Geting married in the US before going to brazil helps?

[Tricia599 2]

Since you're here already, it would probably be easier to get married here in the US rather than Brasil. Dealing with the local cartorios is never fun and there are a lot of documents. When I got married in Brasil, there always seemed to be one more document to get for them! If you got a US marriage cert and brought it to Brasil, you would probably just need to get it translated by a certified translator in Brasil. But you'd need to check with the local cartorio.

Having said that, if your husband wants to live in Brasil with you for more than 6 months, he has 2 choices - overstaying a tourist visa or applying for permanent residency. If he overstays, my understanding is that he'd get a small fine but no ban or anything like that. If he applies for residency, it's an easy process, but very long (but since you intend to move to the US it really doesn't matter). As soon as you apply, you get a provisional permanent visa from the Federal Police and have to check in every 90 days to extend the expiration date. I had a provisional visa for over a year and they still hadn't visited me. We left to go to the US before they came. I would think that you could work on that visa as well, but I never bothered to investigate that much, since I never cared to be ficahda (I have no idea how to translate that - registered, maybe?).

The only hiccup with this situation is the US side. If you don't already have a US tourist visa, getting one after you are married is very difficult. They assume you are trying to circumvent the immigration process. A few months after I was married, we wanted to go to the US and spend christmas with my family so they could meet my husband. At the interview, we were repeatedly asked why we were not applying for the CR-1 visa. From speaking with others, it is common to deny tourist visas for recently married couples.

Boa sorte in whatever you decide.

[soteropolitana 4]

kkkkkkk fala ingles! ok eu vou...

First I will say this, has your fiance ever been to Brazil where you will be living? I know a lot of people who like to visit Brazil but when it's difficult to find a job (as an American) and live "comfortably" they want to move back sooner. First make sure he is really ready to live there for 3 years because that will affect which decision is best for you.

Now, for your questions:

1. If he plans on working in Brazil it is always better to get married here first and apply for the permanent residence visa through the consulate. Applying for permanent residency through the Brazilian consulate is ALWAYS faster than travelling on the VITUR and then changing. Less paperwork and less trouble...sometimes it takes 2-3 years for everything to be approved in Brazil (vs. 6 months here). There is another good forum www.gringoes.com that has information about moving to Brazil which might help you decide what is best. The only time the tourist visa is better is if he is not sure he wants to move there and doesn't want to find a job soon.

2. I think the marriage process is not too bad either way. If you get married here (depending on which state you live in) it may be easier for you because you may not need a birth certificate and all of that. Usually, your passport is all you need. Getting married in Brazil can be more stressful because more documents are needed and all of your fiance's documents have to been authenticated by the Brazilian consulate before you leave. The other problem with getting married in Brazil is that the documents you need are not the same for every cartorio. Make sure you contact the specific cartorio where you will register your marriage to find out what documents they require for FOREIGNERS. Sometimes they also require a written Regime de Bens to avoid problems later. Normally you need the following (I have to put this in Portuguese to make sense )

· ESTRANGEIRO:

- Solteiro: Certidão de Nascimento, Declaração de Estado Civil e Declaração de Residência;

- Divorciado: Certidão de Casamento com averbação do Divórcio, Declaração de Estado Civil e Declaração de Residência;

- Viúvo: Certidão de Casamento, Certidão de Óbito do(a) Cônjuge, Declaração de Estado Civil e Declaração de Residência;

- Cópia autenticada do Passaporte, da página com a foto e da qualificação ou da Carteira de Permanente.

- SE O ESTRANGEIRO ESTIVER NO BRASIL, ele deverá comprovar a entrada legal no país por meio do carimbo de entrada no passaporte (cópia autenticada).

Again, all of those documents have to be authenticated by a Brazilian Consulate in the U.S. and if you type them out in english they have to be traslated by a tradutor juramentado IN BRAZIL. I simply typed mine up in Portuguese, except for my birth certificate which had to be translated in Brazil.

If you get married in the U.S. and want to register your marriage in Brazil you have to go through the consulate here - your marriage certificate has to be authenticated in the U.S. and then translated in Brazil - AND then registered at the cartorio.

It can get confusing which is why many people get married in the U.S., apply for the permanent resident visa from the U.S. and don't worry about dealing with the cartorios unless you plan on staying in Brazil for a long time and want to buy property or something.

3. The really hard part is going to be returning to the U.S. for a visit after you leave.

You have to get a new visa to return and your two main options are a tourist visa or an immigrant visa (as a fiance or spouse). The tourist visa is difficult for Brazilians to get unless you have strong ties in Brazil like a job, house, etc. You would think that being in school would help but usually it doesn't. Once you are married to an American your chances of getting a tourist visa are almost zero.

Applying for the immigrant visa can be a long process (especially since Brazil doesn't allow direct consular filing anymore). The good thing is that once it is approved you can travel between the two countries - but there is a time limit on the amount of time you spend outside of the country and if you are still in school that option probably wouldn't work for you.

Well, that's a start...

Edited April 4, 2012 by soteropolitana

[Corinthians 7]

If you get married in the U.S. and want to register your marriage in Brazil you have to go through the consulate here - your marriage certificate has to be authenticated in the U.S. and then translated in Brazil - AND then registered at the cartorio.

We have had our marriage authenticated here (USA). The consulate gives you a 1 page document saying everything is legitimate basically and then you can take that to the cartorio in Brasil. It was pretty painless both here and in Brasil.

I think the toughest part would be trying to come back here to travel. Plus, if you are going to try and come back to the US one day, getting married here will give you less things to translate whenever that day comes.

Good Luck.

[soteropolitana 4]

The third option, which the government doesn't like but it's possible - is to get married here before your J-1 visa expires and adjust your status to permanent resident before you leave the country. Your J-1 probably has the requirement that you return to Brazil for at least 2 years before trying to return to the U.S. but you can file for a waiver. I don't know anything about that waiver process so I can't help much there. And again, if you are approved for permanent residence status you would only be able to visit Brazil for limited amounts of time, not really long enough to finish your studies.

Why not finish your studies here?? It's a lot easier to get out of the U.S. than it is to get back in!