Tuesday 10 January 2012

Brazilian passport for Brazilian-born children

We just booked flights to visit Sophie's best friend, Hannah, who has recently moved to Bogota, over carnival week in feb so we thought we might as well get Olivia's Brazilian passport as well. She is also entitled to a NZ and British passport and I tried to get my head around the paperwork before xmas and it wasn't going to happen.

NZ passport: I had to renew mine before we applied for the permanent visas so I thought it would be easy to send her application in too. I luckily was meeting up with a kiwi friend who could sign the witness declaration for me and olivia. She also needed to apply for her NZ citizenship by descent but this form needs to be notarized by a kiwi with a particular profession- i.e teacher, lawyer etc. I tried the consul-general too but he couldn't do it. We would also need to send my passport in with her application which has my Brazilian visa in - I don't trust the postal system (I've even heard of couriers losing passports!) and I'm not willing to let my Brazilian visa out of sight after the emotional and physical torment we went to get it in the first place! so Olivia will have to wait to become a kiwi until our next visit there.

UK passport: You can apply for a UK birth certificate at the consulate in rio but both parents passports are required. You don't need a uk birth certificate to get the passport so we are leaving it for now as again, don't want to lose sight of our visas.  Uk passport applications are only processes through washington so you have to send your application there but you don't have to send your passports along. They obviously have lost a few in the past, shock horror. we will send her application in after we have got our protocole for our pr. We also really need it as we are planning a trip to the US in April and don't want to go thought the pain of getting a us visa for her Brazilian passport.

Brazilian passport: we fortunately had friends that recently did it. You need to get an appointment at the policia federal and apparently the next available ones are in April! We ended up using our agent who charged us r350 for the application and her fee. She managed to get us an appointment in 2 days as cancellations come up online and she can reserve on the spot. Having a baby always helps with the queues there too incase you're thinking of not taking your baby with you. Renata met us outside and took us through the process. It took half an hour max - I can say it was almost a pleasant experience! The passport was ready in one week!


I can highly recommend our agent Renata who is also processing our permanent visas for us. She speaks very good English and is super efficient.



RENATA LATERZA Consultancy and Relocation
Tel / Fax: +55 11 5055-9750

Authorisation form to give consent for passport for a minor (to be signed by the parent who will not be present at the application, and signature needs to be authenticated at cartirio - see note below)


8 comments:

  1. I heard somewhere that you're only allowed to have nationality with two countries, not three? Have you heard anything about that? I know one family who got all three for their daughter anyway (British, Norwegian and Brazilian passports) but they said they have to be careful about not getting caught with all 3 passports at the same time while traveling.

    I don't even know where to look for info like that.

    Good luck with the UK and NZ process when they come!

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  2. I believe it depends on which countries though can't find any reference for Brazil... will keep looking. Some countries only allow one, for example, my parents had to give up their Malaysian passports when they got their NZ passports.

    But we'll definitely be careful at immigration about which passport to take out. The only potential problem is if we travel to the US as we would have to show the British passport and ESTA at checkin since there won't be a visa in her Brazilian passport but I've had friends do it so will just have to check with them what they said!

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  3. And not sure how we would decide which one she would have!!! Kiwi or British...

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  4. Just a follow up as I had a friend today double checking whether she could have 2 passports as she had heard you could only have a Brazilian passport.

    From what I've read / researched on the internet: Brazil does not recognise a second citizenship. This means that you must travel in and out of Brazil on your Brazilian passport if you were born in Brazil. But it doesn't mean you can't have a second nationality / passport - just don't show it at immigration as they will see that your kid was born in Brazil and want to see the Brazilian passport. Hope that helps someone!

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  5. I may be a little bit late in reading this post, but better late than never, right?
    My daughter has an American and a Brazilian passport. She was born in the US; I'm American & my husband is Brazilian. The first time we went to Brazil I thought I just needed a visa for her and found out only about a month before we left that she actually needed a full passport! Fortunately, the Brazilian passport was way easier to obtain than her American one. It only took about a week (after a trip to the Consulate) and cost just $30! In contrast, we had to pay around $150 to have her American passport expedited as otherwise it would take 2-3 months. The Brazilians seem to have a way better process here.
    I will say that when she travels to & from Brazil, it does make a difference which passport she uses. When she enters Brazil, she has to use her Brazilian passport. When she enters the US, she has to use her American passport. It's all very easy and they never question that she has two passports.
    She doesn't get any cool stamps in her passports, but I suppose that's offset by the fact that she has 2 passports! (only slightly jealous with my 1 passport state, lol)

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  6. Just an update on this. When we flew out for Christmas holidays Olivia's passport had expired. I hadn't realised that baby Brazilian passports only last a year, unlike the UK or NZ ones that last the first 5 years of their lives. She was able to travel out on her UK passport, and back in as well . I had always thought Brazilian born children had to travel in and out of Brazil on their Brazilian passports no matter what.

    Applying for her new passport now. Fill out the form online, and make an appointment at your closest Policia federal: http://www.dpf.gov.br/servicos/passaporte/requerer-passaporte

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  7. AND the saga continues. We went to Shopping Ibirapuera at our appointed time but the systems were down. The lady kindly checked all my documents to make sure everything was ok and said to return on Tuesday (quieter day) and that I didn't need to rebook - having a baby, by law, gives you prioridade.

    I also have to have Tim fill out consent form, giving his authorisation for Olivia to get a passport. This is only necessary if only one parent goes for the passport application. If both parents are present then this document is not needed. I'm attaching the form, which needs to be filled out by the parent that will not be present (though we will do it both just incase!) and the signature(s) needs to be authenticated at the cartorio.

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  8. Most recent post re: passports for Brazilian born babies

    http://thebrazilmove.blogspot.com.br/2013/02/brazilian-passport-for-you-baby-doing.html

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