A Marriage Map For Brazil: Getting Hitched In Brazil ~ by Shane Jackson

A Marriage Map For Brazil

Getting Hitched In Brazil

by Shane Jackson

I continue to get questions about living in Brazil after my article about life in Belo Horizonte (BH), mostly from those looking to marry or retire there. Here’s how we got married in Minas Gerias:

It's pretty easy. MG does not seem to observe some of the new Brazil Federal laws but before you leave the US, get all your USA docs "legalized" at your Brazilian consulate before you come down. This is easy, just register your Notary with your Brazilian Consulate.

1) Our marriage cert was issued by the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem, MG. We also had our civil marriage ceremony there.

2) Birth Cert, your and hers original or certified copy. Mine was not legalized but the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem took it anyway. This was translated into Portuguese by a legal translator in BH. After translation, this had to be Notarized by a Brazilian "registros." This was only a couple blocks away from the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" and was called "Cartorio Massote Registros".

3) Had my USA county clerk do a marriage records search to prove my marital status. I then had this "Apostilled" by the Tennessee Sec of State (Tennessee is my original home). It should have then gone to my Brazilian Consulate in Miami for "legalization" but we skipped this and the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem took it anyway. Get your notary registered with your Brazil Consulate for your state and then get your notary to notarize your docs and then your Brasil Consulate will "legalize". This was translated into Portuguese by our legal translator. It also had to be notarized by "Cartorio Massote Registros" after translation.

4)We had to get from the US Consulate in Rio a written statement that I was not attempting marriage anywhere else in the world.

My wife picked this up while we where in Rio, I did not go with her when she visited the US consulate for this document which was issued in Portuguese.

This is supposedly new and maybe "counter-Terrorizm"

5) I got my police report from my USA County Sheriff. This is time sensitive, it's only good for 30 days. Again, for marriage what we gave "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem had not been legalized but they took it anyway. It did have to be legally translated. It also had to be notarized by "Cartorio Massote Registros" after translation.

6) Copy of my passport and visa for the the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem. They make a certified copy at the Cartorio when you apply for marriage.

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7) Certified copy of the entrance card that you filled out on the plane ride down. Again the Cartorio will do this when you apply.

8) My wife had to show her Federal Brasil ID to the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem.

9) We had to go to the Policia Federal in BH and initiate a records search to see if I had done any crimes in Brasil. This takes 5 days and you must show in person to start it AND you must pick it up in person. We did not know I had to pick it up in person so we had to repeat this process (meant I had to fly back down).

10) When you apply for wedding cert, you must pick a "regime" there are 4 choices ranging from total combination of assets to total division of assets. You may need to talk this over with your bride before hand. We are on a total separation of assets regime.

11) It then took about 40 days for the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem to process all these documents once submitted. Once approved we had only 40 days to set the date and they only do civil marriages on Fridays.

I was able to get down on the last possible Friday and marry or we would have had to repeat the entire process. You need to have your legal translator at the wedding. You need 4 witnesses, 2 male, 2 female and they can't be mothers or fathers of you or your bride.

12) Once you have the marriage done you go to the Policia Federal and apply for a visa "protocol". This lets you overstay your visa until you get your residence visa, it's basically a temporary visa. They need to know your Brazil address and if your Brazil address changes then you need to let them know. They will want to see your passport, visa, entrance card, LEGALIZED USA POLICE REPORT (I got mine from my County Sheriff, had it notarized in the US and then legalized at my Brasil Consulate, then translated legally in BH, again, time sensitive, I think it's only good for 30 days) and your marriage license plus you have to fill out a immigration form (they actually helped us do this in BH!).

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It takes up to 2 yrs to get your residence visa this way and I'm told they will eventually come to your house and interview you and your wife. If you have a baby by your Brazil wife you cannot be deported from Brazil according to our legal translator.

13) You can work once you get your residence visa. You can also open a bank account and own property. I brought money in by Western Union, wire and cash. Banco do Brazil is good for wiring, account is in my wife’s name till I get a CPF card. However, my name is on the deed to our house, as her hubby she cannot sell unless I agree even though I am a foreigner. I have a business visa since I worked there for a global mega company. I assume you will go in on a tourist visa not sure what to tell you about work in that case...bring in money, put it in your wife’s account and start a business? Looked like buying and selling real estate could make you money down there, at least close to the big cities. Teach English? Brazilian wages are not very good, even for pros.

14) If you have a kid, get the kid both US and BRASIL passports. This takes both parents. You can get the kid registered as a US citizen in Rio and get the kid’s passport & SSN there. I was also able to get my wife a US immigrant visa by filing petition for Alien Relative once we were married and had a kid. It went real smooth, see the US Rio website below. (She was earlier denied a tourist visa for the US since she was not of the correct socio-economic status). We got our daughter’s BRASIL passport at the Policia Federal, again we both had to be present for this. And, if your wife wants to leave Brazil with the kid you need to be with her OR she needs to have a notarized/legalized permission slip if the kid is born in Brazil. See your Brasil Consulate Website for the form. (We learned this one the hard way too, I had to fly down to get them).

Also, keep in mind that I’m hearing you need a passport that is at least 6 months old before you can get a Brazilian visa these days. Not sure if this has always been the case or if it is another 911 spin off like getting fingerprinted at the airport (what the US required for Brazilians, Brazil requires for US).

Here's some helpful links, and if you have more questions feel free to email me at meiggsmtn@yahoo.com

Policia Federal

http://www.brol.com/index.asp

Plane tickets

http://www.embaixada-americana.org.br/index.php?itemmenu=83&submenu=107&action=rio.php

US Consulate in Rio de Janiero, they can process immigrant visas, register births of US citizens abroad, issue passports, check your marriage status,etc. They seem to be more responsive to emails than to phone calls.

Things to do and see in Belo Horizonte. I liked the Zoo…it’s a bit trashy but you can drink all the beer you want and the bird displays and garden section are great. Tuesdays are free so lots of school kids.

Brasilian Consulate for my home state is in Miami, Florida. You can register your local US Notary at the Brazilian Consulate that serves your state and then “legalize” your US documents for marriage and visa in Brazil.

Kaechele, Pedro F. Hartwig
marcia@kek.eng.br , 31-3224-0384 (w)
Legal translator, BH (do key word search on Brazil Webpages using the Portuguese word “tradutor” to locate your closest translator).

The following is Shane's first article for the magazine:

Life In Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil - “A Jewel In The Rough”

To contact Shane Click Here

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