Marriage necessary for a permanent visa?

@Kurterino I am a bit confused by your statement to the effect that your friend had a tourist visa, was not given an extension, but was allowed to leave for 30 days then return during the pandemic. My experience was that all tourist visas were extended automatically during the pandemic as most air routes were closed.... But that is not your question.

I have been asked before if it is possible to get a family reunion visa without being married, and the legal advice I have received is that yes, it is possible, but quite hard. It is necessary to prove longevity and permanency of the relationship, such as joint bank accounts, utility bills and property in both names, witness statements, joint travels, photos, etc, etc.

The long and short of it is that it is probably much easier just to get married...!

06/28/23 I have read it here that partners of Brazilians can get something like a reunification visa. Is that as good as a husband’s visa, and is it as easy (or difficult) to obtain?
-@Kurterino

The Polícia Federal tend to look askance at a união estável as a basis for reunião familiar since it's often a pretty transparent attempt to game the system, but in your friend's case it should be acceptable given the length of the relationship, if they legalize it at a cartório first,  A marriage would be even more bulletproof, but a cartório união estável should work.  Here are the requirements:

https://www.casamentocivil.com.br/uniao-estavel

Several caveats:

• Both partners have to be legally able to marry, even though it's not a marriage.  They'll have to provide proof of the legal termination of any prior marriages.
• They'll have to agree on a "regime de bens", a distribution of assets, as if they were marrying.
• They should start the process as soon as possible after your friend's arrival, because most cartórios impose a waiting period of up to 30 days, and he wants to be out of the cartório and submitting his residency application to the Polícia Federal well before his visa expires.
• Proxy commitments are NOT acceptable for residency:  both partners must be physically present at the ceremony.

He'll need apostilles and Sworn Translations for all of his documents, just as he will for the Polícia Federal.  The cartório documents are really a subset of the ones he'll need to apply for residency, so it's a good idea to have a set for each, and to arrive in Brazil fully prepared.

His partner should confirm the cartório's practices and availability ahead of time; they may be flexible on some things, like the waiting period.  And as always, she should go to the Polícia Federal with him for his interview.

To me it’s like a common law agreement. In the end; under laws in Brazil Canada and probably Switzerland, your in for a 50:50 split if things don’t work out.

@Golsucks Depends on which regime de bens they agree on. There are 3 options in Brazil, but it also depends on age as older partners can only use one with younger partners, for example

@Golsucks Just to clarify, they are:

1/ everything before, during and after the marriage is split equally

2/ everything before the mariage is kept separately, but during and after the marriage it is split equally

3/ everything always remains separate - before, during and after the marriage

06/28/23 @Golsucks Depends on which regime de bens they agree on. There are 3 options in Brazil, but it also depends on age as older partners can only use one with younger partners, for example
-@Peter Itamaraca

That's correct. 👍 The options, and the limitations on each, are provided a few levels down in the link I included above.

If they have been together for that long, a legal stable union (aka, "civil union") may be the way to go.  That's what I did and you can set it up like a marriage with a prenuptial agreement, where you can define the finances and property from everything is shared to her's is her's and his is his or anything in between.  An attorney can do it for R$5,000.

Marriage validates your cohabitation arrangement.  Therefore legit before the Brazilian Judiciary.

For your acquired property's sake, if you bought your property before you got together, you need to propose her a "Casamento com separacao de bens" which might be a tricky  proposition with the other half.  That's the pre-nuptial agreement.

Granted, if the other half becomes a survivor, then, all fairness, it makes her/him an natural heir ( tax exempt meador ).