Visa for Brazil

Having lived together in England for 2 years and the US for 4 year, my wife and I decided to try life in Brazil.  Aside from everything, it is a pain living so far from both of our families – holidays must be planned around which family to visit (either option is inevitably expensive) and neither option allows for a weekend visit or bank holiday getaway.  Of course we have other reasons, but I’ll discuss them elsewhere.  Click here for my advice on applying for Brazilian Visas.

Having made that decision, it all came down to practicalities, the biggest of which is the Visa.  Being married to a Brazilian, I qualify for a Family Reunion Visa – a permanent visa.  Like any interaction with any government, the process takes time, so I started the process well in advance of our planned move date in September.  Little did I know that certain delays would lead to a final move date of mid-December.

The information on the website of the Brazilian Consulate appeared very accurate and concise, just as well, because it’s practically impossible to ask questions without going to the consulate itself.  The procedure differs slightly depending on your nationality and the country you are applying from, but basically, the procedure is:

•  fill out the appropriate online application form
•  once that is submitted you can make an appointment for the Visa interview (ensuring you bring all necessary documentation – more on this later)
• wait for the Visa to be processed
• move to Brazil
• register with the Federal Police within 30 days of arrival.

While it is tempting to go through the convenient check list of activities one at a time, I recommend reading every step thoroughly before beginning.  One of the documents required at the interview is a “non-criminal record”, in the case of the US, issued by the FBI.  The instructions describe this as an “FBI Clearance Letter” with instructions to visit www.fbi.gov for more information.  This document must be less than 90 days old, but as an appointment at the consulate may only be made for up to 30 days after the completion of the application form, it is advisable to procure this background check first.

The first difficulty was that there are several information services available from the FBI, but there is no such thing as an “FBI Clearance Letter.”  After several fruitless e-mails and phone calls, I was eventually able to confirm that the required service is an “Identity History Summary Request” (I’m going to refer to this as “IHSR” for simplicity).  Unlike in some other countries where you simply provide your details to the appropriate organisation to obtain a records check, for the Identity History Summary Request you are required to provide a complete set of 10 finger prints – nice…

There are several organisations that can provide this service (given the somewhat shady title of “Channelers”) via Live Scan (electronic finger prints,) although this service is only available to US Citizens and “Lawful Permanent Residents.”  As an L-1 visa holder, I do not qualify as a permanent resident, which means I have to have a set of ink fingerprints taken at a “local, county, or state law enforcement agency.”  Nothing quite like dealing with US Government Agencies to be made to feel like a criminal…

It wasn’t so bad, they were friendly and chatted about what the prints are for – I got the impression that it’s usually for employment purposes (when it’s voluntary of course!)  Some advice for anyone else in this situation:

• Check to see whether you need an appointment.  I went to the San Jose Sheriff’s office, which is the main one for Santa Clara County.  Appointments are not needed for this office, but all other Sheriff’s offices in the county require appointments, so check first.
• Check what payment options are accepted.  For Santa Clara Sheriff’s offices, it’s $20, cash or cheque only.  I’m not sure about other areas or agencies, but check before you go.
• Print out the fingerprint card from the FBI website.  Law enforcement agencies will have their own, if you find somewhere else that does ink fingerprinting, they may not have the card, so take a printout just in case.
• When sending the forms to the FBI, check and double-check the paperwork – make sure it’s signed, has all the right information and – of course – ensure that the payment is included (cheque, money order or credit card form.)

So, I was now in possession of my very own set of finger prints, I filled out the forms, put them in the mail and thus started the waiting game…

Three weeks had passed, and I was still waiting…

Nine weeks: by this point you wonder what’s taking so long, did they even receive the prints?  Is there anyone I can ask?  Any online status?  Nope, I crossed my fingers, hoped for the best and kept waiting…

In the meantime, we got some good news when my wife visited the consulate.  It is possible to schedule an appointment even without the IHSR; they understand that it takes a long time so you can take what documents you have and then return with the IHSR when you have it – they will recognise the process as having started so you won’t need an appointment.  So my appointment is booked, the nearest I could get was for 5 weeks later, hopefully I’d have the IHSR by then…

Ten weeks, still waiting… 

Thirteen weeks – my credit card statement for September indicated that a payment was taken by the FBI, so presumably that meant the check was complete and results were in the post.  So, I’m still waiting…

Finally, 13 weeks and 2 days after posting my finger prints, I received the IHSR results, just in time, as my appointment at the consulate was four days later.

The appointment at the consulate went reasonably well, although there were some peculiarities.  Firstly, they require a notarised copy of my passport, which involves going to another window, so they can stamp the photocopy for a modest price of $20.  It doesn’t seem to matter that they have my ACTUAL passport, so they could make all the copies they need and be safe in the knowledge that it is a true copy.  Secondly, my wife was required to sign a “Termo de Responsibilidade” form in front of them, which is a form that says that she will be responsible for me in Brazil.  This one was a bargain at only $10!  Of course these additional fees can only be paid by a post office money order, cue a run to the post office before the consulate closes its doors at 12:30.

One week later, I received a call from the consulate to say that as a British citizen, I am required to pay a reciprocity fee of $155 (by post office money order, what else?) when I collect my visa.  This was a new one to me, especially given that the website for the consulate lists the only nations with reciprocity fees as the USA at $160 and Arab Emirates at $55.  This is a fee equal to that paid by Brazilians applying for visas to that country and all other countries than the two mentioned previously are exempt from this fee.  Except that apparently, UK citizens do have to pay a fee.  I discussed this with a friend who recommended that I raise this with the consul.  He apologised that the website was not up to date, but confirmed that there is indeed a reciprocity fee and that I could confirm this information on the website of the Brazilian Consulate in London.  What annoys me about this is that my wife paid this extra fee when she applied for her British marriage visa, now I’m paying a revenge fee for my Brazilian visa!  So rather than sticking a middle finger up at foreign governments for charging extra fees for their citizens to obtain visas, they punish the couple (including the Brazilian citizen of course) that is applying for the visa.  There’s something not quite right about that…

So, begrudgingly, off I went to the post office, bought the money order and returned to the consulate.
 

We arrived at approximately 11:30 and the ticket machines (select visa, passport etc and get a number) machines weren’t working and there was no attendant.  I’m not sure whether the machines are always turned off after 11am or this was a one-off, but the attendant is usually there.  We were told that for collecting visas, we should take a seat by windows 1 and 2 (the visa windows at the San Francisco consulate) and that we would be called.  The official recognised me and called me over, but this was to take the money order and give me the receipt; I was asked to wait until the other visas (mostly tourist or business) were issued (for anyone picking up one of these visas from the San Francisco consulate, you should arrive between 12 noon and 1pm, you’ll be asked to form a line, show them your ID and then you’ll be on your way.)  As my visa was indefinite, she had to give me the instructions: I must enter Brazil within one year and must present myself to the immigration department of the Polícia Federal (federal police) within 30 days of arriving in Brazil.

So that was it, simple, eh?  Next stop Brazil!