Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 2/1/2010

Question
i would like to know the marriage procedures in brazil. i am filipino citizen.im in philippine right now.myself and my brazilian boyfriend planning to marry in brazil.my family and his family are happy for our marriage.what are the procedures needed for are marriage?what is the legal procedure for registering our marriage(in brazil)?when and where should i apply for permanent resident visa(philippine or brazil) if we plan to move to brazil in the future?can i change my nationality too if ever i plan to stay in brazil?what is the legal procedure too to change philippine nationality to brazil nationality?

Answer
You can also get married in the Philippines first and get your husband his legal residency card there first. By doing that, you can bring your marriage certificate to the Brazilian consulate and have it recognized and translated into a legal Brazilian marriage document. It woudl be a registry of a marriage abroad. Then you would come to Brazil on a TOURIST visa or maybe the consulate will suggest a FIANCEE visa. Either one is fine. Though if you can do a fiancee visa, the consulate will recommend that because they want to make it 100% legal. You CAN get married on a tourist visa, though. That is not against the law. So then you come to Brazil with your tourist or fiancee visa and get married. If you are alraedy married in the Philippines, and already have  your legal Brazil consulate registry of marriage abroad documents, then  you do not need to do any of theat in Brazil. IF you are not married yet, and lets assume you are not, then you do the following:

1. Come to Brazil on a tourist visa.
2. Get married in a church or by a legal court appointed justice of the peace.
3. Get your marriage license approved by teh local registrar's office, known as a "cartorio."
4. Once approved (a day or two), you bring your documents proving you are legally wed to the local Federal Police immigration office. There you tell them you want a new visa so you can stay and work in Brazil.
5. At the Fed immigration office, you will get finger printed and fill out a few forms. The entire process takes at least a couple of days of back and forth to the office, and a good three hours or more of filling out forms and waiting in lines. Usually on the first day, you will get granted a "temporary stay". This will be a small slip of paper or something similar that they paperclip or staple or stick to your passport saying that you can stay in Brazil and work in Brazil. They will then explain any new immigration laws. I dont know the laws they have with the Philippines, so I dont know if you will now be stuck in Brazil until your permament visa is ready.
6. After this process is done, you will get a permament visa in your passport allowing  you to stay and work in Brazil as a legal resident. YOu will also get yoru photo taken for a national, foreigners registration card, called the RNE. This is your national ID. You CANNOT LOSE IT. It is like a greencard in the US. You lose it, you dont return to Brazil. It goes with the permament visa stamp in your passport. You need BOTH, not one or the other.

So to answer some of  your questions individually now...

You can ONLY apply for a perm resident visa in the country where  yuo want to remain a perm resident. The Brazilian consulate cannot give you one. Once you get the perm res visa stamped into your passport, you can get your RNE. The RNE comes a bit later, but you apply for both at the same time.

You do not need a perm visa to come to Brazil. You can have your tourist visa, including to get married. Once you are married, and yuro marriage is legally recognized by the immigration department run by the Federal Police, then you can stay in Brazil forever without a problem.

There is no need for you to become a Brazilian citizen unless you want to vote or bring  your family here. This will take time. It is not something you will need to decide right away.

I do not know the legal procedure to become a Brazilian national citizen. I dont know what the point is in doing this, unless you wanted to vote or bring your family here, or unless you were planning on making a life between the two countries, like 6 months here and 6 months there. Over time, the gov of Brazil coudl take away your RNE card if they wanted to because you are not really a "permament resident", you are a temporary one, which doesnt exist. But I have never ever heard of that happening.

My wife has a US greencard and we ahve been in Brazil for five years and she doesnt have problems coming back to the US. Evne though that green card is her RNE card, and she is in the same boat -- not really permament. She COULD technically lose her green card. But the US is a different animal, so I dont see any problems in your case, unless you broke the law, or unless your marriage was a fraud (married for money and not living with him, or it is proven you are also married elsewhere and your marriage was a financial arrangement to finagle entry into Brazil. Then you would be kicked out of the country.)

Good luck