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okcummings

okcummings

Member

American expat in Brazil

Forum posts

18

Contacts

1

About me

American

Lives in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Registration: 29 January 2022

Activity

okcummings replied to a thread
last year
Carlos Richard

Drivers license in Brazil by Carlos Richard

What is process to receive Brazilian Drive License? Can I just keep my country of origin license or change to Brazilian.

okcummings

@abthree clarifying the circumstances of my last response, I was requested to pull over once (Florianópolis, the police actually just pulled up to the side of my car and yelled at me). the other two times were blitz, the first was by the MP ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
last year
Carlos Richard

Drivers license in Brazil by Carlos Richard

What is process to receive Brazilian Drive License? Can I just keep my country of origin license or change to Brazilian.

okcummings

I’ve gotten stopped three times in total. Once in Florianópolis by local police (don’t remember if they were civil or military but probably civil because they just yelled at me out of their widow to not drive fast), the next in ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
last year
rnbtg

Maintaining US phone while in Brazil by rnbtg

Does anyone have a solution for texts and using a us cell phone while in Brazil? I ported to google voice but can’t receive or make calls for some reason. Lots of banks and stuff use your phone number. I’ve found some work around via ...

okcummings

@MCG13 I think he was referring to Google Fi, the phone carrier service where Google Voice is a VoIP type of service that also does great call forwarding.Google Voice, at least with me, accepts maybe half of the one time passcodes via SMS. With ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
2 years ago
Alstromeria55

Money Transfers by Alstromeria55

Hello. I just joined this group and will be moving to Aracaju, Brazil in less than two months. I will be keeping my bank account in the USA and was wondering about what to do about transferring funds. internatinal wire transfers are expensive. My ...

okcummings

Wise (formerly TransferWise) and Remitly are both apps that offer really low transfer fees. I personally use Wise for online transfers and the money arrives in my account in less than 48 hours in most cases. Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
2 years ago
john8670

The cost of living in Brazil. weekly / monthly / yearly expenses by john8670

Weekly / Monthly Costs:Grocery BillRent Cell Phone Service Internet Cable TV / Satellite Car if leased or typical payments Taxes:House (Property Tax if owned) Are there any other taxes I should be aware of?

okcummings

Grocery Bill: R$500 - R$750 per week, I eat out a lot and shop at higher end grocery stores when I cook inRent: R$1.200 per month, I'm renting a house in a more rural part of my state. 3 bed, 3 bathCell Phone: R$300 per yearInternet: R$100 per month ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
2 years ago
jasonlovesdogs

ATM withdraw fees/best exchange rates by jasonlovesdogs

Hello,I searched the forum and couldn't find an answer to this question. Does anyone know the best Brazilian banks that have the least ATM withdraw fees and exchange rates? I recently went to a Carefour here in Brasilia and felt like I got robbed in ...

okcummings

I'm going to copy/paste a snippet of mine from another post and provide further context. I did this test in Brazil with ATM withdrawals via USAA and Charles Schwab checkings accounts. For comparison, I also did a bank transfer using Wise and Remitly ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
2 years ago
ltoby955

Problems with paying in stores with international cards by ltoby955

Has anyone managed to resolve the problem with debit and credit card machines in stores and restaurants here? The machine doesn't recognise the cards and yet they atm's do. My partner is worried about me carrying cash and she ends up using her card ...

okcummings

I've been in Brazil for almost 2 years now, i exclusively use American credit cards for all physical purchases. I have both the American Express Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards. I have never had a problem with the Chase Reserve (visa) for ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
2 years ago
seinfo3

CapitalOne360 or Charles Schwab ATM Debit for cash & POS ? by seinfo3

I think I have narrowed it down to 2 US banks, CapitolOne360 Checking/Debit Mastercard OR Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking/Debit Visa card.They both seem to offer international ATM cash withdrawals without ATM fees or currency exchange ...

okcummings

I recently went to a Bradesco ATM in Rio de Janeiro and withdrew the exact amount from my USAA checkings and Schwab checkings and got the exact same rates. Bradesco charged me something ridiculous like an 8% fee.I took out exactly $300 BRL from ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
2 years ago
GringoLouco

Money transfer to Brazil. Opinions are welcome by GringoLouco

I have a euro account and plan to have a wedding party in Brazil, in 2022. I asked my local bank to convert 10 000 euros to reais, because the pandemic weakened the real a lot. It would make the wedding more affordable. But my bank doesn't do ...

okcummings

Took a look at Banco do Brasil Americas, their exchange rates don't seem favorable. I was quoted something like $1 = R$4,81 where the market rate is $1 = R$5,01. Transferwise after their fees came out to R$4,91/$1 Better off going with ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
3 years ago
Kurterino

Obtain your CPF online by Kurterino

Hello, I was advised to go to a post office or some other place (that I’ve forgotten), in order to obtain my CPF number. First off, I wrote ‘CPF number’ because it seems that they no longer give you card, but you get it in ...

okcummings

I got mine last April and remember filling out an online application, sending said application and required documents (photo of passport, photo of myself holding passport, and regular selfie) to my consulate in the US and they emailed me a copy of ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
3 years ago
rnbtg

Residency/reuniao familiar processing times by rnbtg

Hi there I’m an American citizen and my Brazilian SO and I are thinking about/working on my move here. I have only found pretty old info which seemed to suggest that applying for the family reunion visa and subsequently residency could take ...

okcummings

@abthree Thanks so much for your input and guidance, not sure if you receive enough thanks in this forum but you and texas both seem to be gurus. I may have misunderstood when he said that the CRNM would be delivered at my address, I went back to ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
3 years ago
rnbtg

Residency/reuniao familiar processing times by rnbtg

Hi there I’m an American citizen and my Brazilian SO and I are thinking about/working on my move here. I have only found pretty old info which seemed to suggest that applying for the family reunion visa and subsequently residency could take ...

okcummings

Hi all, Providing an update as requested (not sure if this should merit its own thread vs hijacking this one). I was scheduled for 10AM in Belo Horizonte, I arrived at 10:00 alone (this interview was without my spouse) and there were maybe 15 ... Read More

okcummings replied to a thread
3 years ago
rnbtg

Residency/reuniao familiar processing times by rnbtg

Hi there I’m an American citizen and my Brazilian SO and I are thinking about/working on my move here. I have only found pretty old info which seemed to suggest that applying for the family reunion visa and subsequently residency could take ...

okcummings

Here's my experience so far. I went with the 'first route' that abthree outlined. It felt a lot easier since my marriage was already registered through the Brazilian Consulate in DC years ago. I recently (January) applied through the ... Read More