Tricia599

I can't comment on your first questions, but as far as the last one - if your USC husband can attend the interview - I would say yes. I was with my husband for his tourism visa interview at the SP consulate the whole time about 4 years ago(I am the USC). Just make sure he has his passport with him. If you're concerned, you may want to send an email to confirm that they will let him in.
Having said that, there was another thread a few days ago about tourism visas - you can probably find it on the portal page. Getting a tourism visa when you are married to a USC is no cake walk. In fact, it's even harder. They assume you are going for the tourism visa to circumvent the immigration process. I was told point blank by the consular officer who interviewed my husband for his B2 that they routinely deny spouses of USCs who have been married a short amount of time.
I don't mean to be a downer, but you need to be prepared for this. If you've been married for less than 3 years, make sure you have a lot of evidence of your ties to Brasil.
Good luck!

I had been going through this site and had not found much about DCF in Brazil (but the posts that are here are very helpful, so thanks to all!), so I have decided to post my own experiences. Maybe someone will find them useful in their situation.
DCF in Rio de Janeiro
We scheduled our visit via email with the Rio Consulate. The scheduling was pretty quick. Ours was scheduled for the week following the date I sent the scheduling email. While we were waiting, we got all of the documents we needed ready. The list of documents was on the Consulate website (http://www.embaixada-americana.org.br/index.php?action=materia&id=7261&submenu=consular.php&itemmenu=183).
Some pointers on the documentation listed that may be helpful. For my proof of residency, I used a copy of my protocol from the Federal Police here in Brazil, as I have a case pending for permanent residence based on marriage (that I will be abandoning with this move to the US). Also, for proof of relationship, we had photos dating back about 2.5 years, mail and email exchanges. However, no one ever asked to see it at this stage.
We get to the Consulate for our appointment. Ours was set for 1pm, and from what I can tell, they do it in groups – they schedule a group of people in the morning and a group in the afternoon. We got to the Consulate about 30 minutes early, but had to wait outside as they won’t let you in until 1pm. However, the guards are very nice and will inform you of where you need to be. The good thing is that you don’t have to wait in the big line for non-immigrant visas. If you are looking at the door to the Consulate, that is the line that goes to the right of the door. The line for the Immigrant visas goes to the left of the door and is considerably smaller. The bad part is was that this side of the building got the afternoon sun, so it was roasting hot. We chose to wait under the shade trees close by and then get in line at 1pm, as the line was so short anyway.
At 1pm, we got in line with about 10 other people. We were waiting for the Immigrant Visas section to say it was OK to send us up. About 1:15, the tell the guard to let us go up. So after checking our names on a piece of paper, he lets us in. We pass security, and then are told to head up to the second floor.
On the second floor, there is one room divided into two parts – American Consular Services and Immigrant Visas. The Immigrant Visa section is on the far side of the room near the windows. We went over to that side to sit down. There will be a sign telling you to take a number, but that is for the American Consular Services, not Immigrant Visas.
Maybe another 10-15 minutes after we sat down, the front desk person started handing out numbers. I’m not sure what this was based on – the order in which the interview was scheduled or the order we came in the door. In any case, my husband and I were last. But there is a TV tuned to Globo and a bunch of magazines and a water cooler, so it seems a bit more comfortable that downstairs in the non-immigrant section.
What happens next is a two step process. First, they call you into a little interview area in the front to collect your paperwork and to make sure everything is OK. If you have everything organized, this goes fairly quickly. We were in and out of this part in 10 minutes. We were given a ticket to pay the $355 fee downstairs, and once paid, we returned the receipt to the woman at the front desk of the immigration unit. Then we waited to be called by the second part, which is a mini-interview by a Consular official.
Once we were finally called to the second part, my husband and I sat down, again behind glass. The man asked us a few questions based on our application – how long we had known each other, when did we meet, when did we decide to get married, how did he propose, etc. We talked about this for a bit, with both my husband and I answering questions, and then the man typed out a summary of the conversation in his system. He read back to me his summary of our relationship.
At that point, he said our application was accepted, and the next step would be for the Consulate to send our application to the National Visa Center in the US, where they will assign a case number. Once that happens, they will notify us and we will schedule the second interview. And that was it.
The process was more time consuming that anything else. But nothing to get nervous about. We were a bit concerned as we had recently gone through the process for a tourist visa for my husband about 4 months prior (we did this in Sao Paulo), and that was 100 times more nerve-wracking than this.
I will keep updating this post as our process continues. Hopefully some will find it helpful. If I can provide any further information on this process or the trip in general, please let me know!