The Little Things

“You can’t argue with the little things, it’s the little things that make up life,” a line from the Simpsons but very true.  There are a lot of little things that make me happy living in Brazil, whether it’s the smell of the air after the rain or the array of fresh fruits in a supermarket, going to a football match or having a barbecue with friends.  Some of these things might not be everyone’s cup of tea, some may be just me, but they make me happy!

Fresh Fruit

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that supermarkets in Brazil have a good selection of fresh fruit, but what strikes me is the smell.   As you approach the fruit section, the air is filled with the intoxicating aroma of fresh fruit, to the extent I’ve never experienced in Britain or the US.  Then you go to a dedicated fruit shop or market…

Churrasco

Barbecue (churrasco in Portuguese) is very popular in Brazil, especially in the South.  The format varies by region, with some areas preferring steaks and smaller skewers, while others prefer large pieces of meat, cooked over several hours and sliced at the table.  This is often accompanied by rice, farofa (a crunchy accompaniment made with cassava flour and various other ingredients, such as bacon, olives, egg etc), maionaise (Brazilian potato salad) and salad.  In my wife’s family at least, this is a typical Sunday lunch.

Rain

If you told me 5 years ago that I’d be glad of rain, I’d say you were mad.  Growing up in Britain, you take rain for granted, in fact you generally spend your time praying for a dry day!  After 4 and a half years in California, I found myself longing for some airborne moisture and Brazil (at least Paraná) does not disappoint!  When it gets really hot and humid, usually a nice cooling shower is on the way!

Coffee

Oh the coffee!  Brazil is the biggest coffee producer in the world, supplying about one third of the global production and it’s good!  It also plays a large part in the culture: breakfast is called “café de manha” (literally morning coffee) and meals are often followed by a little cafezinho.  If you go to a bank, restaurant or rest area by the motorway, you may well see a thermos of free coffee (although this is often already sweetened – my preference of unsweetened coffee is seen as a bit weird here!) 

Football

It will come as no surprise that the only country to have won the World Cup five times is mad about football.  The year starts off slowly with the state competitions, and then moves on to the Campeonato Brasileiro, the national league.  Everyone appears to have a favourite team, even people that aren't that keen on football and the atmosphere inside the stadium can't be beaten.

Arena da Baixada, the stadium of Atlético Paranaense

Green Things

It might seem silly, but it feels really good to drive through the countryside and see so much green!  After the greyish brown of California, the green grass, plants and trees make the country seem so alive.  Even in big cities like Curitiba, there is so much green, whether it’s trees by the side of the road, or the many parks and it’s all natural – not imported from other regions and sustained by constant sprinklers.

Woods near Pato Branco with pinheiros standing out on the horizon

Pinheiros

Yes, more green stuff.  These trees are only found in the South of Brazil and are the state tree of the Paraná.  Their unique look lends them a kind of charisma and seeing a stand of Pinheiros is like a welcome to the South.

Guaraná

It comes in a green can!  This is a very Brazilian soft drink, made from the guaraná fruit and is a more natural energy drink!  Living in Britain and the US, it was always a rare treat to find guaraná, here it is obviously widely available, so I’m being careful to not get carried away!  But it’s so good…

Coxinhas with Guaraná

Snack Foods

Brazil has many salgadinhos – little savoury snacks – such as pasteis, coxinhas, pão de queijo etc…  I’ll write about them some other time, for now all you need to know is that they’re bloody good!  

Sweets

I know I’m taking this post down a foodie cul-de-sac, but I can’t help it!  The variety of chocolates and sweets on offer here is great.  And that’s before you get into popular homemade sweets like brigadeiro (a chocolaty treat made with condensed milk and cocoa powder.)  I’m getting hungry… 

Holidays

Brazil has loads of public holidays and the best part is that when they land on a Tuesday, most employers allow employees to take the Monday off, and the same with Fridays when the holiday is on a Thursday.  The downside is that if a holiday falls on a weekend, there is no day off in lieu.  Although with the extra days off, there will always be plenty of holidays.

Comfortable Coaches

Brazil is a big country and one of the easiest ways of getting around is by coach.  There are various levels, including conventional, executive and the more luxurious leito.  Taking an overnight leito coach is an easy way to get where you need to be and get some sleep along the way.

 Hotel Breakfast

Yes, I’m back on to food.  Most hotels have a very good spread for breakfast, including; juices, coffee, fresh fruits, various breads and other baked goods, eggs and yoghurts.  If you leave feeling hungry, you’re not doing it right! 

Rodizio Restauarants

This a type of restaurant where waiters continually bring around food, rather than ordering a la carte.  Most Brazilian restaurants abroad are barbecue rodizio restaurants, where the meat is brought around on large skewers and sliced off upon request, but there are other types, including pasta and pizza, which are both very good.  The obvious advantage is that you can have as much or little as you like, and have the opportunity to try dishes that you might otherwise not order.  Not to mention that it is always freshly cooked when it reaches you.

Blackout Curtains

When I sleep, I like the room to be as dark as possible, especially if I have the chance to sleep in in the morning.  What better than an impenetrable blackout curtain to keep out that intrusive morning sunlight?

Sunlight

And now, I’ll contradict myself.  Much as I like to sleep in a nice dark room, it’s nice to have a well lit room when I’m not sleeping.  The apartments I had in the US all seemed rather dark, it’s nice to be somewhere where the sun can shine in and light up the room.  (I know this is very subjective and depends on where you live, but it’s just another reason why I’m happy to be here!)

It’s Summer Again!

I know it won’t last, but it’s nice to have summer, a few weeks of winter, then summer again!  Now I need to somehow escape to Europe in August!

Visa Tips for Brazil

I recently applied for a marriage visa (known a ‘family reunion visa’) so that my wife and I can move to Brazil (any day now!)  While not a particularly difficult process, it takes a long time and there is a lot of red tape to navigate through.  These notes should help anyone applying for a visa for Brazil, although they should be especially helpful for marriage visas, and the procedure should be similar when applying from countries other than the US. 

1. Check the website of your nearest Brazilian Consulate.

This may seem obvious, but the procedure may vary depending on your nationality and where you live so make sure you follow each instruction.  The websites are typically easy to navigate, with good instructions in English.  There will be a checklist with instructions but the basic 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)
• wait for the Visa to be processed
• move to Brazil
• register with the Federal Police within 3 days of arrival.

2. Identity History Summary Request

For a permanent visa, you will be required to obtain a “non-criminal record”, issued by the FBI for visas issued in the US, which is less than 90 days old.  The instructions on the website describe this as an “FBI Clearance Letter” and for more information, you should visit www.fbi.gov.  There are several information service available; what you need here is an “Identity History Summary Request”, which involves taking your finger prints and sending them to the FBI for a records check.  US citizens and permanent residents (ie Green Card holders) can do this electronically at companies who provide this service, called Live Scan.  All others must get a set of ink fingerprints, taken at a “local, county or state law enforcement agency.”

I think that Live Scan gives results within days (I can’t confirm this, though), but as I am in the US on a visa, I had to get ink fingerprints.  Here is my advice for anyone who needs to do this

• The first thing you should know about this process is that it can take up to 14 weeks to get the results, so make sure you allow plenty of time.
• 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.)
• Finally, there is no way of checking the progress of the request, so I would recommend sending the prints by a method with a tracking number.  This though occurred to me within minutes of putting the forms in the post box and would have avoided three months of wondering whether the prints had actually arrived.

3. Making the Appointment

You will need to make an appointment at the Brazilian Consulate to obtain the visa and you should know that they WILL NOT work to your schedule.  If you need a visa to be issued within a matter of weeks, then you need to hope like hell that there is an appointment available. 

To make the appointment, you must first fill out the online application form (see the visa section of the website for your nearest Brazilian consulate for the link).  You will have the option to upload electronic copies of your passport and a passport photo if you wish.

You will only be able to access the appointments section of the site once you have submitted your application and been given a receipt number. Note that you must make your appointment for within 30 days of submitting the form.  For me, there were no appointments within 5 weeks, but I didn’t have any problems – I suppose they know how quickly the appointment slots are taken.

If you are applying for a visa that requires a non-criminal records check (see section 2) don’t worry if you have not yet received the report, we were advised by the consulate to make an appointment anyway and if the report were not available, we could return when it was without needing a new appointment and without losing our place in the queue.  

4. Legalised Marriage Certificate

This section obviously only applies to people applying for a marriage visa.  If your marriage was held outside of Brazil, the Marriage Certificate must be validated by the Brazilian Consulate under whose jurisdiction the marriage was celebrated (as we got married in Scotland, it was validated at the consulate in London.)  I would advised getting this down as soon as possible after the marriage, especially if you move somewhere in the jurisdiction of another consulate.

5. Proof that the applicant has been living in the jurisdiction of the consulate for the past year (only for permanent visas)

This can be a letter from your employer, utility bill etc.  My wife was required to do the same for an “atestado de resedência” – proof that she lived outside of Brazil for at least 12 months and thus allow her to import her personal belongings without having to pay tax on them.  For her, it was particularly difficult as the majority of our utility bills were in my name and numerous US visas, employment authorisation documents, housing lease agreements were not sufficient.  I would therefore advise that each person is named on utility bills if at all possible (eg get the electricity in one person’s name, the phone on the other person’s name.)

6. Visa fees

The fees are listed on the website and vary by visa type.  Citizens of some countries are required to pay a “reciprocity fee” in addition to the normal visa fee, which is equal to that paid by Brazilians applying for visas to that country.  The San Francisco website lists on the USA ad United Arab Emirates as being required to pay reciprocity fees (respectively $160 and $55) with no fee required for other nationalities.  I was however asked for a $155 reciprocity as a UK citizen.  I was able to get in touch with the Consul (not an easy task!) who apologised that the website was not up to date (it still isn’t) but confirmed that there is indeed a reciprocity fee and that I could verify on the website of the Brazilian Consulate in London.

Therefore I recommend that you check the website of the consulate in your home country (if you live in a different country to your citizenship) to avoid any surprise extra fees.

By the way, all consular fees (in the US at least) can only be paid by Post Office money order, so ensure you have them in advance or be prepared for a last minute run to the nearest  Post Office (in San Francisco, this is a couple of blocks away on Sutter Street, I (now) know it well!) 

7. Termo de Responsibilidade

This section also only applies to people applying for marriage visas.  The Brazilian partner is required to fill out a form called “Termo de Responsibilidade” which says that he or she will be responsible for you when in Brazil.  This form must be signed in front of the consular staff.  The person we spoke to didn’t realise this and told us we were finished, if my wife hadn’t known that the signature had to be witnessed, we could have potentially faced more delays.

8. Notarise this, Notarise that

Everything needs to be notarised, which doesn’t really make sense to me.  They take your passport and presumably make a copy.  Then they ask for a notarised copy of the passport (this is the same person that you just handed your passport to) and you need to pay for the privilege too!  That’s $20 please.  You’ll also need $10 to sign the Termo de Responsibilidade (section 7.)  If you don’t know about this in advance (or forget) you’ll be going back to the Post Office.

9. Collecting your Visa

This information relates to the Consulate in San Francisco, I have no idea whether it is the same elsewhere but it helps to be prepared – at least you will be told when to return to collect your visa and at what time.  In San Francisco this is between 12 noon and 1pm and that’s all the information you get.  After 11am, the ticket machines are turned off and the attendant has a tendency to disappear.  We waited at the machine for about 15 minutes before my wife asked for instructions at one of the windows.  We were told to take a seat near windows 1 and 2 (the visa windows) and wait to be called.  At approximately 12 noon, people collecting visas were asked to form a line near window 1 and they would receive their visa one at a time.  I was asked to have a seat and wait until the other visas were issued as mine was a permanent visa and they had to give me instructions for my arrival in Brazil.

10. Registering with Immigration

If you have a permanent visa, you are required to register with immigration at a Polícia Federal office within 30 days of arriving in Brazil, taking the approved application form that was given to you when you received the visa.  As I write this, I am still in the US awaiting my departure to Brazil so there isn’t much to say at this point.