Twenty Questions

05/17/23 My very resourceful Brazilian wife has arranged a first meeting next week with a bilingual lawyer to handle our Permanent Resident by Spouse Visa.
What questions should I ask the lawyer?

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

Only one question -- "How do we proceed?"  But you'll probably need to brief him/her first.  Show him/her all the documents you have ready.  Identify any you're missing.  Be clear on how long your overstay has been so far.  Answer the lawyer's questions as fully as you're able.  Then listen to the advice and follow it, if it makes sense to you and your wife.  If the lawyer says, "leave the file with me and let me talk to them.", that's fine, but make sure that you have a copy of everything before you leave the file in anyone else's hands.

If, after hearing you out, the lawyer says, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you.", then there's one final question:  "Could you please refer us to somebody who can?"  At least leave the office with a name and a number. 

Best of luck!

How much will it cost?

@roddiesho In Brazil 1 question will get you 20 answers!

@duzzimenino it really ranges man. i have gotten quotes from 4500 reals to 20,000 reals. the one we decided to use is 7,500 reals. 3000 reals upfront and 4500 reals to finish. we talked to literally 10 lawyers before deciding on this one. I did research on how to get permanent residency prior to contacting lawyers and this guy seemed to make alot of sense.

I did the family reunion visa last year. Not sure what your backstory is but it’s just gathering the proper paper work. If it’s the same visa you’ll end up getting the paper work anyways on your own and the lawyer would be pretty much submitting it for you. You might need a translator but it’s probably better to pay less than 1000 brl for a day than 7500 real for a lawyer to be your translator.

I did the family reunion visa last year. Not sure what your backstory is but it’s just gathering the proper paper work. If it’s the same visa you’ll end up getting the paper work anyways on your own and the lawyer would be pretty much submitting it for you. You might need a translator but it’s probably better to pay less than 1000 brl for a day than 7500 real for a lawyer to be your translator.
-@vtu

I did my own VITEM XI through the SF Consulate, then flew to SP for the PF interview. It was all very fast, very simple and straightforward. The Consulate was so fast, so easy, not requiring any translations, not even of my Icelandic birth certificate.

Scheduling my PF interview was very difficult, I found a professional facilitator through this group, and he got my appointment right away, on the day and time I wanted. I have since given his name to many, many people as he can work miracles with immigration or anything to do with the government.

@KenAquarius I am about to post my visit results and then saw your post. Actually one of the problems I am having is my wife's ability to ask follow up questions as I have been doing for years in my media sales career. I find that elaborating or providing answers in addition to the original question is actually a problem in Brazil.

Roddie in Retirement

@Kris Kim I am on my way to post the results of my meeting, but it sounds like I may need some references etc. for the lawyer.  The closest big city to us is Fortaleza in Ceara.

Roddie in Retirement

@rraypo,@abthree I didn't feel confident about this visit with the lawyer.

He was definitely a successful lawyer. I am jus not sure he was the right one.

My wife said he also spoke English, however the entire conversation was in Portuguese to my wife. The challenge was that even though I don't know fluent Portuguese, after 20 years in Media Sales I do know body language and this was not a man confident about the case or that he was the one.

He spent the beginning of the conversation talking about the marriage certificate, but when it came time to make copies and talk about the path forward he completely ignored the FBI background check verification. Unless I am wrong after being on EXPAT.COM for six months your Permanent Residency Visa by Spouse must have both the background check and marriage certificate. I believe I flew to Miami for a reason, when I got fingerprinted.

When I finally felt comfortable (I was very quiet up until now) i asked my wife why he ignored the background check and focused only on the marriage certificate and if it was done properly.

My wife said that his challenge was actually that my visa expired April 4th and he was not confident of his approach yet and had to look into it first. No money exchanged hands and he said he would call.

I have not mentioned it before but my very resourceful Brazilian wife has a Tumor and this can be very stressful for her. Now that we have all the paperwork, I need someone to take the ball and get this taken care of.  My daughter also has health issues and is now in Brazil recovering after surgery, so this needs to be put to bed.

Thanx' for all your help always.

Roddie in Retirement

05/23/23 @roddiesho.  Having a tourist visa expire before your final status is settled is a little like blowing past your exit on the expressway when the next exit is thirty miles away:  you have options, but none of them are good, so its a matter of selecting the least bad.  Right now you're backing up on the shoulder to get back to the exit, which is probably the least bad option, but it will be a slow and nerve-wracking process, and everything will seem to be backwards a lot of the time.

My guess is that the lawyer was focusing on the Marriage Certificate because it was a new document to him and he wanted to understand it, or because he saw that it would be the most problematical item for him, or probably both.  Being married to a Brazilian is what makes it impossible for the PF to just give you a departure date and tell you to leave, so he may well want to make sure that nobody can cut the process short by just disallowing the marriage itself.  You say that he has a good reputation, and it seems to me that a competent lawyer would be looking at the threats to success and trying to neutralize the biggest ones first.

Everybody along the way is going to want to talk to your wife in Portuguese -- as far as their concerned, this is about accommodating HER as the Chamante, not you.  All you can do is be pleasant and cooperative, and of course support her in any way you can.  I'm sorry to hear about her illness.   It can work in your favor, though, by supporting her contention that she really needs you here, and without any breaks.  You two should consider the advantages of that before you dismiss the idea of bringing it up.

Given your level of discomfort with the attorney, you might want to have a talk with Rraypo's contact.  At least that will give you another perspective.

@abthree Will Do!

@rraypo Your Up!

@abthree has recommended your path, as I also noticed when I read your post. Sounds like a winner to get this done.

However I live in Parazinho, Ceara. The nearest big city and the one with the FP will be Fortaleza, about 6 hours away.

Please Advise

Roddie in Retirement.