British, born in Japan, marrying in Brazil

Hi pl378,

Your situation is rather different than any I've dealt with before so I can't give you a definitive answer. You should contact the Consulado-Geral do Brasil in the UK where you are and ask them if they will accept your UK certificate or if they require the Japan Birth Registration. Honestly, I think that you will require the Japanese certificate. I would kind of think that the UK certificate is more for the purposes of conferring your citizenship rather than registration of birth. If they WILL accept the UK document then it must be LEGALIZED by the Consulado in the UK. If they require the Japanese document, it will have to be LEGALIZED by the Consulate in Japan.

Just remember, in either case the document can't be any older than six months when submitted for legalization. For some bizzare reason legal documents here in Brazil have a "shelf-life" of only six months. Once legalized by the Consulate, that doesn't matter anymore. They will continue to be valid from that point on.

You're going to have to go through the exact same process and obtain a Certified Criminal Record Check too. It's not needed for marriage, but it is for the Permanent Visa application that will follow. Same rules apply. All documents must be translated into Portuguese by a notarized translator (tradutor juramentado) here in Brazil.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi William

Thank you very much for your swift response. I have been reading a lot of your posts and have found them invaluable. If there is any way to make a contribution to your cause i would be happy to do so.

You mention that, if accepted, I should get my birth certificate legalized by the Consulado in the UK. From reading your other posts I thought that the birth certificate is authenticated (rather than legalised) by British authorities (not the Brazilian Consulado).

I thought that with the birth certificate you have six months from the date of authentification from the British authorities to submit it to the cartorio, and that the six month validity period applies because the document is not legalised only authenticated. Therefore, the situation is different with the criminal records check which needs to be legalised at the Brazilian Consulate in the UK, and once this is legalized this document remains valid indefinitely as long as I go to Brazil during the validity period and don't come back to England.

I wonder if you could clear this up for me.

Many thanks!

John

Hi again pl378,

The best way that everyone can contribute to the cause and make the forum even a better place it to participate in the forums and do so frequently and consistently. We all have experiences and opinions to share - that's what Expat-blog is all about.

Sometimes I feel like I'm here all by myself. People come and go every day, members join ask a question or two and then simply disappear. The idea of the blog is to build a community of expats, linked by ideas, opinions, friendships, etc. Sometimes it seems our members are JUST PASSING THROUGH.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Thanks William - I think that as my situation is quite unusual by the end of it all I should have some useful info to add to the expat-blog knowledge bank. The site is undoubtedly a valuable resource and I would like to add my thoughts from time to time as well especially if it could help someone else out.

Hi William

If you could confirm whether the position in my earlier post is correct that would be great. On the basis that the birth certificate is authorised by the British authorities, my plan was to send a scan of the certificate to my fiancee in Belo Horizonte and for her to print it out and take it round to the local cartorio, explain the situation, and see if they will accept it.

If the position is that it has to be legalised at the Brazilian Embassy in the UK, if I do manage to get it successfully legalised, would that mean that the cartorio would need to accept it (on the basis that it has been legalised)?

Thanks again!

John