A
Marriage Map For Brazil
Getting Hitched In Brazil
~ by Shane Jackson
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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.
0) Our marriage
cert was issued by the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado" in Contagem, MG.
We also had our civil marriage ceremony there.
1) 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". |
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2) 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.
3)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"
4)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.
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Sugarloaf
Mountain, Rio de Janeiro
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5)
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.
6) Certified
copy of the entrance card that you filled out on the plane ride down.
Again the Cartorio will do this when you apply.
7) My wife
had to show her Federal Brasil ID to the "Cartorio Nougueira of El Dorado"
in Contagem.
8) 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). |
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9)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.
10) 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.
11) 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!). 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.
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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.
13) 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). |
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Porto
de Galinhas, Brazil
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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:
http://www.mj.gov.br/menu.htm
Justice
dept, Immigration (Portuguese)
http://www.dpf.gov.br/CGPI/servicos.htm
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.
http://www.agendabh.com.br/gastronomia.php?acao=1&codcat=64
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.
http://www.brazilmiami.org/consulado/English/visas/PERMANENT%20VISA.htm
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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