Brasileiritchas

[Nessa 23]

custa tentar sim, vai ter que pagar a entrevista masi a ida ao consulado e tal.

Marina's Del foi aprovado.

sobre fazer o medical no dia da entrevista eu acho arriscado. na minha epoca eu tive que fazer exame e tomar mais vacinas e tal e demorou um tempo pra ter tudo certo, dias.

[Mrs.Price 0]

Ir ao consulado não seria problema, já que eu sou do Rio mesmo e dá pra ir de metrô rapidinho ou de ônibus. O gasto seria o visto, claro, US$131,00 (se é que já não aumentou), mas só a possibilidade de poder ver meu marido e levar minha filha pra conhecer os avós faz valer a pena... Já passamos 9 meses separados (durante toda a minha gravidez, devo ressaltar. Não foi nada legal), ele ficou aqui no Brasil 3 meses e foi embora segunda-feira de volta pros Estados Unidos. Me deprime pensar no tanto tempo que ainda podemos ficar sem nos ver. Sei que todas aqui ficaram longe de seus amados, então com certeza me entendem.

Acho que vou tentar o visto daqui a 1 mês. =)

[mrs. wife! 3]

Eeeee q legal q eles foram aprovados! Tomara q ela venha contar os detalhes depois.

Entao, o meu medical eu vou fazer 2 dias antes da entrevista. Ja tomei tdas as vacinas, escaneei e mandei pro medico me dar um ok q tava tdo completo. Agora so falta fazer o raio-x e o exame de sangue.

15 dias!!! woo hoo

Mrs Price-> tenta sim, acho q vale a pena. Leva as copias do NOA q vc tem e explica q ta fazendo tdo do jeito legal. Acho q vc so vai precisar de uma carta dele autorizando a filha de vcs a sair do Brasil, mas nao tenho ctz, talvez alguem aqui possa te orientar melhor. Boa sorte!

[Nessa 23]

Ir ao consulado não seria problema, já que eu sou do Rio mesmo e dá pra ir de metrô rapidinho ou de ônibus. O gasto seria o visto, claro, US$131,00 (se é que já não aumentou), mas só a possibilidade de poder ver meu marido e levar minha filha pra conhecer os avós faz valer a pena... Já passamos 9 meses separados (durante toda a minha gravidez, devo ressaltar. Não foi nada legal), ele ficou aqui no Brasil 3 meses e foi embora segunda-feira de volta pros Estados Unidos. Me deprime pensar no tanto tempo que ainda podemos ficar sem nos ver. Sei que todas aqui ficaram longe de seus amados, então com certeza me entendem.

Acho que vou tentar o visto daqui a 1 mês. =)

na minha epoca era US$100 and only in brasilia, entao sairia bem caro, no meu caso, ter que pegar aviao e ir pra brasilia e tal.

[Marina-Del 10]

paranoia de que? ser assaltado? ele mora em sao paulo, for christ's sake, he can't be paranoid about Rio. Tell him to take you out in Copacabana beach at night and enjoy a night out in a bar in front of the beach.

Oi, Nessa! Eu só vi no forum agora! Eu acho que todos que moram em SP acham que Rio é mais perigoso do que SP. Talvez voces que moram em outras cidades acham SP e Rio sao iguais.

Mais Rio estava bem legal. Nos ficamos no Best Western Rio Copa hotel apenas 300 metros da praia de copa e nos podiamos andar tambem ate o Pão de Açucar. E nos andamos na praia a noite tambem. Ele ficou preocupado, mais graças a Deus, foi tudo bem!

[Marina-Del 10]

I'll give the update here on how our interview went! I don't want to make my official "consulate review" until we have the visa in hand so that I can give the full story on there. And I'll do it in English because it's easier and faster for me of course to write in English!! Although, I am trying to practice my Portuguese on here with you guys!

Anyway, Rio was great as I said above. We got to the consulate at 7:00 and there were 5 couples in front of us. There were about 10-12 couples in total the day we were there. Every single one was with their significant other (and all were already wearing wedding rings) minus one boy that looked about 18, he was with his father, but he was also wearing a wedding ring. They did let the father enter the consulate, but not the interview room.

We entered the consulate at about 7:30 after being given numbers. Then we went up to the immigrant room. We were given the sheet to put our docs in order, then talked to a man through the glass window and he looked over our docs just making sure they were all there and in order. He handed back to me both my and my mothers (our co sponsor) 2007 taxes. Then gave us a little green paper to go down stairs and pay the $400 fee. They DID accept international credit cards and after waiting in line about 15 minutes to pay, we were able to pay. Then we went up stairs to wait some more. After waiting about 1 hour or so we were called to do his finger prints. By this time they were already calling in people to do interviews with the consul. It was like this: they called a number, they went in for about 20 minutes, they came out, then no one was called for about 15-20 minutes (presumably so the consul could get himself familiar with the next petition) and then some one else was called in. After the fingerprints we waited until 12:15!! There were only us and two other couples still waiting by the time we were called in. I read a review on here that many DCFers had to wait longer at the consulate and that definitely seemed to be the case, because of the 3 couples still waiting, two of us were DCF and the third I don't know -although I think it wasn't DCF because the American didn't understand a word of Portuguese. There was also one couple that went in before us that only spoke Portuguese together. I think the Brazilian wife didn't speak English at all, and they were approved, so no worries if that's your case! (although I guess you won't be reading this is that's the case... ).

Anyway, Finally it was our turn! We went in and the consul was really nice with us. He asked us (in English) if we wanted the interview conducted in English or Portuguese and I said that English was fine. He asked us to raise our right hands and swear that it was all true, and took Del's fingerprints again on one hand (left I think). He asked Del if he'd ever been to the US, Del said no, never. Then he asked if he'd ever tried to get a visa to go to the US, and Del said, no again. He then wanted to know how Del spoke English so well if he'd never been to the US and he said that he'd lived in London. Then he asked for how long and Del said 3 years. Then he asked if that is where we met and I said yes, that we'd worked in the same place. And he said, okay, great. "Everything looks fine except one little problem", and then my heart stopped...haha.

So here's the problem: our I-864. It's really complicated! Basically my mom is our co-sponsor. She has (including Del) a family of 5. To sponsor a family of 5 you need an income of $32K. My mom had an employment letter stating she makes $39K, but on her W2 it says in box 1 that she made $31K. This is because her company deducts health insurance, retirement plan, and parking BEFORE stating the figure on her W2. So while in actuality she makes $39K, her official govt doc only says $31K, understand? Complicated I know! Well, I didn't know about these differences before the consul pointed them out. I wish that my mom had coached me on the discrepancies in her documents, but she didn't because she didn't think it would be an issue so I was totally unprepared as to what to tell the consul!! He said we needed to get my dad to do an I-864A to supplement my moms income! It didn't matter that I make enough here in Brazil to sponsor us myself because I don't have W2's to prove that is how much I make, only letters from my employers here. The consul was really nice though and honestly seemed really annoyed that he had to deny us the visa that day simply because my mom was missing $700!! So anyway, once we get him the I-864A, the visa will be issued.

We already paid TNT to get his passport sent to SP with the visa, they kept the passport, and we DO NOT have to return to Rio. So ultimately we were approved, but it was definitely annoying that even a week after the interview we're not done yet. The consul told us we could fax the docs to them. I faxed the missing papers on Tuesday and sent two emails 1) explaining why my moms W2 says one figure and her employment letter another 2) saying I'd faxed the missing I-864A and could they confirm that they received it. I still hadn't heard anything back by Wednesday so on Wednesday I called. I was on hold for 20 minutes and finally got through, where a lady told me that they DO NOT accept I-864 papers by fax and only the originals. When I told her that the consul specifically said we could fax it, and even that he'd circled the fax number on the paper he gave us, she told me he must have made a mistake and that we had to send the originals! So on Friday (still not getting any response to my emails from Tuesday), I faxed them my moms last payslip from 2009 that gives the breakdown of how much she makes. It says gross income: $39K, -500 for parking, ect ect ect. This is something they could accept by fax. I also wrote a cover letter that says I think they should accept this as enough to support my husband because many people pay third parties for health insurance and parking and it is not deducted from their gross income and therefore they would qualify to sponsor, but simply because my mothers company deducts these things first, she doesn't? So who knows. My mom mailed the ORIGINALS of all the documents we might need (an I-864A from my brother and one from my dad, just to have all our bases covered) and they should be here on Wednesday. Once they arrive I will overnight them to Rio.

So probably within a week or two it'll all be straight. Thank goodness we aren't leaving until the end of June!! If you have a co-sponsor I'd recommend you bring TWO just in case you run into any problems!!

And I still haven't gotten responses to my emails...it's been over 3 days and the are supposed to have replied within 3 days.....arg. Anyway, sorry this is so long, but hopefully it can help others!

Beijos!

[Ban Hammer 13,347]

yay, so soon i'll be helping del pick out which firearms to buy!

[Carolina+James 1]

Grats on your interview! Hope you get the visa soon!

I still smile to myself when I remember I was the first to be interviewed. That was a God blessed moment! I was back at the airport by 9:40, and I walked there!

[mrs. wife! 3]

Congrats again Marina =)

[Marina-Del 10]

yay, so soon i'll be helping del pick out which firearms to buy!

Great Charles....great! Somehow I think you are probably right though!

[Mrs. Disney 0]

So I have a AOS question that I think you guys will be able to help me better. My full maiden name is Denise de Araujo Silva. My family would die if I lost one of those names so to avoid upsetting people, I'm adding my husband's last time, Disney, therefore I will have 3 last names: Denise de Araujo Silva Disney. So how should I fill out the form? Should I put de Araujo Silva as my middle name and Disney as my last name? Or should I put de Araujo as my middle name, Disney as my last name and Silva as "other names used"? I'm really confused and I just wanna make sure that I keep all last names. Thanks!

[mrs. wife! 3]

Denise

I'd put as:

First name: Denise

Middle name: de araujo silva

last name: Disney

And for "others names used" -> Denise de Araujo Silva

Good luck!

[mrs. wife! 3]

Meninas, alguem sabe qto eh mais ou menos o taxi do Galeao ate Santos Dumont?

7 dias para o BIG day!!! To taooo nervosaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[K and L 27]

From Galeão (GIG) to Flamengo (where we stayed, at Mengo Palace), the fare was R$42. From Flamengo to the consulate (in Centro) was R$8. I believe going straight to the consulate would be less than R$50, but not that much - say, R$45-R$48 instead f R$50.

From Santos Dumont (SDU), I believe you can walk. It's really really close.

Overall, you're probably better off coming into SDU, especially if you're by yourself -- we flew into GIG because I joined my fiancé and our flights came in and left at about the same time, so it was easier for him to meet me at the airport than to take a taxi or the metro from SDU to GIG & the price of the flights were the same to both airports.

Edited May 7, 2010 by K and L

[Mrs.Price 0]

Olha, vai depender muito do trânsito (que tem estado horrível, por sinal), mas acho que deve dar em torno de uns 30 reais...