Expert: Sandra - 5/1/2011

Question
How can I obtain the birth certificate of Jose Lurie born 18 Match 1906 in Graca, municipal district of Recife

Thank you

Answer
Hi Sue.

This process may be a bit complicated if you are not in Brazil.

Births are registered at a "cartorio". There may be more than one serving a certain neighborhood. Cartorios register births and marriages, register and authenticate signatures, and serve as a type of notary public, but each is a privately owned business that can set its own requirements for registering or obtaining documents.

I think you may have to contact someone in Brazil, perhaps a lawyer in Recife, to act for you in this matter. I do not think such information is in any central registry available online as yet. I am also led to believe that, once the correct cartorio is located, someone would have to sign for the document in person.

After choosing soneone to act for you, whose services may not come cheap, especially when s/he knows you are a foreigner, you would have to draw up a power of attorney (procuracao) signed at the Brazilian Consulate with jurisdiction over your residence and send it to the person in Brazil. Then that person could begin a search for the cartorio and birth record.

(This is the best of my knowledge as a foreign resident on the matter and from inquiring of several Brazilian acquaintances who have never had to do this from abroad.)
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I also found online these sites with contact information about a cartorio of/for Graca, Recife, PE. Perhaps someone who speaks Brazilian Portuguese could call for you to get more accurate information.
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http://www.informacerto.com.br/recife/cartorio-da-graca.htm
http://eguias.net/empresas/PE/recife/1043673-cartorio-de-registro-civil-da-graca...
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http://cartorio-graca-6-distrito-judiciario.br.telelistas.net/vct/cartorios-tabe...

Contact Info:
Cartório da Graça 6º Distrito Judiciário
Av João Barros #1750, (suites)Salas 02/04, Espinheiro (neighborhood), Recife, PE
Tel: (Recife city code 81) 3242-3543
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Best of luck.