Time Is On My Side

Spring Break is officially over, so it is back to the daily grind of convincing teenagers they really do want to learn...

A few updates:

I have successfully navigated through my first dealing with the notorious Brazilian Bureaucracy. Surprisingly, it was neither painful nor was it dreadfully slow. I was extremely worried about applying for my Brazilian Permanent Resident Visa after hearing many horror stories about issues and delays taking months or even years to sort through.

An example of the typical bureaucratic red tape in Brazil: my husband (who is a Brazilian Citizen!) had a REALLY hard time opening a bank account while living here in the US. In Brazil, one must have a multitude of documents and evidence to do anything. The banks wanted proof of income (apparently to avoid money laundering and tax evasion) before opening the account. The problem he encountered came from not actually living in Brazil and therefore not having proof of Brazilian income. Several months later and several heated conversations with bank managers, the account was eventually opened. Ease in doing "everyday" activities is certainly something we take for granted here.

Back to my update: We trekked the whole family down to the Miami Consulate to renew passports for my two daughters as well as apply for my visa. The experience pretty much went as follows:

We stayed up until the wee hours the night before, putting every possible document (and subsequent copies) into separate envelopes for the three of us. Also, the directions for submitting a visa application are not necessarily straight forward. For example, one set of directions may say to include documents A, B, and C, while another set of directions may only ask for A and B. The following are the documents we actually submitted for the family reunion visa:

1. Notarized spouse affidavit of support (written and signed at the consulate)
2. Spouse RNE and 2 copies of front and back
   
3. Two original copies of the visa application.
4. Two passport (2x2) photos
5. Passport (with 2 blank pages)
6. Original birth certificate and 2 copies
7. Original certificate of marriage and 2 copies
8. Registered Brazilian certificate of marriage and 2 copies
9. Police Clearance record and 1 copy
• (The original birth certificate, marriage certificates, and RNE were just looked at by the consulate officer and returned to us on the spot.)
• Also, just because they accepted these documents from us, does not mean it is the same for everybody!
  

Plan on getting to the consulate by 9 or 10. We over slept and did not realize the consulate only accepted applications from 10-12. Of course not helping is the fact that the consulate only answers visa questions via phone from 3-4...

We had my pictures taken and arrived at the visa door a few minutes before 12. The door was already closed, so we knocked. Now, keep in mind the hours are posted right beside the door. A security guard answered and said they were already closed. We pointed to the hours and the clock and said it was not 12 yet. His response was that "they" tell him to close the door and he does. Not about to come back on another day because they decided to close the door early, we ask the receptionist to call someone to talk to us. A higher level manager of some sort comes out (it is maybe 12:01 at this point) and my husband explains that we were there before 12, but the door was already closed. I think we got the sympathy vote after seeing 2 kids in tow, because she agreed to let us go in and apply for the visa.

We go back over to the visa door and the security guard pops out and is VERY pissed off at us. He says that someone is going to get in trouble because they can't go over his head after he told us they were closed. We calmly pointed out that the door was shut early and he walks out to go yell at the woman at the front desk. I stand next to his desk for a few minutes waiting for my number since there were still other people waiting to be seen for their visas. He comes back, sits, and looks at me with a strange look. I tell him I need a number for my visa application and he says, "Yeah, and the door was closed. How did you get in?" I told him he let me in and then it dawns on him that he didn't give me a number when he let me in. He hands me the number and lets me know that someone will be in "big" trouble with the Vice Consulate since they can't "be going over people's heads like that." My inner thoughts were: "Uhhh, you're the security guard, isn't EVERYONE over your head??" Wisely, I just took my number and sat.

We waited for around 1/2 an hour and delivered our documents without a problem. The total for the visa was $330 for the visa and $60 for the administrative fee. I also applied for my CPF while I was there. The website says that it is $10, but it turned out to be $5. Since they only accept money orders, we had no choice but to over pay by $5. Instead of driving down to Miami to pick up the visa, only during certain hours, we paid $18 for an Express Mail envelope. Parking is also VERY spendy: $14 for about 3.5 hours!!!

Total for Visa and CPF: $432!!!

Hopefully it will all be worth it! As I started off, the experience was no where near as painful as I had anticipated. I half expected to be told our documents were not good enough and to come back another day. But, lo and behold, the Express Mail envelope was delivered today! All in all, it took only 7 days to get back in my hands. The visa is in my passport and ready to go.