We took the trip to Miami to pick up the visa since it had been almost a month since my request for residency was approved and my visa was sent to the States. We drove down to Ft. Lauderdale, I dropped E off at a gym to train, and then I headed to the consulate. The public can only pick up their visas between 3-4 p.m., regardless of the type of visa you're given. I arrived a bit after 2 p.m., but was seated inside the "visa room" in less than 30 minutes. Since I was one of the first to arrive, I had my visa in my hand (in my passport) only minutes after 3 p.m. and I was on my way....to pick up E, have dinner with one of my college roommates who lives in West Palm, and we were on our way home.
I have to say that it is a relief to have the visa stamped into my passport, and know that not only do I not have to ever pay for another tourist visa to Brazil again, but I have permission to live and work in the country. Yeah. Now we can travel back and forth between the U.S. and Brazil with little trouble (just have to keep our passports current).
As I said, the number of entries is not restricted. The duration of stay is indeterminate.
What I didn't expect was for the chamante (or petitioner) to have his name printed on the visa; I think that's interesting because it doesn't seem necessary. Then again, it is a "family reunion" visa. That is, a visa that was created to keep families together. So E's full name is printed at the bottome.
Along with my visa (and picture) stamped into my passport, I was given the original visa application form that I had filled out, along with the information that I completed when I made my request back in February. This also has my picture on it and all of my information - address, place of employment, my contact in Brazil, information about my trips to Brazil, etc. That was stapled into my passport because I'll need to present these two pages to the federal police when I register.
Now I'm ready (at least as far as my documents are concerned) to settle down in Brazil.
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