Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Getting a Brazilian Visa


That's not my case of course! I was born in Brazil and I have dual citizenship with USA, but one of the steps I had to overcome before pack and go was getting a brazilian visa for my american hubby.

In New York it's a two-part process. You have to apply for a visa, leave your passport at the consulate, and then go back to pick it up. When we went to the consulate last week, we showed up a few minutes before the doors opened and was through in less than half an hour. But when we went back to pick up his passport the next day, we had to wait on line for almost 1 hour.

With that said, it's kind of fun: a sort of third-world DMV right on Sixth Avenue. They have Brazilian MTV on television, which is vastly superior to 101.9 or 106.7 pumped in to most government offices there.

By the way, Im a little bit worried because when we get to the airport in Brazil (almost certainly Sao Paulo), he'll have to get fingerprinted. It's for Americans only; they weed them out of the line and put them in a special section. It's a little discomfiting, but some American there think that it what they deserve, since this is nothing compared to what people in some countries have to do to get a visa to come to the States. American visas are generally refused, even after the (required) personal interview. I know personally people who have been refused trips to see other members of their family.

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