Visa advice needed!

[mark duncan]

Dear All,

Maybe you can advise me? I am a british citizen who has been in a relationship with a brasilian woman for three and a half years. We want to live in Brasil. I am currently here in Brasil on a tourist visa.

It seems it is just as good to get a permanent residency visa on the basis of a stable union as it is on the basis of a married couple (and we didn´t intend to marry at the moment). However I am not clear if it is required to do this through a lawyer who charges 5000 reis and there´s fees on top. Can you do this application independently and is that realistic?

Also, I have a letter of recommendation from a language school saying why they want me to work for them. Is this enough with my other documents to get a work visa in Brasil? If so, does it allow me to do any work here or only with the company that wrote the letter? Can I do this myself?

Finally, as I was here before Febuary 2010 am I eligible for Lula´s amnesty?

It seems best for me to get a permanent residency visa on the basis of a stable union. With this however I am not clear at what stage in the application I need to leave Brasil to visit a brasilian consulate in another country- I assume towards the end as if I can get a friend to take required documents to the London brasilian consulate to get them verified (as I believe this has to be done in person?)

Cheers!

Mark

[jimsonweed]

Don't know about the "stable union" angle.

Thought I would add that the surest and easiest way to get a permanent residency visa in Brazil (assuming you have around 80K USD to use), is the investors visa. You deposit the money in the Bank of Brazil and fill out the forms. You have three years to invest it and I doubt they ever follow up to verify.