steps to get retirement visa

04/28/23 @alevinthal.  Now I'M confused.  Doesn't the Consulate keep your passport until they affix the visa to it, then return it you?  How can you do that from Brazil?  You don't really want your passport going back and forth between the US and Brazil by courier, do you?

There's no need for the visa to be signed at Customs -- they just read it into their system and wave you through when you arrive.  You then request your CRNM from the Polícia Federal shortly after arrival, with the form that the Consulate gives you.

@abthree hi, yes, Atlanta will have my passport and visa so if they are not mailed back to me in Brazil I will have to fly to the US to get them.

I was just checking to see if there was the way to get the visa and passport sent to me in brazil  so I wouldn’t have to go to the US, perhaps having the them sent to brazil and then registering the visa in the country somehow.

04/28/23 @alevinthal. The system is set up for people to obtain their visa in their home country, with the consulate doing the legally required due diligence there. The applicants come to Brazil with the right visa, register with the Federal Police shortly after arrival, and the Federal Police issue them their CRNM with little or no further investigation.

The alternate process for people who arrive in Brazil on a tourist visa or another non-immigrant visa is for them to request an Authorization for Residency directly from the Federal Police. The Federal Police themselves then have to do all of the due diligence that the Consulate would have handled for a visaholder. That's why for the Federal Police process, your documents need apostilles and Sworn Translations: the Consulates can work in their host country's language and recognize the host country documents, but the Federal Police work in Portuguese and need verifications on the documents.

You really don't want to be in Brazil without a passport, at least not without clearing it with someone in authority. If you don't want to go back to Atlanta and complete the visa process there, my strong suggestion would be that you contact the Atlanta Consulate at visa.atlanta@itamaraty.gov.br, let them know that you're planning on applying for a visa from them while staying here, and ask them how you can arrange the logistics with your passport.

I suspect that they'll tell you to forget about the visa process since you're already in Brazil and to request an Authorization for Residency directly from the Federal Police instead. But if they tell you to proceed with your visa request, at least they'll be taking steps to return your passport safely to keep it from getting lost.

BTW, Brazilian Consulates in the United States only accept payment in USPS Money Orders, improbable as that seems; do you have that covered?

hi. I think I understand all of that, but they tell me the approvals from the consulate will take about 20 days plus mailings so I am hoping to mail the application to the consulate, fly to the US to pick it up (it will be sent to my cousin), then fly back to Brazil with the visa. Does that seem reasonable?

04/29/23 @alevinthal. It does seem reasonable if you have a solution to this problem:   how are you going to board a flight in Brazil and get through Immigration in the US without your passport?

oops. I guess I will have to follow my passport, fly to the US and submit for my visa, then wait for it to come back and fly back to Brazil. I think I can figure out what to do for three weeks in the US.

05/08/23  oops. I guess I will have to follow my passport, fly to the US and submit for my visa, then wait for it to come back and fly back to Brazil. I think I can figure out what to do for three weeks in the US.
-@alevinthal

You could still follow the alternate route through the Polícia Federal that I outlined above.  You'd need apostilles and Sworn Translations for your documents, but you wouldn't have to leave Brazil.

I am in Brazil applying for a retirement visa with the Atlanta consulate. I am mailing my application to Atlanta.
I am confused about something: Can I have my completed visa sent to me in Brazil for signature, or must I fly to the US, receive the completed visa, and then return to Brazil to have the visa signed at customs?
-@alevinthal

Don't ever,. ever trust anything that comes from a Brazilian.   If Itamaraty's in writing policies specify you must wait in your home country to process your paperwork, you do so.

Brazilians wil spout all kinds of nonsense which you can't take for face value.

Read Abthree, and folloow what he says . He has the wisdom of experience. 

No ifs or buts.