiancé and I are getting married, once we get all the documents together.
-I have a recently issued long form birth certificate from Canada, but it has not been legalized, so I will need to mail it to the Brazilian Consulate in Toronto, and have them send it to the Canadian consulate in Sao Paulo to have it authenticated, and then sent back to Fortaleza.
-I have not yet ordered a marriage search in Canada, but will do that pronto. That also will need to be legalized at the Brazilian consulte in Toronto and them mailed to Fortaleza.
Then I need to have those documents translated.
If things move along in a timely fashion and I receive the fully "marriage ready" documents within five week, and allowing one week to have them translated, that would leave two weeks on the tourist visa.
Where does that leave us in terms of the marriage process? If we go to the cartorio, do they give some kind of visa extension in this kind of situation?
Do I have time for Marriage, or Do I need to Return to Canada?
If you have exactly two months left on your visa, that means that it expires on June 25. If that's the case, you should be aiming to get married no later than the week of June 9: that will leave you about two weeks to get your request in to the Federal Police for permanent residency based on your marriage.
Have you and your fiancé been to the Cartório yet? The "normal" time lag between submitting your paperwork and being allowed to marry is 30 days. Some Cartórios may be willing to shorten that (for an extra fee, of course). You want to know if the one you plan to use will. They probably cannot shorten it to less than 15 days, however.
You want to confirm with the Cartório EXACTLY the documents that they'll require, and how quickly they're willing to perform the marriage. If you're single and have never been married, you may be able to provide an affidavit to that effect, and not need the marriage search from Canada.
Can a family member, or friend, or at worst a service, walk your birth certificate through legalization at the Consulate General in Toronto? It would save you a lot of time. Are you sure that the legalized document needs to go through the Canadian Consulate in São Paulo? The Brazilian Consulate General's legalization should be sufficient, assuming that it's an official birth certificate from a province within the Consulate General's area of jurisdiction.
If you can scan your Canadian documents, you don't need to lose any time on the translations. Fidelity Translations can provide you with sworn translations based on the scans while the documents are being legalized, or in transit back to you.
There are apparently eight Cartórios in Fortaleza that perform marriages. The usual advice is to go to the one closest to your fiancé's home, but if they seem uncooperative, it might be worthwhile to talk to some of the others:
https://www.noivasfortaleza.com.br/cartorios/
Good luck!
abthree wrote:If you have exactly two months left on your visa, that means that it expires on June 25. If that's the case, you should be aiming to get married no later than the week of June 9: that will leave you about two weeks to get your request in to the Federal Police for permanent residency based on your marriage.
Have you and your fiancé been to the Cartório yet? The "normal" time lag between submitting your paperwork and being allowed to marry is 30 days. Some Cartórios may be willing to shorten that (for an extra fee, of course). You want to know if the one you plan to use will. They probably cannot shorten it to less than 15 days, however.
You want to confirm with the Cartório EXACTLY the documents that they'll require, and how quickly they're willing to perform the marriage. If you're single and have never been married, you may be able to provide an affidavit to that effect, and not need the marriage search from Canada.
Can a family member, or friend, or at worst a service, walk your birth certificate through legalization at the Consulate General in Toronto? It would save you a lot of time. Are you sure that the legalized document needs to go through the Canadian Consulate in São Paulo? The Brazilian Consulate General's legalization should be sufficient, assuming that it's an official birth certificate from a province within the Consulate General's area of jurisdiction.
If you can scan your Canadian documents, you don't need to lose any time on the translations. Fidelity Translations can provide you with sworn translations based on the scans while the documents are being legalized, or in transit back to you.
There are apparently eight Cartórios in Fortaleza that perform marriages. The usual advice is to go to the one closest to your fiancé's home, but if they seem uncooperative, it might be worthwhile to talk to some of the others:
https://www.noivasfortaleza.com.br/cartorios/
Good luck!
Great, thanks!! Today was a big day. I managed to reach the consulate in Toronto, which led me to call the consulate in Montreal, which is where it turns out, I need to send the documents to. Today had my marriage search process initiated, which will be mailed to consulate in Montreal, and I mailed my birth certificate to them as well. They said they will legalize the documents in 24 hours and then send them to me in Fortaleza. Next week I'll work on the translations and police check, and my fiancé and I will visit the cartorio. If things flow, we could make it all on time.
Great news -- hope it works out for you. You're sending everything by express, right?
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