Registering for an RNE

I am now officially registered with the Polícia Federal!! It only took 3 tries to get it done. I think that is a record, by Brazilian standards... =) I was afraid it would take me a lot longer than that to do anything here.

We arrived at the police station at about 8:45 and took all the documents the man at the counter told us we needed when we were there last Friday. (The UPS delivered Adamo's document yesterday.) Surprise, surprise when there was a problem! We went to the same worker we spoke to on Friday and he assured us that the copies of the passport did not need to be notarized as long as I had the original. Somehow, between Friday and Wednesday, that information became incorrect. The nearest notary is about a 7 minute bus ride from the police station. The guy gave us the address and off we went.

The bus in São Paulo is more like a rollercoaster than a bus. I tried really hard not to laugh every time we flew across a massive hole in the road and my butt cleared at least 4 inches above the seat. It is really funny to watch everyone on the bus clear 4 inches at the same time... Anyway, we made it to the notary and spent the R$18 to have the copies notarized. In my mind it was a totally unnecessary step, since the notary took the copies we already made, glanced at the pages in the passport, and then stamped them all. If I am not mistaken, to get something notarized in the US, the notary must make the copy. If I really wanted to commit fraud, it would have been very easy, since the notary didn't look that closely at my passport.

Back on the bus to return to the police station and for awhile, there were no seats. I felt like I was skateboarding while holding on for dear life. Luckily, a seat opened up a few stops later and I was able to sit. Even on a seat though, it's hard to keep your balance!

We made it back to the police station and went to the bank inside the station to pay for the fees. It actually worked out that we went on a wild goose chase in search of a notary because the bank didn't even open until 10:00. How the hours for the registering office can be from 8-4, but the bank is only open from 10-3 remains a mystery to me. This bank only has one teller working to collect money and an armed guard waits at the door and only admits one person at a time. Interesting that they have so much security inside the police station and after everyone has already passed through a metal detector, showed proper ID and had their picture taken. We were about 5th in line and had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn to pay.

Next, we returned to the same worker with all the documents for the third time; this time, everything was fine. The worker took my passport and all my documents and told us to have a seat and wait. This wait was around 45 minutes; then I was called into a little room for finger printing by myself. I do understand as much Portuguese as say, a dog, so I could follow simple commands. "Put this paper in your purse." "Put your hand here." and "The bathroom is over there for you to wash your hands." They took double prints of ALL my fingers, so it makes sense to have a bathroom next to the fingerprinting.

In return for all my time and energy I received a little slip of paper that says I registered with the Polícia Federal and that my document should arrive in 6 months. Wow, no rush or anything... =)