Expert: Sandra - 7/18/2009

Question
I am currently planning on going to Brazil to marry a Brazilion citizen.  I intend to go on a tourist visa and stay as long as needed for her papers to come through unless it takes longer than six months.  I will be living in a farming comunity and am wondering if i can work for a local farmer should the opportuntity present itself.  Is it illegal for them to pay my wife?  Or how strict are the rules and what are the consequences if caught. I dont think I am talking about full time employment, probably just odd jobs and the like.  Thank you for your help.
Matthew

Answer
Hi Matthew.

By “her papers to come through”, I assume you are talking about a K-3 visa for your spouse to live in the U.S. If so, I can tell you that the process, from the time you submit the forms to U.S. immigration until your spouse gets an interview date in Rio, will probably take at least 7 months as things are currently going.

As far as working in Brazil, you are not legally allowed to work at all on a tourist visa, which I think you know quite well. Anything else you are suggesting, such as having your wife receive money for work you do, is simply a way to skirt the law. While I really don’t think the Brazilian government is likely to send someone out specifically to check up on you, irregardless of your living in a rural or urban area, I also can’t be sure that, for example, someone in your wife’s family hasn’t annoyed a neighbor sufficiently for him to use his connections to cause real problems. So I would advise that you not plan on looking for paid employment of any kind while in Brazil on a tourist visa.

Best of luck to you both.