Places for Reitrees to move in Brazil

I would aim for Santa Catarina or Rio Grande Do Sul in a smaller town or city.

I'm not 100% sure about their local hospital and doctors office though.

Maybe Pomerode? It's between 2 decent sized safe cities Jaragua do sul (North of Pomerode 40 - 50 minutes) and Blumenau (South of Pomerode (1 hour ish) minutes by car each way.

1. Beautiful location inside the valley.
2. Old school German town, architecture and culture.
3. Farms and houses with space.
4. Safe
5. Quite

@sprealestatebroker

such an intelligent, and generous! response.  Now I must get out a good map of Brazil !

thank you!

@sprealestatebroker I really appreciate your taking the time and providing such a detailed response.

I’m going to spend some time this weekend on the ‘net and familiarize myself with all this. Some l know of, but many l don’t. Again, much thanks!

@mjgk

Dear Mjgk,

The best hospitals in Brazil are in São Paulo. If you are in the retirement age bracket and are worried about excellent medical care, you won´t find better hospitals, or private care than in São Paulo. That is a fact. Rich Brazilians that live in the South and NorthEast and in all these other exotic places have apartments in São Paulo to which they they fly to by helicopter in order to return for serious medical care. I know because a lot of them are my students, I am fluent in Portuguese and we talk about these things. So, depending on your budget you need to consider that. When health problems arise, are you willing to just settle for an okay hospital, or do you want the best? There are a lot of beautiful places in the countryside of SP that are about an hour away from these great hospitals. Yeah.. it is still kind of far... but not so much as in the South of Brazil. The other places have good hospitals too, but the best are in São Paulo.

Another point is about the gated community. It is an absolute must if you are planning on building a house or buying somewhere out in the countryside or whatnot. If you don´t ( unless you have dozens of pitbulls, a good gun, expensive security cameras, electric fences and other protective means) your house runs a high risk of being invaded. ESPECIALLY if they find out you are a gringo and see your beautiful house, or think that you have dollars or euros hidden away, or jewelry. You will eventually have to do maintence on your house, clean the pool, cut the grass , hire a cleaning lady or whatever and the Brazilians who come to do these services will be very nice to you and then during a night of heavy drinking at a bar or while gossiping with friends, mention you and what you have in your beautiful house... how your house is and you might be the perfect victim. Robberies are extremely violent in Brazil and often end up in with the victim being killed or kidnapped and tortured. The laws are weak, poice are lazy and the criminals know this.

We have a house in the countryside, a huge house, in a gated community. BEST THING WE EVER DID. Just buy more land, block out your neighbors with land and construct. Pay the gated community fee and be safe. DO NOT IMAGINE that HERE is like the US in any respect. It is NOT safe at all to live outside of a gated community and I can tell you horror stories of people trying to do things on their own in Brazil. This is not just São Paulo. You take a risk anytime you try to do things on your own In Brazil. Even camping.

I´ve been here for over 10 years. I know what I am talking about. God bless you.

Devorah

I'm thinking of retiring in São Luís. I've been in Brasilia waiting for residency for 7 months which I just got. I met my girlfriend in Brasília but she is from São Luís. I visited her family there. I felt pretty safe. Its a big city. Had everything I thought I needed. Had modern areas. Nice beach. Nothing there I couldn't find that I needed. Modern mall.

02/15/23 I'm thinking of retiring in São Luís. I've been in Brasilia waiting for residency for 7 months which I just got. I met my girlfriend in Brasília but she is from São Luís. I visited her family there. I felt pretty safe. Its a big city. Had everything I thought I needed. Had modern areas. Nice beach. Nothing there I couldn't find that I needed. Modern mall.
-@jasonlovesdogs

I'll be interested in what you think of it.  I've always wanted to go there, and it's the last of the "island capitals" that I haven't gotten to yet.  It used to be said that they speak the best Portuguese in Brazil in São Luís:  for two language nerds like we are in this house, that's attraction enough to go check it out.

@jasonlovesdogs Unfortunately my plans had to change, so my move date has been pushed out until

next year. On the positive side that gives me more time to research possible places to live. I don’t know anything about this place but l will give it a look.

@KenAquarius It seems I represent the outliers, so just in case you are looking for something very different I live in Parazinho, a very remote village of about 2,500 people.  In Parzinho, people do not buy houses, they buy land and build. It is a growing community, but still no big city.  We are about 30minutes from Jeicoacoara, one of the most beautiful beaches in the whole world.

If you like, bulls, chickens, pigs, frogs, cows etc. and that's just my neighbor, Parazinho is the place for you.

Roddie in Retirement

@abthree I enjoyed it. It's was challenging because Gol lost my luggage but the historical district was great. Beach was great. Hardly anybody on the beach. I've heard that about the language also. I'm not fluent yet in Portuguese but pretty good. Actually it is harder for me to understand my girlfriend than to understand others from other areas because of the accent.

@roddiesho Hi Roddie!

Thanks for the input. The more information the better. As l said l now have some more time to consider things. I am still leaning towards Santa Catarina state, but all options are on the table.

Just last night, i had an infection with swelling ( won't daresay where ). 

Got my public health SUS card to take a look at this, by 11 PM. 

I live in Santo Andre-SP

We have a City maintained Hospital ( Santa Casa ), a few good private hospitals ( Brasil, Cristovao da Gama, Santa Helena, Beneficiencia Portuguesa ).  Then there is the Stated maintained one, Mario Covas.

And then there are the free Community Health Centers ( Posto de Saude ), scattered around the city, that operate from 7AM to 6PM, where you go through your affiliated neighoborhood.   

And then there are the Emergency Infirmaries ( called UPAs ). They are all free.  You don't get to be sent to the Hospital until you gone through those.

The public health is a triage/feeder system.  it works, not up to par with excellence, but it meets your basic needs. 

At the infirmary, your choice is random, and Santo Andre bankrolls about a half dozen. 

While roaming the nearest ones to to be looked after, the ones on the most affluent neighborhoods were jam packed, the not so affluent, had a lesser waiting queue.

In trough the reception for the system entry, upon showing my SUS card and an utility bill under my name, I quickly got my name called afterwards by the scheduled taciturn nurse, who took blood pressure, asked a couple questions and sent me up to wait another 10 minutes for the scheduled MD  primary care practicioner.

A few more questions, and she wrote down antibiotic intravenal prescriptions to be administered at the end of the hall.  And order urine and blood exams, same place. 

The nurses in the room, a couple negroe ones, took care of my affairs efficiently, the room was full of in and out patients who had no business to be other than in the hall.. One had 30 plus years, the other 30 years in the trade.  They seemed unfazed and thick skinned in dealing with what goes there every day.

This is probably the longest i had to wait, maybe a couple hours pacing at the hall, and the pleb filling up the hallways, complaining for no reason, as usual ( it's free for heavens sake! ). 

When they collected my samples, I waited about another 20-30 minutes and was sent home with a card where I could log a few hours late to get the test results.

I am due for a follow up visit today,, and perhaps to be assigned to a specialist for the condition, a simple one.

The swelling receded. 

WHAT IS MY POINT N THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION

If you are in the "Golden Age" treshold, or have infant kids, forget about those beach side communities you so much dream off spending your golden year.   

Quality primary health care in those areas is almost non-existent.  That's why, when Dilma, the impeached, ordered Trained Cuban Doctors  to be sent to fringe and sparsely populated communities ( later axed by Bolsonaro, and now to be reversed back by Lula ).

Doctors here want affluent greenfields to work and setup shop. 

You'd better think twice before buying/ leasing  that house in the beach or mountains. When you are in dire shape in need for medical attention, more than often, those places on your dreams don't work the way you would expect. 

Oh by the way...

Rio Grande do Sul State -

Pelotas ( Port City, lots of pre-war buildings by downtown ) , Caixas do Sul, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande ( Port City by Estuary ) are decent cities

Porto Alegre, the Capital, is about 1,5 million inhabitants, not too shaby. 

Bento Gonçalves/Garibaldi/ Monte Belo do Sul- If you are into wines, this is wine valley. Bento Gonçalves is the one with the well known reputation.   There is actually a Vapor Steam Train that takes you through those cities. All clean downtown curbsides.   

The gaucho is a bit provincian, and English Speakers are hard to come by.

Since we're on the topic of health care, I'll share my story and thoughts...

I live in Balneario Camboriu, which is a city with a population of about 150k, but balloons in the summer to over 1M inhabitants, at points.  My theory is that beach areas with a high population, or large numbers of tourists generally will have better infrastructure. That said I don't claim to be an expert.

In BC there are plenty of private facilities and public ones.  Early-to-mid last year I was suffering stomach pain. I ignored it, but by the next morning we decided to go to the hospital (public/free one here). I suspected appendicitis, but I REALLY didn't want to get surgery. I got classified by severity (I was downplaying my complaints, again in false hope of avoid surgery). About 45 minutes elapsed and I was seen by a doctor who examined me and suspected appendicitis. He sent me for blood work/urine sample.  I sat in a room with other patients for an hour or so and had the samples collected. I finally was sent for CT scans. I had to do two. The first was with no contrast. They saw a suspicious looking appendix and sent me for a second one, this time with contrast.  Suspicions confirmed, I had appendicitis, and apparently it was relatively bad.

I got their at 9:30am and was being wheeled into surgery by 4:30. They gave me an epidural and I felt nothing. I fell asleep during the procedure because I was up almost all night the evening prior.

I went to a recovery room, stayed for an hour or so, then was wheeled into my hospital room.

It wasn't a private room, because this is a public facility.  There was one other older gentleman in the room. The room was large, and had bathrooms and a shower in a separate area that was dedicated to our room and one other. No TV but we had Wifi. I thought the facilities were clean and orderly.

I stayed overnight. I was attended to frequently by nurses and physicians. They fed us 5 meals a day and the food was pretty tasty.  They even brought food for my wife, who stayed overnight the first evening.  They ended up keeping me another day, then sent me home.

I have had no similar hospital experience in the US or any other country to compare that to, but my sense is they did a pretty good job and operated relatively quickly for an emergency room situation. When it was time to go, someone at the front checked my discharge papers and politely led me out. I didn't need to present a credit card, or fill out forms or any crazy stuff.  It was easy.

They handed me a document I could present to my employer giving me 60 paid days off.  Unfortunately I work for a US company as a US employee so it had no effect.

I went back a few weeks to month later to get stiches out and that was also fast (maybe 90 minutes between waiting and the procedure) and simple.

Now, if I was in a low population beach town, I wouldn't expect there would be sophisticated medical care available. I would likely need to get moved to the nearest city center for any significant procedure, but again, I'm no expert.

One other thing; I asked the Doc how much an appendectomy would cost without insurance at a private facility.  He told me 10-15K reais, which I thought was interesting. I did a google search on "appendectomy US cost" and the first thing that came up said between 6-14K USD.

@devorahmichaela

excellent points made and tips.

I hope everone follows your advice.

I think this shoukd be the same for 80% of countries world wide.

And this is why I prefer apartment life, except for the noise if barking dogs and construction / repairs, etc.

Hello Everyone.

on October 12th 2022 I married a Brazilian lady

The wedding took place in Pakistan, after we registered at the Brasil embassy Islamabad , ​​& she returned to Brazil, transcribed it into Portuguese, with a sworn translator.

She performed all the legal procedures in the notary offices, notes and civil.

She forwarded all the documents to me, & I was applied for the family Reunion Visa

It was denied the first time.

Again I was applied 2nd time again denied.

I would like to know if I have any chance of getting my visa here in Brazil through Immigration Attorney Lawyer.

Obs.since our age difference is reasonable, she is 57 year old & I'm 28 kindly tell me how much chances of my Immigration application will be Grant.

I'm looking forward to hear from you soon.

04/29/23 @Matharali 99.  Please see my response to this question in your other thread.

@devorahmichaela My experience in Brazil is very different.  We moved to Campinas 4 years ago when my husband had a sabbatical from NC State.  We rented an apartment for a few weeks in Cambui, an upscale expat community.  It was nice bu we were used to a bigger space so we started looking for a house to rent.  We found a beautiful furnished house in a suburb of Campinas.  It is not gated but our house is fenced.  Also there is a security company that patrols the neighborhood 24/7. My husband loved his sabbatical so much he went back to the US and retired after 6 months and got a job here at the research facility he had his sabbatical at (4th generation synchrotron light source).  We were able to rent the same house again, since early 2021, and it's a great house.  The neighborhood is very safe.  I walk everywhere and even have at night (without a dog).  There are always people around walking and biking with their children or dogs. We have never had a bad experience.  Maybe we are just lucky but I have never felt unsafe here.  Disclaimer is that we did bring back our pit bull from the US, not for security but we love her. She goes to bed at 6 PM and doesn't bark after that so she is useless at night. Anyway I'd say yes be careful but don't be paranoid.  I don't agree that you have to live in a gated community.