Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 3/22/2009

Question
Hello,

I am Sachin, studying in U.K. and residing here since last 2 years.

I am in love with a Brazilian girl and had gone to see her last Christmas. Had a good time and now both of us want to stay together. I understand getting married with her can give me permanent residence but for now we both want to enjoy living together and in due course of time get married.

I need a visa to work in brazil and being a citizen of India by birth does not exempt me from any type of visas available as of now.

I would be thankful to you for guiding me the correct way to get a work visa in brazil and help me getting closer to my girl friend in person.

I hope you understand my difficulty and help me.

Awaiting your kind reply for the same.

Regards,

Sachin  

Answer
Sorry, Sachin, you can only get a worknig visa if you have a company in Brazil willing to hire you and sponsor you. By that I mean, something like Tata International has to say, in writing, that they will hire you, pay you x amount of dollars, and you will work there from x to y and then they will ship you back to India. You then bring that letter to the Brazilian consulate in India, and you get your working visa stamped into your passport.

The other way is to go to Brazil on a tourist visa.  Your chances of getting a job at Tata (I assume you dont even speak Portuguese well enough to do much else) are maybe 1%, cuz I never discount luck and "who you know" (like maybe your dad is a top manager at Tata). If you go on a tourist visa, you cannot work, unless you are lucky enough to find someone willing to hire you "under the table"  -- meaning no records and cash only payments.  Usually this is part time work, like teaching English. To teach English with any set of decent hours and pay, you will need to speak Portuguese to be hired at a school. Your girlfriend should be laying the groundwork for that.

I dont know what you do in the UK, but if you are a writer, or researcher of some sort, I would advice you to look for hedge funds or othr companies, including magazines, taht might be willing to take some work of yours on a freelance basis.  Say XYZ Inc in the UK want sto know all about the sugar and ethanol market in Brazil and they say, yes...go work for Elizabeth at FC Stone as a freelancer...and maybe you can make like $500 to $1,000 a month that way.

Those are your options.

I married a Brazil. I would advise against international romances if I were you. Or, if you do jump ship, dont have children because if you got a divorce and wanted to move back to India or UK, unless your ex is a drunken bum, youll never see your kids again.  Always better to marry the girl next door.  Trust me.