Rio de Janeiro Interview

[Kayl&Natch 8]

Hi all - I wanted to provide an update with information on the week of the interview. This may be useful for anyone doing medical and everything in Rio. I am the petitioner and was already in Brazil when we got our interview appointment so I extended my stay a couple of days to be there.

 

Arrived in Rio - Jan 4th

Blood exams - Jan 4th

Chest X-Ray - Jan 4th

Fingerprint/Photo - Jan 5th

Medical - Jan 9th

Interview - Jan 10th

 

Arrival - Blood Exams - Chest X-Ray (Jan 4)

Our plane from Palmas was delayed so we went straight to get the blood exam done from the airport (bags and all). We used the Leblon location (you can choose between Leblon and Barra) and it was really lovely. Leblon in general is cute as a button. There was no wait on the blood exams, they were extremely well staffed and so nice offering us all drinks and snacks. Since my son is 15, he didn't have to blood or urine, and my wife (35) only had to do blood. We were in and out in 30 minutes and it cost r$65, if I remember correctly and they take card. The hotel the doctor recommends when you schedule your medical appointment is literally around the corner.

 

We had the chest X-Rays that evening, also in Leblon and it was fine. The building is on a side street and you need to take the elevator to the 3rd floor and it's in the corner. The people were nice enough, but it's quieter. It took awhile on this one because I think they may have been behind. But the actual appointments for my wife and son were about 10 minutes. It was was a bit pricey at r$190 each, but they also take card. They will tell you, but make sure to schedule this early because it can take 4 business days to get to the doctor.

 

In both cases as the petitioner I just sat in the waiting room.

 

Fingerprint and Photo (Jan 5)

This was in the new location at the Bossa Nova Shopping mall. From the entrance you just walk in and go down the escalator and it's right there. We arrived about 45 minutes early as we heard the wait time can be a lot. However, they queue a bunch of people up and then let them in in groups. You have to turn off phones and smart watches. Only the people with the appointment can enter. So I was left outside. I was holding all of the phones but I wish we would have left one with them so I could walk around the mall while waiting. You can't sit down in the open area and there are no chairs. There is a radio station right there and they do play music, which is nice. Both tourist visa and immigrant are lumped together and it gets really busy in waves, however it seems to be a relatively smooth process.

 

It took maybe 45 minutes in total. They queued for the fingerprint, then queued again for photo. The person at the photo just asked a couple of verification questions and then they took the photo. There was no charge for this since we were CR1/2 visa type.

 

Medical Appointment (Jan 9)

When you make the medical appointment (by email and in Portuguese only), they will send you a list of vaccines that may or may not apply and who is required. I recommend going through that and matching to your vaccine records. They tell you how much the vaccine will cost of you have to get it. It was expensive. So we went and got the missing vaccines in Palmas where half were free and the rest were 40-80 reais cheaper. My son didn't have the varicella vaccine or Hep A. We got both right away, but both are 2 dose shots. We talked with the medical people ahead and they let us know that he'd finish Hep A in the US since there needs to be 6 months in between. We got the 1st varicella dose early and there only needs to be a month between doses so we got the 2nd dose the day before we left for Rio.  

 

We got there early because we weren't sure where to go. At first we went to the mall because the Centro Medico is there, but that was the wrong spot. You have to go to the corporate park next to the mall. There's a little walkway between if you go to the wrong spot. We checked in with reception and they call up to the doctor's office. There is a waiting area on the first floor and the security guard calls your name and gives you access through the turnstiles. There was an issue with our appointment where the reception recorded our appointment at the wrong time, and we had to push for them to honor it. But the doctor made him honor it since it was his mistake and we had the email confirmation. This was another appointment I had to wait downstairs in the lobby.

 

The doctor verifies your shot records before you see him. He fills out a sheet with everything on it with the photo taken earlier attached. My wife said he was incredibly nice and kind. The actual appointment was 20 minutes for both my wife and son. It was r$800 each and can only be paid in Pix or Cash.

 

FYI - Make sure you are current with your Covid vaccine. My wife had 3 shots (2 initial and a booster) and they made her go get another booster since hers was from 2022. It was free and the clinic was down the street and very quick. I think we were back in under 45 minutes and it was during the doctor's lunch hour anyway. Once we returned, they were sent straight up to the reception who had the document waiting once she showed the vaccine receipt. 

 

Interview (Jan 10)

Our interview appointment was at 7:40am. After reading how busy it gets, we got there at 6:30am. There was already a long line. This was the tourist visa line. We weren't sure if we should stand in that line too since it hadn't opened and there was no one on the immigrant side yet. That was actually the right side to be on. We realized at 7am when they started calling the 7am appointments for tourist. We moved over to that side and they let us in in the first group, there was maybe 10 of us total. They take you in around back and upstairs to the second floor. It's a smallish room. They hand out a paper with the list of documents they need in that order. Once you organize yourself, you show it to the person who guides you up and hands out the paper. He spot checks it and then you get seated in the number chairs. You go up to the windows in number order, scootching chairs until you're in the first set. All 3 of us went to the window together. They take and review the documents and have you validate information from what was submitted in the application. They ask maybe 3-4 questions. Once that's done you go and wait again.

 

Despite letting the group of us in together, they seemed to call people up to do the interview part by appointment time regardless of who did the document validation first. There are no clocks in the room and you cannot wear smart watches or have your phones (there are storage places across the street and it's r$40 per phone). When we got called, we went to another window all together and the person reviewed the documents and application and asked 3-4 questions each to my wife and son. She then told us we were approved and we left. 

 

We were done by 9am.

 

End note: We paid for expedited shipping of the passports and received them on Monday, Jan 15 and they come home Feb 11. (I am super nervous about the customs part so going to have to look into that)

 

Thanks for all of the help!

[judgementKazzy 7]

Just had my Interview on November 18th - Visa Accepted!!!! Thank you VisaJourney for the help, this website has been invaluable for the both of us.

This was my (solo) fiancee visa experience!

 

To add to the post above -

We scheduled the interview and biometrics, then contacted the doctor (in São Paulo) who gave me a single date about ~12 days before the interview, there were no options.

 

Medical: November 6th

Bio: November 17th

Interview: November 18th.

 

Medical

 I did all my exams in São Paulo - arrived at the doctors, was examined for my eyesight, thyroids, general health questions (have you even been in contact with people with tb, have you ever had an STD, etc), and double checked my vaxx card - apparently Brazil does not demand you retake your MMR vaccine every 10 years like the USA does, so i had to take my booster for that one.

He gave me blood work and chest x-ray prescription (?) and I left to go get them done on the same day. 

Note: if you're getting your medical stuff done in SP, keep in mind its a 20-30 minute drive from the Doctor's Office to the Fleury you need to do your exams at.

The blood work and x-ray were taken at one location, and the shot was at another down the street.

After getting it all done I sent a picture of my new vaccination card with the MMR vaxx stamp to the Doctor's office via WhatsApp, and was free to go

They told me they'd only contact me in case something went wrong, so thankfully I never got any other messages from them 😛

 

Then on Nov. 16th i took a flight to Rio for the Bio+Interview phase.

Again, I want to thank @Kayl&Natch - the entire time I was in the interview room, I was thinking of the "chair scootching" and giggling to myself.

 

For the Biometrics, there's not much to say. Regardless of when you get there, you will NOT be allowed to even queue before its 15 min til your appointment. Go take a walk in the (very small) mall if you're too early.

15 min before appointment they start lining people up, then its a matter of going in, getting your picture taken and doing the whole fingerprinting business. I was in there for less than 5 minutes, I swear lol.

 

For the interview, my general advice is take a (non-smart) wrist watch with you lol I saw a couple people with those, and there are no clocks in the room - so my retelling might be a bit off.

I arrived at 7:00 for my 7:40 appointment, there was a line outside that was for non-immigrant visas only, so we get to skip that. As you walk into the room, you're supposed to walk to the desk in the back and tell the guy sitting there your name and appointment time. I was not told that, so I sat down straight away, but thankfully two ladies who were there for their visas managed to catch my eye and point me the right direction haha.

He gives you a new folder to put all your documents in the correct order into, and then you wait for him to call you back to make sure its all there. If so, you go to the red chairs where you'll be scootching until its your turn.

If not, there's a computer and printer you can use if whatever you're missing is easy access. A worker takes your folder and tells you to wait for your interview on the white chairs. I'd say all of this took maybe 30~40 minutes.

 

We all waited a while until the interviewer arrived, and when he did I'd say there were around 10 people before me.

He was very obviously American, but was speaking Portuguese to people. I feel more comfortable speaking in English at this point, so when he asked me the first question in Portuguese, I just answered it in English, and he never questioned it, just continued the interview in English.

The questions were pretty simple, I'll list them below

- Who is <fiancé's name>?

- When did you meet?

- When was the last time you've been to the USA? (It was 2021)

- That's a long time ago, youve been long distance since then? (No, we went to Italy last year and he came to Brasil early 2025)

- What does he do for work?

- Could you please explain what that means? ( hilarious )

- What do you do for work?

- What will you be doing in the USA? (I was confused for this one and asked "for work? 🫠" then explained i hoped to get something in the same field once im allowed to.)

The "bomb" question was 

- What happened with immigration in 2014? 

I had to stop and think, but back then I was starting college in the USA and forgot the most important document 😑 I was stopped, but let in since I had a tourist visa on the express condition I managed to get a second copy of said document from my college in a week. Stupid mistake. I explained all of that to the interviewer.

- Have you had any other issues with immigration since?

Again I had to stop and think to make sure, but I did have another stupid (on my end lol) incident which I explained to him as well. 

 

After every question he would barely react, turn to the computer, type for a couple minutes, then hit me with the next question.

After the last one, he gave me a flyer on domestic violence before announcing my visa was accepted, asking me if I had any questions, and giving me a little "Your visa was accepted!" flyer!! 

It was around 10:30 when i left, so ~3 hours total in there (felt sooo much longer haha)

 

I paid for home delivery (R$60) and my passport arrived in 3 days.

 

All in all, the entire process took almosy exactly a year - I leave for the USA in 10 days and I can barely contain myself. I dont think the penny has dropped yet... 

[TBoneTX 48,563]

7 hours ago, judgementKazzy said:

had my Interview on November 18th - Visa Accepted!!!!

Yee-HAAAAA!  (That's Texan for "congratulations.)   

7 hours ago, judgementKazzy said:

I can barely contain myself.

Just don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out.   

---

Seriously, thanks for your excellent writeup, which will be valuable to others.

Let us know of your experiences traveling and entering.

[judgementKazzy 7]

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Seriously, thanks for your excellent writeup, which will be valuable to others.

Glad to hear!! For some reason while writing it, I was afraid that writing out the interview questions like that was a no-no, so good to know I was overthinking it 🥳
 

 

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Let us know of your experiences traveling and entering.

I'll be sure to! Hopefully my brains will still be in good enough condition to do another writeup then