Adventures of a Gringa

The Tourist Visa Question

While I've written a lot about residency and work visas in both Brazil and the U.S., one of the simplest types of visas is the one causing rumblings in both Brasília and Washington. Tourist visas are causing bureaucratic hurdles for Brazilians and Americans alike, and costing both countries millions of dollars in potential tourism revenues.

Getting a U.S. tourist visa for Brazilians is expensive, time-consuming, and an even bigger pain if you don't live in one of the four Brazilian cities with a U.S. consulate (Rio, São Paulo, Brasília, and Recife). For families, it can cost thousands of dollars, and for those who have to travel to another Brazilian city, even more for flights and hotels. Consulates are facing increased demand as more and more Brazilians can afford to go abroad, and it can take months to even get an appointment.

Despite the hurdles, more Brazilians than ever are coming to the U.S. According to this blog post from The Hill, the numbers are telling:

In 2011, 820,000 visas were issued in Brazil, an increase of more than 42 percent over the previous year.
In October, more than 90,000 visas were cleared in Brazil, 67 percent more than October of last year, State Department officials said.

Brazilians are spending big bucks in the U.S. They're doing loads of shopping, and spending tons of money at outlet malls. In 2010, Brazilians spent $5.9 billion in the U.S., spending an average of $4,236 per person. The majority of money was spent on shopping, restaurants, theme parks, historical sites, and to a lesser extent, city tours and museums. But it's not just in the U.S.: from January to October this year, Brazilians spent $17.7 billion abroad.

There had been some talk about eliminating tourist visas for Brazilians altogether, based on a decreased visa  rejection rate, but it looks highly unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. But several interest groups have come down hard on the U.S. government to speed visa processes for Brazilians and Chinese tourists. The National Retail Federation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Travel Association are urging Congress to pass several bills that would speed up visa processing times and increase the number of consular employees.

Interest groups started a campaign called Ready for Takeoff to argue for changed visa rules, proposing solutions like video conferencing for tourist visas interviews and reducing visa interview wait times to 10 days or less. Richard Dow, the president of the U.S. Travel Association, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called "The Lost Decade of Tourism," warning that the U.S. is losing billions of dollars because of visa delays and bureaucracy. He also says the U.S. is losing business to Europe, where Brazilians can go without a visa.

But there are already plans in place to increase the number of tourist visas given in Brazil, whether or not the bills pass. The U.S. will double the number of consular employees in Brazil by next year, and hopes to increase the number of tourist visas given to Brazilians to nearly 2 million in 2013.

Brazil also may reassess its tourist visa policy. Because of a reciprocity rule, Brazil obliges Americans and Canadians to get tourist visas to enter Brazil, as well as visitors from other countries that require Brazilians to get tourist visas. While other issues like high costs, fears of violence, and insufficient infrastracture play a part in hampering tourism, visa requirements do as well. As a result of all of these factors, the Brazilian government is also exploring ways to increase tourism. As El Pais reporter Juan Arias points out in an op-ed called "Brazil's strengths lies in its deficiences," he says:

"Just consider the fact that Brazil with all its beauty, its 8,000 kilometers of virgin beaches, and its huge cultural wealth only receives 4 million tourists a year, when tourism could be one of its greatest sources of revenue."

According to Embratur, 5.16 million foreign tourists visited Brazil last year, a nearly 8 percent increase from 2009. But in theory, it should be much bigger. For example, the same year, 22 million foreign tourists visited Mexico and 4 million visited the Dominican Republic.

In fact, Brazil's Congress is considering a bill that would eliminate tourist visas from January 2013 to December 2016, in an effort to encourage more tourists to visit for the Confederations Cup, the World Cup, and the Olympics. The bill's author, Federal Deputy Carlos Eduardo Cadoca, defended the initiative, arguing reciprocity doesn't make sense and that tourism revenues will benefit the country.

In an ideal world, neither the U.S. nor Brazil would require tourist visas from one another, which would undoubtedly increase tourism and be less of a headache. But for now, any real attempts to reduce bureaucracy, wait times, and costs for travelers will be welcome.

Brazilian Bureaucracy

In a new series, I'll be profiling issues that affect the day-to-day of many Brazilians, and are an important part of the adaptation process for gringos interested in living in Brazil.  Foreign companies that operate in Brazil often refer to local problems and obstacles as the "Brazil cost," but I'll refer to this series as Brazil Challenges.

Bureaucracy is an issue that affects nearly every area of life in Brazil, and is a constant headache for both Brazilians and foreigners. A legacy of the Portuguese crown during the colonial period, it's something of a self-perpetuating monster that has resulted in constant paperwork, fees, and taxes for citizens and a lucrative system for the government and cartórios, or public notary offices. It's also created something of an interest group for despachantes, people who are hired to deal with bureaucracy and other official unpleasant, time-consuming tasks. In a way, it's akin to the American health insurance system, in that doesn't make much sense and doesn't benefit citizens.

In an attempt to tackle the bureaucracy problem, a lawyer named Helio Beltrão led a government ministry called the Ministry of Debureaucratization from 1979 to 1986. While it seems paradoxical to create a new government agency to cut back on red tape, the agency managed a few small successes, but were later shut down, and similar projects were nixed ever since.

A recurring theme in dealing with bureaucracy in Brazil is proving you are who you say you are. This perceived distrust means people have to spend a lot of time proving their identities through tons of notarizations - notarized signatures, notarized copies, notarized forms...the list goes on. Another theme is that despite the endless rules and regulations that dictate bureaucracy, things can quite often depend on the person you are dealing with. Even if you're prepared, you never quite know how easy or difficult a bureaucratic chore will turn out to be. Essentially, you have to develop a lot of patience, and learn to take things in stride.

Here are a few of the areas involving bureaucracy in Brazil.

Law, Economy & Trade

In a September cover story on Brazilian bureaucracy, VEJA magazine described some of the legal aspects of bureauracy. In the past twenty years, 4.2 million laws were created in Brazil at the federal, state, and municipal level. The article, while in a right-leaning magazine, clearly vents frustrations: entitled "Enough to make you go crazy," it contains a section that says:

"The root of the excessive number of laws--and the abundance of stupid laws--is the distortion of the role of the Brazilian legislator who erroneously views himself as a nanny that needs to prevent the citizen-baby from getting into trouble. This infantilization derives from the denial of free will and the ability for individuals to make their own decisions."

Another article in the issue discusses the business aspects of bureaucracy. A Brazilian lawyer, fed up with the tax system, created a book containing every single tax law in decree from 1988 to 2006. He ended up with 18,000 laws, 43,215 pages, and a book weighing nearly 7 tons. Tax laws are so confusing that big companies employ dozens or even hundreds of specialists to figure out how to pay taxes and fill out the ncessary forms. According to VEJA, 17% of Brazil's GDP per capita is lost to bureaucracy, and bureaucracy consumes R$48 billion a year. Companies must keep paper copies of everything from contracts to receipts on file for at least five years, but some end up keeping them longer in case they need them for legal reasons.

Some areas of trade involve more bureaucratic headaches than others. Ports create lots of paperwork--any time a ship comes to port, 112 documents must be sent to 28 government agencies, including 14 ministries. Each ship must provide nearly 1,000 pieces of information to the authorities. Yet 95% of Brazilian foreign trade is shipped by boat. In a supremely odd rule, when the government confiscates pirated CDs or DVDs, it is the victim company's responsibility to deal with the merchandise. The government doesn't allow for the pirated merchandise to be destroyed right away (it usually takes 3 years), and some state attorneys require each individual CD to be evaluated. It means that some companies have millions of pirated CDs sitting in warehouses, at their own expense.

Voting

For Brazilians, bureaucracy can even be a part of their civic duty. Since voting is mandatory, if you miss an election, you're charged a fee, and if you don't pay, you risk losing basic rights, like to get a passport or take a civil service exam. In order to settle the fine, the voter must either send a letter to the election court with a justification for his absence during the election or go to the regional electoral office to pay the fine. At this office, an official prints out a form for a R$3.50 (US$1.86) fine, which can only be paid at Banco do Brasil--not at the electoral office. So once the voter has gone to the bank, he must return to the electoral office with the receipt--for R$3.50.

Foreigners in Brazil

Visas & Customs

For foreigners in Brazil, doing anything through official means requires superhuman patience levels and the ability to see beyond the absurd. As one foreign correspondent discovered, if you bring furniture and large items with you when moving to Brazil, you'll be taxed on all of those items when you leave--even if you don't want them or already gave them away. Cultural authorities are required to inspect paintings to ensure they're not "misappropriated cultural patrimony." The journalist also described his experience with paying fees:

To pay $70 in consular fees, I had to buy dollars that were not stained or folded and did not belong to the 1998 or 2008 series. When I could only find twenty-dollar bills in those specifications, leaving me with $80, the bank refused to complete the transaction, perhaps giving new meaning to the phrase "exact change."

Read the full story here.

Foreigners often encounter bureaucratic hurdles about their names or their parents names. Another reader, an American living in Rio, had this issue when he was applying for his visa.

The Federal Police made me get a notarized document from the US consulate stating that my father's name was indeed his name, even though it is on my birth certificate. (He has a middle inicial "E" which stands for nothing, but which confused them). The US consulate then said they don't do that. But I begged and pleaded and paid about US$60. It took a few days, but that seemed to please the PF. I think these things just depend on the mood that the person behind the glass is in.

Getting Documents

For those moving to Brazil to work or as permanent residents, there's quite a lot of bureaucracy to get through once you're in Brazil: registering your visa, getting a CPF, and maybe, if you're very lucky, a carteira assinada, which can take years to get.

Journalist Seth Kugel wrote a very funny explanation of how he opened a Brazilian bank account, which he achieved in only 70+ steps. Here's a short excerpt:

– Be called to an agent. Be informed that you cannot have an account with just the protocol. Call over the pleasant man, who is no longer as pleasant. Have him tell you it was “absurd” that the person at the other branch told you that you could open an account with a protocol.
– On way home and in significant despair, note an Itau branch near your apartment. Wait five minutes in line to go in because a woman cannot figure out what in her purse is making the revolving door metal detector block the door every time she goes through.
– Talk to a very, very pleasant agent who says, yes, Itau does accept the protocol. Consider hugging her, but resist.
– Hand over all your documents. Yes, your CPF is fine. Yes, your proof of residence with its colorfully sealed recognized signature is fine. Yes, your passport with its fancy Rectification will do ... oh, no it won’t. It does not list your mother’s and father’s names?
– Consider slugging her, but resist.

Read the full story here.

Getting Married

To get married in Brazil, you need to get several documents from your home consulate, including a certificate of being single and a "name document" if you or your parents names have initials on your birth certificate. You also need your birth certificate translated by an official translator and stamped by a Brazilian consular officer in your home country, and then the original birth certificate and translated birth certificate must be certified by a city licensing office. The actual marriage requires two rounds of paperwork, and the two witnesses at the marriage must submit a certified copy of their identification. You really need to be in love.

It's harder when you get married in a small city, as one reader, an American in a rural town in Bahia discovered, when a local bureaucrat suggested he return to Illinois to have his birth certificate changed.

I got married this year in a small city that isn't used to dealing with foreigners. Since the worker in the civil registry didn't know what she was doing, she just made up rules as she went, like demanding that I provide documentation of a residence in Brazil (though I was a volunteer and not a resident in Brazil).  We ended up giving up on getting married legally and in the church on the same day after failing to convince the worker that from January 22 (the day we were beginning to apply) to April 29th was more than three months (she literally, absolutely not joking couldn't understand the concept... she seemed to think the difference was only one week and kept repeating the phrase "é pouco tempo para vencer"). When we finally got the marriage certificate, it had something like seven errors in it. In the process of getting my wife's documents changed to reflect her name change and registering my change in status with the Federal Police, we had to get the document remade four times. The toughest was my mother's name - my Illinois birth certificate shows my mother's maiden name printed, but she signed with her married name, which is the norm for the certificate there. It took two visits and a lot of arguing to get them to accept the married name (for a while, they insisted that I go back to Illinois and explain to them that the birth certificate is wrong and that they need to correct it).

Getting divorced is a pain, too. One reader, a Brazilian living in the States, found out the hard way. She registered her marriage with a cartório, as well as the Brazilian consulate in the U.S., in case she and her husband ever decided to move to Brazil. But when she later filed for divorce, she discovered it wasn't going to be easy to file in Brazil, too. She explained:

"To register the divorce papers at the same cartório, I had to get a letter from my ex, with a notarized signature, stating that he agreed that the divorce would be registered in Brazil. This letter had to be 're-notarized' by the consulate stating that the American notary's signature was real. I had to have all these papers translated and had to hire a lawyer because these cases have to go to the Superior Court in Brasília where the judge decides that the American papers are indeed valid. When that happens I will get a document by the Brazilian government stating that indeed my divorce is real. The lawyer cost me more than my whole divorce!"

Visas of the Rich and Famous

A few weeks ago, the United States and Brazil announced that they had both extended the duration of tourist visas to 10 years, meaning that tourist visas for both Americans and Brazilians will now last an entire decade, rather than just five years. Both countries also eliminated extra fees for business travel, student visas, and exchange program visas, but they will both continue to charge steep visa fees. (Though the US charges these fees for most foreigners, Brazil charges the high fees for tourist visas for Americans in an act of "reciprocity.") While I'd like to think there were diplomatic or good will motives involved in the visa extensions, it was likely due to logistics and efficiency: in 2009, US consulates in Brazil emitted over 506,000 visas, and from January to April of 2010, they emitted over 171,000 visas.

So this all sounds swell, right? Well, it's a minimal step toward bilateral relations, considering the horror stories that don't make the headlines, like the stories of exiled Americans whose spouses have been deported or temporarily banned from the country due to visa issues. But two stories did make headlines, and they are telling.

At the beginning of the month, American director Oliver Stone flew to Brazil to promote his new documentary and to meet with Brazilian leaders. Somehow, though, he was unaware that Americans need visas to enter Brazil, and despite US airport regulations to check visas for us regular folk, he managed to get on a plane and arrive in São Paulo with no visa whatsoever. Instead of being turned around and sent back to the US, he spent a mere 3 hours at customs and was admitted to the country. He was given an "emergency" temporary visa valid for eight days. Then, to top it off, he was met with open arms by the Brazilian government, and had a meeting with Dilma Rousseff, who he chatted with behind closed doors during his brief promotional tour in Brazil.

Fast forward to this week, when legendary Brazilian singer João Gilberto had to cancel his show at Carnegie Hall, a part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival. The reason? His US visa was expired, but on Monday he got an emergency appointment at the US consulate, where he handed in his paperwork and did the mandatory interview. His visa was then approved. But then, despite going through the necessary steps, he did not manage to get the visa in time and didn't travel to New York. The details are unclear, though it appears the visa wasn't printed in time. The visa debacle forced producers to cancel the show at the last minute. One of the producers said he was "heartbroken" that the singer, "one of the most important of our generation," was unable to perform.

So much for reciprocity.

The right to complain - is there a right way?

Yesterday, Sarah Lacy over at Tech Crunch started a massive anti-American Internet intifada by writing about her very bad experience trying to get a visa to Brazil. She had been planned the trip for four months and taking Portuguese lessons, evidently making a concentrated effort to understand the country and language before she left, unlike the typical American businessman. She had intended to scope out IT companies, entrepreneurs, and other potential investment opportunities. An excerpt:

I paid an expediting service hundreds of dollars to ensure I’d be getting this visa, and clearly they’ve been getting an earful from me over the last week. If not for a phone call from the owner this morning finally agreeing to waive the fees I paid them, this post would largely be skewering them. But she assures me no one is getting into Brazil and her week has been even worse than mine. Apparently, the Brazilian government decided to switch to a new computer system for all of its consulate offices and only sent two computers to each office, and not the adequate software to process everything. So everyone has been in a holding pattern. Some consulates aren’t promising any visas before 25 days; others won’t even take an appointment with prospective travelers unless they show documents showing travel in the next 15 days. In fact my visa is the first one the processing firm will get back—that is, if they actually do get it today as promised. They’ve not only been screamed at by me, but loads of business travelers—and even a coach for a national soccer team who can’t get in the country.

Sarah, however, made the big mistake of defacing the Brazilian flag with a little message and using some inflammatory language toward the end of the post directed at Brazilians and the Brazilian government. As a result, she was lambasted by Brazilians and a scattering of other Latin Americans, accusing the US of having an unfair visa policy and claiming she had no right to complain.

Ernesto knows what I'm about to say.

Unfortunately for her, Sarah didn't know that any minor bit of criticism towards Brazil will provoke sheer outrage, and since her post was very accusatory, she actually got death and rape threats (no joke). Defacing any flag is generally a very bad idea, as is blogging when angry and/or making sweeping accusations (trust me, I know from personal experience). So attracting an angry mob wasn't surprising.

But what irritated me about the reaction to her post was that it was so typical, something most gringos who write about Brazil have to deal with, and frankly, the reaction ended up doing an equal  amount of damage to her visa issues. And as you know, I've had to deal with the US visa system for the past 10 months, so I'm well aware of how it works.

First off, Sarah was accused of being irresponsible, and everyone put the blame on her. It could be true she waited until the last minute to apply for her visa, and it could be true she didn't do her research about the complexity of the visa. But what's more important is that the responsible authorities (the visa company, which she paid to do a service, and the Brazilian consulate), ultimately were the ones who failed to do their job. And unlike seasoned travelers to Brazil, she didn't do a jeitinho and apply for the much easier tourist visa instead. She did it the right way.

Second, it is useless to compare apples to oranges. Brazil and the US have totally different visa systems with very different purposes. The US system is a mess, but more importantly, it's not always fair because we have a huge amount of illegal (and legal) immigration. The Brazilian visa system, aside from super quick and easy tourist visas, tends to be inefficient and slow, but also does not have to deal with the sheer mass and constant pressure of millions of immigrants.

But this is even irrelevant when it comes down to the fact that the US system has nothing to do with Sarah's frustration. She did not mention the US system nor does she defend it nor is she responsible for it. If she were from England or France or Australia, she would have received the exact same response, because Brazilians have an extremely hard time accepting criticism about their country (and a harder time when it comes in the form of an angry accusation like Sarah's). And any immigration issues with Latin Americans will always be a sore subject.

This used to happen to me a lot, and still sometimes does: "What right do you have to criticize the Brazilian government/system/economy/judicial system? Yours is screwed up too!" If this illogical double standard were true, I wouldn't have this blog.In fact, I'd delete the whole thing. We have two totally different countries, and criticizing one is valid based on our experiences in that country. There's a huge amount of anti-American sentiment in Brazil (I was sometimes shocked at the things people would say to my face), while the average American largely ignores Brazil until things like this happen; when they do, some Brazilians assume a double standard about who has the right to talk smack about whom, about who's system is worse than the other's.

Sarah wasn't justified in going after the entire country and its people because of what happened. But instead of chastising Sarah for her condescending tone and the flag issue, she was viciously attacked for criticizing Brazil and for coming from a country with an unfair visa system. The idea was basically: "Look at what we have to go through all the time. See how it feels when the shoe is on the other foot?" The problem is, the ha-ha, you deserved it, na-na-na-na-na attitude that a lot of people had just helps xenophobic Americans feel secure in their same attitude towards foreigners in the US. Two wrongs don't make a right.

But as far as I'm concerned, that's not the point. Everyone deserves the right to be angry and upset when they have to face visa issues, no matter where they're coming from or where they're going. I think she's completely justified to criticize the Brazilian consulate, as are any Brazilians are justified to criticize the US consulate after having problems entering the US (and which they do a lot, justifiably). Brazil's biggest hope is its rapidly growing economy, and incidents like this do not encourage foreigners to invest there or consider traveling there on business. Similarly, it's in the US's best interests to speed up visas for investors and businessmen coming to the US. Given my experience with foreigners in Brazil, Sarah's experience isn't new; any visas that involve doing some sort of work in Brazil are much more difficult to get and require much more red tape than a straightforward tourist visa (ask anyone who has ever been transferred to Brazil working at a multinational). Frankly, they're a nightmare to get.  

Had Sarah taken a more diplomatic route, and/or had the response to the post been different (like Fabio Seixas' eloquent open letter), I expect the author might have written an apology. But since her anger was met with outrageous threats and accusations, it made her look like the victim, and it looks like Tech Crunch is standing behind her. And given the criminal nature of a few of the comments (the rape and death threats have been deleted from the site), it didn't make Brazilians look so great. Plus, given the vitriolic response to a valid complaint (albeit masked in ugly words), I doubt Sarah or anyone from Tech Crunch or their affiliates will keep Brazil on their radar for potential opportunities.

The bottom line is that you can't possibly expect people not to get angry about bad experiences they have in Brazil (or anywhere for that matter), and not to share those experiences when they're frustrated. Lashing out at Brazilians and using the Brazilian flag with FAIL on it was in poor taste, and it would be in the author's best interest to remove it from the site. But so were a lot of the comments. And everyone was the loser in this affair: Brazil and its up and coming IT companies, Sarah, and those who made offensive remarks when attacking her. Go ahead and demand she remove the flag, and explain to her about the danger of angry accusations and how they hurt everyone. But don't expect her not to feel justified in her frustration. Because that's a very big double standard.

We're all just humans. We all deserve the right to complain--even about Brazil. But we must always respect each other, or else we will never be able to get along.

An open letter on health care reform

Dear Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, and Democratic Members of Congress:

I'm writing to you today to commend you on your excellent efforts on health care reform and your earnest attempts at participatory democracy. But today, I'm going to beg you, with a little bit of Brazilian-based wisdom, to please stop pandering people who refuse to listen and get the legislation over and done with.

1. Chega! Enough! Please stop trying to convince people who refuse to listen. It's like banging your head against the wall - it will not get you anywhere. When a small child refuses to eat his vegetables, you don't try to explain the nutritional value or why he needs to have a balanced diet or how nutrition affects growth. YOU TELL HIM TO DO IT. (Did I just compare the American people to children? Why yes, yes I did. Because an embarrassing number of them are acting like babies.) This may not sound very democratic, but as our elected representatives, we expect you to do what is best for the majority to ultimately benefit us and our country's future, and most certainly not to do what enables the greatest profit for sleazy corporations.

2. Obvio. It is beyond obvious that our system needs a complete overhaul. Those who disagree do so for one of two reasons: 1, they stand to benefit financially, professionally, or politically from the status quo and from powerful, unrestricted health insurance companies or 2, they lack education, information, experience, or perspective, but mainly the ability and/or desire to acquire accurate information. The constant attempts to educate people who refuse to be educated is not doing any good, and is mainly irritating the rest of us who see this as beating a dead horse that is very clearly gestorben. But since you ask, here's my story. Just to help you beat the horse a little more.

When I moved back to the US from Brazil in May, I did not have health insurance. My parents' coverage ended as soon as I graduated from college. I applied for a state-based, discounted insurance program that gives "cheaper" HMO rates to low-income New Yorkers (since I'm self-employed earning very little, looking for a full time job, but not eligible for unemployment). However, in the first two months I was here, the second of which I had insurance, I spent $600 out of pocket on two emergency procedures, and since June I have spent $900 on premiums. But as it turns out, the HMO had failed to inform me that I was to be given a substandard plan that comes with the state program, and I soon found that my doctors didn't take the insurance, and few did in my county.

So I decided to switch HMOs within the program, and consulted both the program and the HMO for the best way to go about it. I sent in my application on time, and waited and waited. I called, panicky, but they said they had no information on my file and would I please call back next week? Finally, on August 31st, I received a letter in the mail with my application and a letter informing me that my application was denied because they needed one more document for proof of income. I could appeal the denial but coverage would only start in October. (Never mind that my phone number and email were on the application, or that I had sent it at the beginning of the month. No no. That would be too easy). As you are reading this, I am on my way on a thirty mile trek to hand in my application in person to the corporate office, since an extremely kind person at the HMO agreed to override the denial as long as I handed in the missing document and the correct premium (which by the way, has increased by $10 since July). I am praying that the man's promises will actually be fulfilled and that my coverage will in fact start today, so that this month I can get standard care that is two years overdue. And that I will have health care at all. My husband, in the meantime, has no insurance at all, and the stress is weighing down on both of us.

3. A very wise man once said, "O povo sabe o que quer. Mas o povo também quer o que não sabe." This translates as, "The people know what they want. But the people also want what they don't know." This should be your new motto.

We elected you to do what is best for the country and for my generation's future children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are simply clueless about what "the best" means. I, however, do know. We did not elect you so that you could buy mansions or yachts or overpriced furniture or vacations for CEOs. We elected you to DO YOUR JOB, which is to make sure the American people are in fact entitled to the right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Personally, HMOs are currently impeding my right to all three, as they are for millions of Americans. It's time to get into FDR mode. Like him, you have to stand up to the sacred Corporations when they go too far, when they begin to infringe on democracy, which they most definitely have. Like many others, my husband and I decided to make the US our home so that we could have a better way of life here, because we trust in the democratic system, the government's ability to protect its citizens and the ability to use our tax dollars wisely. So go on with it, already. do your jobs!

Thank you and for the love of God, pass the bill already. Já basta. Enough is enough.

Love,

Rio Gringa

Spell check

When you move to a country where the official language is different from your own, you will inevitably face challenges with your name. In Brazil, I told most people to call me Raquel, which just made things easier, and anytime I needed to use my last name, I would have to spell it out letter by letter several times.

Eli has faced similar issues in the US, where he his name is very difficult for English speakers. Some people have tried to pronounce his name right and have managed to quite well, but he mostly tells people to call him Eli (eh-lee) or Eli (ee-lie). He also has to spell out his last name letter by letter.

Unfortunately, he's run into some issues with his name when dealing with bureaucratic paperwork. We went to open a joint bank account, where he was asked to write out his name for how it should appear on the account and his debit card. He wrote it out clearly and showed the bank employee. Then, when we got the debit cards and other information from the bank in the mail, his middle name appeared instead of his last name. We called the bank helpline, and later went into a branch and spoke to a manager. As it turns out, the bank has a rigid policy about last names, in particular one regarding Latin last names (I somehow doubt they know the difference between Spanish and Portuguese ones). It turns out it's a real hassle to change it, since they also have to change it within the system and have this "policy." It's been several weeks and we still haven't managed to resolve the problem.

Also, in the latest correspondence we've received from US immigration, his name was spelled "Eliseo," the Spanish version of his name. He sent them two letters asking them to change it, and on the most recent notification, his name was in fact spelled correctly. Throughout the immigration process, there had never been a problem with the spelling of his name, but I suspect that somewhere along the line, perhaps in an automated part of the process, spellcheck may have actually changed his name to the more commonly known spelling in the US.

In the meantime, the bartending school he attended had no problem in writing out his entire name correctly on his certificate.

Have you ever had this problem living abroad?

Brazilian Bureaucracy

When I read Robyn's joke on Lovely Dharma the other day, it inspired a whole post:

“How many Brazilians does it take to change a light bulb?”

Answer: 10 or more

• One to realize the light bulb needs changing.
• One to drive to the store to buy a new one.
• One to hand him the parking ticket as he enters the store garage.
• One to push the buttons in the elevator as he exits the garage.
• One to greet him/stand security watch at the store entrance
• One to follow him around and help in find the light bulb.
• One to write the receipt for the light bulb.
• One to take the cash or debit card for the light bulb.
• One to put the light bulb in the bag.
• One to stamp his parking ticket.

Government and corporate bureaucracy aside, every day life in Brazil can be very bureaucratic, especially in Rio. Though this day-to-day bureaucracy provides jobs for seemingly simplistic tasks, it sometimes brings into question the efficiency of businesses.

At some juice bars, you have to pay for your order first at the cashier, then bring your receipt to a person at the counter, who then relays the order to another person, and then someone will eventually bring you your food or drink.

At clubs, you are greeted by a person taking fliers, and then give your ID to a person taking down information and giving out cards used to charge drink orders. If the club doesn't use these consumption cards, the person will give you an entrance ticket, which you then give to a person designated solely for ticket taking, usually stationed feet away. At this type of club, you often have to buy a drink ticket at a specific booth, and then bring your drink ticket to the bar to give to the bartender. There are different tickets for different drink prices, so if you don't buy them all at once you have to wait in line for the ticket before ordering another drink. At clubs with consumption cards, there's another series of events. When you leave the club, you give your consumption card to the cashier to pay for your drinks, and then bring your paid cards to another person to make sure you've paid. When they confirm you've paid, you then give a receipt or the cards to another person at the door.

At buffet restaurants, where you pay for your food by the kilo, there's a similar system. At the door, you're greeted by a person giving out a card or ticket used to charge your food. After you get your food, you go to a person with a scale, where your food is weighed. The person marks how much you have to pay, or scans your card. Then you sit down, and a waiter brings drinks. When you're done, you bring your card or ticket to a cashier to pay for your food. The cashier gives you a receipt, which you bring to a person stationed at the door.

The one job that really boggles my mind is the elevator operator. In Rio, I've only seen old-fashioned elevators once (in the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil), but even some of them have buttons. I've seen dozens of elevator "operators" in modern buildings, from offices to malls, who sit on a chair in the corner and push the buttons. Of all of the bureaucratic jobs I've come across, it's the one I've found to be the least necessary.