Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 2/8/2008

Question
"Hello,
my name is gabriele and i am an American citizen born in the us. my boyfriend is from brazil and came into this country illegally. We are no feeling the effects of him maybe one day being deported or just returning to brazil. No matter if we marry he would still be subjected to a 10 to 20 year bar from the us. I have spoken about moving to brazil but i would never want to live in the city or state that his family live in. I know that is must be very costly living by the beach so that would kind be out of the question. I need to be at least 15 to 20 minutes close to the ocean as i live for the beach and the salt water. I would never want to live in a major capital city as Rio or Sao Paulo  with parts, drugs, the best clubs, high crime, but i also do not want to live far from great malls, shopping, tourist attractions, restaurants or occasional night life. My daughter would have to go to school and she speaks only English so i would need an American school. I heard of only one job for
Americans living in Brazil and that was teaching English. Is there any other profession for Americans in brazil other then teaching. We would probably buy a 2 or 3 bedroom house not to big, or maybe a fixer upper depending how much homes or condo's or apartments are as i do not know how much houses coast in brazil. So my really complicated questions are. Where would it be best for us to look to live, where i can eventually find work, have a safe home and find schooling for my pre-teen. I would rather be farthest south. Are there any city's where there are American people residing besides Rio. Are there parts of brazil where you can get a nice affordable home with a 20 Thousand dollar downpayment. I am confused at this point so sorry for all the questions. If you respond can you send a copy to my email; G740i@optonline.net

Sleepless in Connecticut

Gabriele

Answer
I emailed this to you yesterday:

Sounds like you have a serious problem here, Gabriele. That's not to say it cannot be resolved and you can stay with your boyfriend.  For starters, I dont know where your boyrfriend is from so I cant comment on what type of life you could live. If you lived in Niteroi, in Rio, you would live near the ocean, naer a big city with lots to do, and in a region the UN calls one of the best places to live in Brazil, for example. The problem is -- your daughter. She doesn't speak Portuguese. American or British schools are ONLY in the major cities. So that means you will have to live in a big city -- probably Sao Paulo or Rio. If you lived in Niteroi, youd have to drive over the bridge, or take a boat, downtown, every day. Worse than that...the school would cost you AT LEAST $1,000 per month. Yes, one thousand dollars per month. That doesnt count entry fees, which are as high as US$12,500 at the St. Paul's British Academy in Sao Paulo, for example.  Maybe you are independently wealthy, but if you are going to teach English for a living, I assure you...you wont be sending your kid to a bilingual school.

Now, some neighborhoods, like Alphaville closed condos in Sao Paulo, for instance, have Montessori schools where they teach in English because thereh appens to be a high concentration of American executives living in those "suburban" gated communities. They might be a little bit cheaper than the big American or British schools, and if you have any teaching experience, maybe you can even apply for a job there and POSSIBLY get a discount for your child. But under such circumstances, youd be forced to live near an English language school -- and the only ones I can think of that are near the ocean are in Rio.  There might be some in the northeast or in Santa Catarina's Florianopolis, but I highly doubt. The main areas for these schools are where American and European expat executives work and have foreign children.

WORK
You will not be able to work legally in Brazil without a resident card, which is the Brazilian Green Card. You can only get one if you are married, or go through a lot of red tape which I cannot even begin to describe to you here, but it would require you to be:
a) A big money investor planning to invest millions in Brazil.
b) A foreign diplomat
c) A missionary

What type of work do you do now? Can you possibly get transferrerd to Brazil? If so, Im sure the gig is in Sao Paulo or Rio. Maybe not Sao Paulo city, but definitely in the state. The city is around 2 hours frm the ocean, beautiful ocean through beautiful mountain passes.

HOUSES
Again, this depends on yoru career aims and income needs. Real estate costs are rising in Brazil. Alphaville homes, for example, will cost you at least R$500,000...on the low end. Not much cheaper than a US 3 bedroom ranch built in the 70s. Figure you will spend at least $125,000 to live in a nice, comfortable neighborhood. This all depends on your standard of living needs.  Yes, you can find a place for $80,000...but it will be in the middle of Sao Pualo or Rio. Or in the northeast away from infrastructure..or something like that. A $20,000 down payment is about R$36,500, which is not a helluva lot of money. You'd have to finance at least R$100,000. Maybe your boyfriend can finance it. Lots of things in your situation I do not know, like what he does for a living, how rich or poor he is. So can't help yo uon that. Brazil is getting very expensive. Its not the third world outback it was when your boyfriend probably left the country. It is one of the hottest markets in the world and the dollar keeps getting weaker here every week.  Even teh US recession hsa not reallyy hurt the Brazilian economy at this time.

There are two types of expats living in Brazil:
1) retirees and independently wealthy jet setters
2) worker bees and executives

No. 1 -- they live in the northeast in expensive closed condos or mid-sized closed condos near the beach. Their life is the beach. The infrastructure near them is usuallyl shit, and the people near them are very poor and simple. Think Africa.  A few live in Florianopolis, which is cold in the winter and VERY far away from the US. Most expats there are wealthy Argentines and Uruguayans. Its become a hot spot over the years...with Paris HIlton hanging out there...but I really dont know if they have any AMerican or British schools.  Google it. They wont be cheap, despite Floripa being cheaper than SP and Rio.

No. 2 -- They all live in Rio and Sao Paulo state, where the multinationals are all located.  A small few might live in the northeast, if they work for a major mining company or intl hotel chain.

What is it that your boyrfriend does for a living?

Good luck.  And, oh, does your daughter like the idea of moving to Brazil and leaving her friends at that age? Why dont you guys just go to Brazil maybe for a year, get married, then move back to teh US? Or maybe six months.  Dunno.  Do you really want to get married? I wouldnt get married just to fix an immigration situation. I did that myself and after nine years Im starting to worry that it wasnt the wisest thing to do. So be warned.