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

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

@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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@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

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

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