Marriage and Permanent Residency in Brazil

01/27/23 Welcome, doctorscoop. If your question is whether you can request the marriage license -- habilitação de casamento -- through a proxy by giving that person a Power of Attorney to do it for you, then participate in the wedding ceremony yourself on your own behalf and sign the final wedding certificate, rather than your proxy signing for you, your fiancé(e) needs to ask the cartório that question and get a definitive answer. If the cartório will allow you to start the process with a proxy and complete it yourself, you may be in the clear. If they insist that the process must be completed as a proxy marriage, though, your being present as a witness probably won't help you: you'll run afoul of the black letter law that forbids granting immigrant status on the basis of a proxy marriage.

There are two ways around this. The first, probably the most straightforward and the one that involves the least plane tickets, is for the two of you to get married in the United States, and register your marriage immediately at the Brazilian Consulate responsible for your state. You will receive a "Certidão Consular de Casamento" from the Consulate, which your spouse on returning to Brazil will register with the cartório, and after 7 to 12 days receive a Brazilian Marriage Certificate in return. (My husband and I did that, and found it really simple. Check your county's rules on marriage of foreigners, though.) You can apply for your VITEM XI at the Consulate as soon as you register the marriage, so that's taken care of. This is also the easiest way to make sure that your marriage is registered in the United States, because US Consulates in Brazil do not register Brazilian marriages.  They recognize them, but marriage in the US is a state concern, so the State Department has no jurisdiction, and you'll have to find a way to register your Brazilian marriage in your home state at a later date, if you want it on the record there.

The second way is to take advantage of the delays in the cartório system which most people complain about, but in your case,  can work to your advantage. There's ordinarily a delay of 15 to 30 days between the request and the issuance of the habilitação de casamento. Once it's issued, the couple has 90 days to complete the marriage ceremony and finalize the paperwork. So if you're well organized and have your papers in order, you could come to Brazil for a few days to request the habilitação, and then go home and return for a few days up to three or three and a half months later for the actual marriage, and not have to mess with proxies.

@abthree

thank you for the detailed response! I'll definitely have my fiancé go his local cartório to see if this is possible. We'll probably reach out to a lawyer as well to see if they can help us in more detail.

Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances he cannot come up here at this time so the first option isn't valid, but it seems the second option might be possible. I'm usually able to make it down two weeks at a time twice a year so it shouldn't be an issue it sounds.

Again, I super appreciate your help. 😊 I'm confident I'll be able to make it down there eventually.

01/27/23 @doctorscoop.  Sure thing!  We were really lucky that my then boyfriend/now husband got a tourist visa for the US first time out of the box.  And it hasn't gotten any easier since.  With so many compliant entries and exits on his I94 record I'm not expecting any problems when he has to renew next year, but that first step is the hard one.

I hope that the cartório is flexible with you.  They could be, but some of them tend to act like little kings of their own little kingdoms.  Talking to a lawyer is a good idea, too,  There are probably one or two in your fiancé's network.  The law on proxy marriages wasn't intended for people in your position, and you should be able to avoid having it hurt you.

Good luck.  Please let us know how it goes.

@abthree The US does love to be difficult about visas it seems.

A little update. My fiancé was able to get to the cartório and find out a little more information. It sounds like they're one of the more lenient ones, only requiring a translated birth certificate, my passport, and a CPF number. They also said that with all documents ready it would take 5 days and we'd be able to get married. A little wary about that part in case there was a misunderstanding but I'm also confirming with a lawyer later this month as well. So if it is true and I'll only have a 5 day waiting period this should be accomplished easily and we'll be married in July. I will definitely keep this thread updated as time progresses.

02/02/23 @doctorscoop.  Good news - a reasonable cartório is a big step forward.  Hope it works out for you.  🤞

Just wanted to post a mostly final last update! After a few bumps in the road with the consulate I had my appointment with the federal police in December 2023.

Everything was approved and now I am just patiently waiting for the CRNM debacle to conclude.

I'm happy to say that I've been in Brazil for about a week now with my husband and I couldn't be happier even with the bureaucratic process testing my patience lol