Eu quero um visto permenante, por favor.

This morning I was in a terrible mood. I was going to write about baile funk, but I couldn't motivate myself. The reason for this is because I was seriously concerned that I wouldn't be able to stay here beyond the end of my tourist visa, which expires in just under a month. For about two months Bruna and I have been on an extremely frustrating and irritating wild goose chase. Normally people hire lawyers to complete this proceedure for them, but that's way too expensive, so we have to do everything. The problem, apart from the fact that I don't speak Portuguese, is that Brazilian bureaucracy is ridiculously complex. Not only do they require all kinds of documentation, but they also need it to be verified. So imagine that whenever you need to show your passport or driving licence you first have to photocopy it, take it a special office, wait for half an hour and then pay for someone to look at it and stamp the copy. We have collected all kinds of documents and declarations that we are in 'stable union', that Bruna will take financial and healthcare responsibilty for me, and testimonials of my good character, written by people who barely know me, all verified, paid for and stamped.

It feels like the system is designed to be as uneccessarily complicated as possible, and the worst aspect is the failure of anyone to take responsibility and say "Yes, that's my job, I'll help you!." I don't think this flaw is unique to Brazilian bureaucracy, by the way, as anyone who has called a call centre anywhere in the world will know. It's the lack of coordination that really gets you. Someone will say that they can deal with a particular aspect of the proceedure "but you have to go to this office to blah blah blah..." and when you go to that office they contradict the previous person, and so it continues.

But the reason I'm writing this is not to have a rant, but because maybe, just maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. We have just returned from the Federal Police, where they informed me that my current paperwork is fine, that I don't need any additional visas or documents and I don't have to pay anything. This isn't for my permanant status, but it keeps me here for a few months so I can sort things out. It seems too good to be true, but maybe I'm going to be fine. That is until tomorrow when I go to the British Embassy and they say "No that's not right, you need to blah blah........."