Making Progress

I have now collected almost all of the documents that we need to move forward with registering our marriage, hence moving towards the goal of applying for my permanent residency (spousal visa). Once I filled out the necessary forms, I had to have my signature notarized for the statement that I had never been married to a Brazilian before I married E. We also need two Brazilians to testify that we were both single before we married (though how they would know I have no idea). Apparently the Brazilian consulate takes their citizens' word for it. Anyway, a good friend of ours agreed to be one of the witnesses so we took a trip this morning to the bank to have his signature notarized at the same time that mine was notarized for my letter of never being married to a Brazilian before. I'm grateful that we were never married before because then we would need to show divorce papers and that appears to be a pain in the behind. Like I said before, the consulate is not asking for too much from us, it is just time consuming because we need to rely on others for assistance (for signatures and notiarizations). For more information regarding registering your marriage in the Brazilian Consulate in Miami, you can read about it here. Sorry it's in Portuguese; I couldn't find a translation on their website and it seems that each consulate is unique in what they require for marriage registration so it's not worth it to direct you to another consulate.

Basically, to register our marriage in the consulate in Miami we need (as it applies to our case):

1. The original and copy of our marriage certificate
2. E needs a Brazilian document (like his passport or birth certificate) which has his parents' names on it
3. For E (the Brazilian) - the notarized document that has two signatures from Brazilians confirming he was single before he married me
4. For me (the foreigner) - the original and copy of my passport or my driver's license and the original and copy of my birth certificate; a declaration (letter) that has been notarized confirming that I had never married a Brazilian before
5. The application to register our marriage in the consulate
6. A $20 money order

I am relieved that I can check most of this off of our list as what needs to be completed. Since I am more uptight organized than E, I have taken on this "chore" rather than ask him to do it. Plus, I did all of the immigration paperwork for him to live/work in the U.S. so I feel almost like a pro at this.