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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-23-2011, 04:49 PM
I was in Vitoria for two months earlier this year and everyday since I left my mind has been on Brazil. I've booked a flight to Rio for September 15th with the intention of staying there as long as I can.
I want to get a job that will give me a working visa and allow me to stay year round. I have a TESOL so I could teach English, but I hear that the pay is shit in Brazil. I speak near fluent Spanish and Portuguese so I was thinking that I could get a job in a hotel or something else in the tourist industry.
I'm not particularly committed to Rio, I'm going there first because that's where American Airlines would let me fly to using miles. I'm thinking my best long term option would be to career hack in the style of YoungMobileGlobal at a company in Sao Paolo.
I don't have much planned right now since I only bought the ticket a few hours ago. All I know is that I love Brazil and can't be truly happy until I live there. Any advice you guys have would be greatly appreciated.
BTW I've read through every thread on the forum about Brazil and most were about short trips, nightlife, day game and whether _____ guys would do well with the ladies. This is a topic that no one has covered before so excuse me for making another Brazil thread.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-23-2011, 05:11 PM
Sardino,
The topic of living in Brasil has fascinated many people (yours truly included) and it was covered in some threads in here but I'll tell you this:
Your chances of getting a work visa in Brasil is next to none for the following reasons:
- the brasilian company has to not only pay for the application/fees and all (I heard about 5000 reais to sponsor a non brasilian for a work visa) but they also have to prove to the Ministry of Labour that there is no brasileiro able and qualified to fullfill that position. So unless you're applying for a very unique position with totally unique skill sets and that you're a world class specialist in your field, or a pro athlete hired by a brasilian sport team, your chances of getting a brasilian company to sponsor you as an english teacher or someone working at a hotel/resort are a big fat zero. I'm not trying to rain on your parade but just giving you a heads up about Brasil.
Now, you know that as a tourist, you can stay in Brasil for up to 180 days per year (90 days renewable for another 90 days). After which you'd have to leave the country. If you overstay your visa, the fine is I believe around 850 reais upon your departure. So be careful on that end.
Now, having said all that, your only and best chance to secure a legal visa to Brasil for longer than the tourist 6 months one, is to apply for an educational one. Apply for an educational visa from the states to study in a uni in Brasil where you could spend 1 and up to 2 years studying there. Do your due diligence on the subject tough. I have toyed with that idea but then Asia changed plans for me, at least for the foreseable future. But boy do I miss Brasil and I can't wait to return there. So all in all, your best bet to stay longer than the 6 months as a tourist is through an educational visa. So do your research on that end and once on the ground, then through your contacts at the uni and people you meet, you could land a better job.
As to your other options for a longer visa/permanent visa your options are:
- Business/investor visa (it used to be US$50K invested either in a new biz or in an existing biz in Brasil), you'd also have to hire 5 full time Brasileiros with full benefits. Now it's been raised to I believe US$100K so do your research on the matter. Your b/investor visa would be valid for 5 years but reviewed every year by the govt to ensure you did indeed create 5 full time jobs for locals with full benefits. If you fail to do so, your visa will be revoked and god knows what would happen to your investment....
- If you're over 55 and can show a pension of over 2K/month, then you'd get a retirement visa (but keep in mind that you'd be doubly taxed both in the US and in Brasil on your pension) but I doubt the Retirement visa applies to you or many people (if any) on these forums.
- Easiest but not necessarily the smartest way to obtain residency is by marrying and/or fathering a child. Not the most recommended solution.
All in all, your best bet to stay in Brasil is to get an education visa. Or if you have credentials and contacts, get hired by a multinational in the US, do your dues for 2-3 years and with you speaking fluent Portuguese, you could get shipped to their office in Brasil. If you want to work in Brasil this would be the ideal scenario. But forget about teaching english as you'd be making peanuts. IMO, the best ways to go would be to either get an educational visa, learn the lingo to a fluent level while having fun. If that's not an option, build an online biz and live it up in Brasil for 6 months per year. As long as your biz brings at least 3KUS/month, then you'd be having a good time (outside of Rio and SP). I'd suggest BH to have the best of both worlds in terms of quality of life/girls and cost of living.
Hope this helps man and whatever you do, report back how it goes. Myself and others in here will be following your adventures in Brasil with a lot of interest.
Cheers.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-23-2011, 05:46 PM
VP-
"If you overstay your visa, the fine is I believe around 850 reais upon your departure. So be careful on that end."
It maxes out at that amount. I believe it is R$8 for each day you stay past your tourist visa. I heard stories where if you pay the fine at the Federal Police before you leave Brazil they won't stamp your passport. Most people pay the fine when they return to Brazil. I've researched this a lot but the last couple sentences are just from what I heard, not first hand experience. I knew a British dude that married a brasiliera and still got citizenship in Brazil even though he has a stamp in his passport. He could come and go from Brazil freely with the stamp after he paid the fine. But like VP said the easiest way is to marry a brasiliera but that is a major commitment.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-23-2011, 05:59 PM
VP,
Thank you for your informative response.
The 5,000 Reais for a work visa sounds pretty high, but it doesn't surprise me given how terrible Brazil's bureaucracy is. The work situation seems pretty bleak so I'm going to need to get creative. An idea that just popped into my head is to try to get a job in the film industry as an extra/actor and leverage my gringo status. I don't imagine there are very many Portuguese speaking gringos trying to get into the Brazilian film industry, plus I have experience working as an extra.
Going to uni in Brazil sounds like a very appealing option and I will look into that a bit more. It would be an awesome way to integrate myself into Brazilian society, plus I'd probably be the only gringo on campus.
I think my best option is to build an SEO business when I get to Brazil. I can make a pretty decent income doing that under the table and perhaps build it to the point where I have 5 Brazilians working for me. I also want to check out 2nd tier cities like BH and this business would give me the flexibility to live there for a few months.
Thanks again for your response.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-23-2011, 06:09 PM
Or you could re-enter through Ciudad del este in Paraguay crossing the Ponte da Amizade. Cabs, cars and people freely pass through that border all the time without being checked at all. However, if you plan on taking the plane inside Brasil, you'd have trouble big time. Another trick I've read people talk in the past is to over stay your visa, then go to your embassy and report your passport lost. You'd get a new passport with no Brasilian stamp/record on it. This may have worked in the past but nowadays, not sure how sophisticated/efficient are the computer systems at GRU and GIG. it's a chance you would have to take but could work. Something to keep in mind as a last resort...
The film actor could be a good one, but tough to crack unless you have solid contacts. What I'd suggest is either get a student visa, perfect your Portuguese, have a blast while making solid contacts for work / bizz from there (including your SEO biz). Or just focus on your biz so that you don't have to work. All the best man.
Also Sardino, since you spent time already in Brasil this year, make sure you haven't gone over the allowed 180 days per year otherwise, you'd be on the first plane back the same day to the US (that is if they let you board in the first place in the US). So be careful with this.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-23-2011, 06:34 PM
For guys like me, the solution is not to necessarily live in one location forever, but to find 2 or 3 spots that we can live between for the year on mere tourist visas.
If I had to pick now, every year I'd do 3 months in Colombia, 3 months in Poland, and 6 months in Brazil. Establish connections and intel so that renting apartments are easy and when returning to each you don't have to start from scratch.
I still have a lot of research do to, so I don't plan on executing this strategy for another couple of years.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-24-2011, 03:34 PM
I'd say my Spanish is conversational. My Portuguese has slipped a bit.
I may swing by Colombia for a couple months next year to bone up on my Spanish and Latin women. I miss both.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-24-2011, 04:35 PM
Hey Roosh, you had a great rundown a while back about Colombianas vs. Brasileras vs. Argentine girls. Any chance you have a post up your sleeve comparing Polish girls to the Latin ones?
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-24-2011, 10:15 PM
I am currently studying for a semester in Floripa and don't want to go back to the US. I am going to try and figure out what I can do to stay here and get my credits to transfer to the university here. I will keep you all posted on the process. As of now, I have a 6 month student visa that will expire in January but if I stay it will continue to be on student visas, unless I wife up one of these brazilian beauties.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-31-2011, 06:50 PM
couldnt u just do some arranged marrage with a brasiizian chick?
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Living in Brazil Long Term
08-31-2011, 07:36 PM
Sardino,
for the the semester study in Brasil, your best bet is to go through your uni in the US. If you're not enrolled in a uni in the US, if you're in Brasil, just inquire form within. Hit the schools and see what you can do. But I'm pretty sure that to quailfy for the student visa, you'd have to apply from outside of Brasil that is from your country (US). I can be wrong but that's my understanding. Let me/us know what is the real scoope on that end. I don't think/believe that enrolling in a portuguese language course would make you eligible for the student visa.
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Living in Brazil Long Term
09-01-2011, 12:42 PM
Sardino...just out of interest, why Brazil specifically?
Curious on what you enjoyed most that made you want to live there. Women? Weather? Overall lifestyle? Or a combination of factors?
There's no shortage of pussy- it's just the delivery system that's messed up
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Living in Brazil Long Term
09-01-2011, 09:38 PM
I just got back from a long stay in RIO(I Live in SP).
I'll put my impressions here ASAP..
Chicks need to be on rotation like a Netflix queue
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Living in Brazil Long Term
09-04-2011, 12:50 PM
what school are you studying at, and what is your major?
Do these ladies understand español?
A year from now you'll wish you started today
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Living in Brazil Long Term
09-04-2011, 08:42 PM
The best club in the world is in Floripa: Confraria
or at least it was 3 years ago.
![[Image: smile.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/smile.gif)