To give birth to a child and stay in the country: how Russians live in Brazil

What are the options for immigration

The birth of a child is one of the possible options for obtaining a residence permit.

In general, Brazil is a difficult country for immigration. The birth of a child, marriage with a Brazilian citizen, opening a business with an investment of 160 thousand US dollars in the Brazilian economy, a work visa, a student visa - these are all the possible ways.

Our path is one of the simplest, as simple as giving birth to a child can be. After the birth, the hospital issues a birth certificate, with which the parents apply to the cartorio (analogous to Ukrainian notary offices and registry offices at the same time) and receive a birth certificate.

On Sundays, people gather to dance capoeira - a folk dance, something like a combat hopak

And then you can contact the Federal Police with a package of documents for obtaining a residence permit.

Among the documents are a passport, a child’s birth certificate, a receipt for payment of state fees (about 120 reais per person - a little less than 40 dollars), written declarations of no criminal record (written simply by hand), photos.

After submitting the documents, a protocol is issued to open the process of obtaining a residence permit, with which you can remain living in Brazil. And wait. First, an inspection officer from the Federal Police, who can appear at any time to check the child’s living conditions and make a recommendation. And then the decision on the case is made.

From the personal archive of Natalia Shalygina

Sometimes you have to wait for several years (this is a feature of the Brazilian bureaucracy - no one is in a hurry). But we were lucky again - Dilma Rousseff, the then president, carried out a campaign to de-bureaucratize the work of government bodies, and on this wave, a decision on our process was made in less than a year! This is unprecedented speed!

Exactly a year later, we already received foreigner cards - a special identifying document in Brazil. With a residence permit you can already work, study, open bank accounts - in short, everything except voting rights.

The next possible stage is obtaining citizenship. Everything is much more complicated there, there are more documents, but the most important thing is a good command of the Portuguese language.

Language

A language exam is one of the conditions for obtaining citizenship. And in general, you can’t live in a country without speaking Portuguese. Very few people speak English, although they often try to switch to it with foreigners, without moving beyond “Do you speak English?”

View from the window of the house

Accomodation

The first three months after our arrival we lived in a hotel. At this stage, luck awaited us again - the owner turned out to be a pleasant person, we still sometimes communicate, accidentally crossing paths in the city. And this is typical for Brazil - not to lose contacts that you once made. Much is built on acquaintances, good neighborly relations, mutual assistance of people who are somehow connected by chance.

Living in a hotel, we, of course, were looking for future permanent housing. Most of the houses and apartments in Brazil are rented through real estate agencies. Of course, housing can be rented from private owners, but the agencies have much more choice and the guarantees are safer.

In addition, the agency mediates between the owner and the tenant, and they never meet with each other. The agency concludes an agreement, issues invoices, solves problems that arise.

It must be said that in Brazil the laws very reliably protect the tenant from possible eviction and abuse by the homeowner. Even if the tenant does not pay rent, it is not easy to evict him.

But this practice also has a downside - the lease agreement is concluded for at least a year, and most often for two years. Termination by the tenant ahead of schedule is punishable by large fines.

In addition, it is necessary to provide guarantees - either a guarantee from a person who owns real estate in a given municipality, or a deposit in the amount of three monthly payments. Or you need to buy insurance in the amount of one monthly payment, with constant annual renewal.

The cost of housing is very different. Depends on the area, size of housing, condition. We immediately looked for a house with a plot because of a dog that we brought with us (oh yeah! We brought a dog from Kiev).

It was possible to find for 900 reals (285 dollars) triplex (a house for three owners), with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and small areas in front of the house and behind it.

For three years, the cost of our rent has increased to 1300 Reais (410 dollars). This increase is due to constant inflation and fixed in the contract. Most often, houses and apartments are completely empty (we did not even have a sink in the kitchen).

From the personal archive of Natalia Shalygina

Therefore, we are forced to transport all the furniture from house to house. We were the least fortunate in this regard - apart from two suitcases of clothes, a dog and a stroller, there was nothing to transport to the new house.

I had to furnish the house from scratch. And the first three nights to sleep on an inflatable mattress, because, not knowing the local rules, we missed the delivery of the bed from the store.

By the way, this is also a local feature - the delivery time is not set, only the first or second half of the day is determined. There will be no calls before delivery. If no one is home, you will have to pay for re-delivery. So you often have to sit and wait all day.

Our house's rental price is at the bottom of the average price range. But many people live like this here.

Apartments in a good condominium with security, swimming pool, gym with an area of ​​about 70-100 sq.m. will cost about 3000 reais ($950). For that amount you can rent a house. There is no upper limit for the price of renting a house - either 15 thousand reais or 20 thousand. These are houses in good areas, most often with good furniture, a swimming pool, and a large number of rooms. At the same time, there is housing for 600 reais ($190) - with one room and a kitchen combined with a living room and a bathroom. Here such apartments are rented out for one person (in Kyiv we lived in such an apartment together). And couples are already looking to rent larger housing.

Fishermen on Campeche beach

You can buy housing in Brazil, including foreigners. The cost of homes for sale starts from 200 thousand reais (63 thousands of dollars), but most likely it will be impossible to live in such a house due to the fact that the roof can fall over your head. If you need a house in which you can immediately move into, you need to lay out from 350 thousand reais (110 thousand) and above. Again, the price is determined by the area, proximity to the ocean, the size of the plot. Of course, most Brazilians have no such money. Therefore, there are loans to buy a home. Surely, with very large guarantees and supporting documents. But, since we have not yet considered this option for ourselves, we do not know the details.

For me it was a discovery that after all a very large part of Brazilians, including the middle class, rents housing. Here our house on three owners completely surrenders. And one of our neighbors lives in it from the very beginning, in our part we are already the second tenants. But in the third part of the house at least four tenants have already changed. Brazilians in this sense are easy to lift. If it turns out to find better and cheaper housing, they will move without hesitation.

Houses for rent are similar to each other - white painted walls, tiled floors, a kitchen combined with a living-dining room, bedrooms, most often several bathrooms, according to the number of bedrooms, a small courtyard with a lawn, a place for a car. Everything is very standard, from the size of the windows to the set of furniture.

The catch is sold on site

Standard of living

Brazil is a very large and very contrasting country. Poverty exists, and in no city will you be completely fenced off from it. It is everywhere, just in some cities there is little of it, as in the south in general. And in some places it occupies almost the entire space of the city, as in some places in the north of the country. At the same time, there is a class of very rich people. The middle class in Brazil, one might say, is just emerging. First of all, psychologically - there are more and more people who do not want to sit on the neck of the state and oppose all government subsidies and programs, are ready to work or do business, pay taxes, but demand accountability from the government in spending funds, and oppose corruption.

Prices

Brazil is an expensive country. By the way, this fact greatly surprised our Ukrainian friends. For some reason, many were sure that Brazil was as cheap as Asia. So - this is not so. The real is one of the most overvalued currencies in the world. Living here is expensive. Inflation is high, prices are constantly rising.

Renting housing is perhaps a system-forming expense item, and the rest has to be calculated from it. Thus, a family consisting of “father, mother, me,” spending about 1700 reais ($504) on rent and utilities, will spend at least 1500 reais ($475) per month on food and some minimum goods, well and things and the rest - beyond that.

But this is a very modest life. That is, the formula should look like “3200 reais + as much as you like.”

Playground in Florianópolis Park

The country's minimum wage is 880 reais ($278), and the average is about 2500 reais ($790). Income greatly depends on the field of activity, and there are some differences from Ukraine, in particular, doctors earn from 5000 reais per month ($1580). Including in government clinics.

Things in Brazil are, firstly, expensive, and secondly, they are mostly of such terrible quality that the price is absurd. The reason for this, apparently, is the highest customs duties. This is especially noticeable in prices for equipment and electronics. The price of a gadget made in, say, Malaysia here will be almost four times higher than on the American Amazon. And the Brazilian Amazon sells almost only books: again, a restrictive policy.

Behind Natalia's football field

Economics and politics

Some say the Brazilian economy is still closed. The country is weakly involved in international value chain building. Local goods are mainly produced from local raw materials. Competition is suppressed by protectionism, as a result, the richest class, who are completely divorced from the middle class, is in a kind of symbiosis with the poorest: the left feeds the latest state programs and struggles to save jobs and against imports, while the right helps the largest business and also hinders the openness of the economy.

Prices for food and national cuisine

The issue of prices is one of the sore points for those moving to Brazil. For an overview, our prices in Florianópolis are approximately the following: 1 liter of milk - 3 reals ($1), a kilogram of beef - from 13 reals ($4), chicken fillet - from 9 reals ($2,85). It is better to buy vegetables and fruits at special markets, where the price for everything is the same and starts from 2,30 per kilogram. These are, of course, not selected vegetables and fruits, but the quality is quite good. And cheaper than in the supermarket.

The organization of the restaurant chain surprised me on my first visit. Conventionally, all restaurants can be divided into two groups - daytime and evening. Most restaurants are open only during the day and mainly on weekdays - from 11.00 to 15.00. You can simply have lunch there, and many Brazilians do so there. Moreover, you can always find a convenient restaurant not far from work.

The price in such restaurants starts from 29 reais (9 dollars) per kilogram of food. Yes, yes, as in that joke - please weigh me a kilogram of food. So, in places like this, you just take a plate and put on it everything that you see on display in front of you - meat, fish, side dishes, vegetables and fruits. And then you pay for the total weight. Drinks separately.

For two of us, 36 reais is enough for lunch. Among the usual dishes that are there and without which not a single Brazilian can imagine life are rice (they always eat it, a lot of it, everyone), beans, grilled meat, fish, vegetables and fruits.

Brazilians love to eat, but they are not gourmets. Everything is cooked simply, without frills, but very tasty. This is what unites Ukraine and Brazil for me. After Russia, it always seemed to me that in Ukraine, and later in Brazil, the food is much tastier.

In general, I don’t really understand when people, having moved, begin to miss some food and complain about the lack of familiar products. After all, new places are such a treasure trove of new tastes! You can constantly make some discoveries and always find something to your liking.

Cheese Buns

For example, I am absolutely delighted with Brazilian cheese buns - pão de quejo. I even learned to cook them myself. Just like cottage cheese. Although even here you can find its analogues.

The most amazing local food habit for me is still the habit of eating several side dishes at the same time. The Brazilian will not be tormented by the choice, but simply put rice, potatoes and pasta in one plate at once.

In the evenings, many Brazilians love to sit in restaurants that are open only hours from 19. Drink wine or beer. Eat well-cooked seafood, grilled fish or pizza. An account at such restaurants for one starts from Reals 75 ($ 23) without drinks. Not everyone can afford it, but most often the restaurants are full. Especially during the holiday season.

Transport

Brazilians are undoubtedly a very motorized nation. For example, on our one and a half kilometer long street, only we and one of our neighbors do not have cars, who does not have one for ideological reasons. Brazilians on wheels always, everywhere and for any reason, even if they need to go to the store a couple of blocks away, they will still drive instead of walking. In general, it seems to me that Brazilians, having borrowed some money, first of all try to buy two things - a huge TV and a car.

São Paulo City

Many cities are arranged so that, the car, perhaps, the only comfortable way to travel. In our city, for example, there are many blind and very long streets, on which there are almost no sidewalks. Often, to get to the house opposite, but located on a nearby street, you have to go no less than a kilometer. Some cities, for example, the capital of the country of Brasilia, were built with the expectation that people would only drive, not walk.

People move around the country not only by cars, but also by buses and airplanes. There are few railways here. The main method of transportation in many cities are buses with a well-organized system of terminals. Those. you pay once at the entrance to the bus or terminal, and then you can change at the terminals in the right direction.

Population mentality

Brazilians are very friendly people. This impression, of course, does not fit well with the fact that the country ranks one of the first in the world in the number of murders, and security here is a sore subject.

Capoeira on Campeche beach

But in everyday communication, you most often come across the fact that people are responsive and polite. I’ll just tell you one incident from our life. Once, when my son was still very small, despite the forecasts that obsessively promised us rain and thunderstorms, the whole group of us went to the ocean, loaded with the maximum amount of things. Baby, stroller, sling, bag with diapers and food for the baby, dog. Thus, transportation by bus was completely excluded (dogs are not allowed). On the way back, the predictions began to come true. There was no way to move a child in a stroller in the rain. So they wrapped him around me in a sling and put a waterproof windbreaker on top. So we walked in the beginning of the rain - me with a child and a bag at the ready, my husband with a stroller and a dog. And the rain kept getting stronger. And it’s another 25 minutes walk to the house.

From the personal archive of Natalia Shalygina

And here the car stops in front of us, and a nice girl offers us a ride. She cleverly put the dog in the car, folded and stuffed the stroller with dirty (!) Wheels. And brought us to our very gate.

And so very often. They offer a ride, especially when you go with a child. Offer to help with the stroller.

Lesia Ukrainka Street in São Paulo

Of course, we never felt any hostility towards ourselves as newcomers. On the contrary, everyone asks with interest who we are and where we come from. For example, during the Maidan we accidentally met a nice Brazilian couple on the beach. Young, nice guys, they have two children. When they found out that we came from Ukraine, they said: “We are praying for Ukraine.” And such words of support were not the only ones. They know about Ukrainians here. After all, in the neighboring state of Parana there is a very large Ukrainian diaspora. And there are cities that are almost entirely Ukrainian, for example, Prudentopolis, where they even managed to preserve the Ukrainian language. Some local residents also have Ukrainian roots. For example, one of our son’s surnames is Rubashkevich. As she herself told us, she is of Ukrainian origin.

To understand what other Brazilians are like, I’ll say that for three years almost not a single doctor saw us on time. Being 15-20 minutes late is not considered late at all. Everyone is late, always and everywhere. Never rush anywhere - this is the motto of any Brazilian. Brazilians live this way, work this way, relax this way and approach life this way.

At first, this state of affairs is outrageous - how can this be, this is a paid clinic, why should we wait! How come, why can’t we get internet for two weeks! But over time you realize that this is how everything works here. Everything works more or less, moves, but no one is bothering anyone. None of the locals would even think of being indignant. Live and don't worry! This is probably what Brazil taught me most.

From the personal archive of Natalia Shalygina

Leisure

Perhaps Brazilians’ love for holidays stems from the desire to live and not worry. ABOUT! They know how to celebrate here and love it. If the local football team wins, the city will erupt with car horns and screams! If they are celebrating Christmas or New Year, the sky will be bright with fireworks!

From November to early January, all houses shimmer with garlands. Every Sunday - the smells of shurrasko (local kebab) drive you crazy. There is a special attitude towards Sundays here. Apart from large supermarkets, everything is closed, including restaurants. Having stocked up on meat, coal and alcohol since Friday, all Sunday long Brazilians fry shurrasco (and for this, almost every house has a special oven or mobile barbecue), receive guests, drink and socialize. Or they play football. Fortunately, there are football fields at every step here. But in our residential area there are at least six of them.

Football field - players gathered to practice

Football in the life of any Brazilian appears almost from birth. Almost everyone plays, almost everyone gets sick. In the days of the World Cup in 2014, during the matches, the city almost died out.

By the way, Brazilians are very sporty people. Everyone runs, rides bicycles, surfs, and kitesurfs. There are several fitness clubs on each street. Sports grounds for older people. Sportswear and sneakers are a common outfit for almost every Brazilian in the evening. Lots of fit, good looking people. It is clear that many Brazilians strive to live comfortably and enjoyably. And you can learn this from them too.

Medicine

Considering that we came here to give birth, the question of medicine for us was very relevant.

There is free medicine here, but a taxi driver who gave us a lift once put it very well: “Everything is well conceived, but it doesn’t work well.”

There are free clinics in every district, but since there are not enough doctors, you have to make an appointment to see some specialists almost a year in advance! Vaccinations and regular checkups for children are free. Emergency care too. But to us, people who are accustomed to the fact that doctors like to play it safe in every possible way, in some cases the local attitude seems too frivolous.

When our baby “drew” headfirst out of bed at three months, we ran to the emergency room, preparing ourselves for all sorts of ultrasounds of the head and so on. But it was not there. The doctor examined the child, asked about his behavior and... issued a memo that listed the symptoms that we need to pay attention to in the next few hours and return to the hospital if we notice anything. No examinations or tests for you. And this is almost always the case.

On the other hand, I somehow had to go to a free ambulance with an abscess on my finger. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for me (which cannot be bought freely at the pharmacy, like many other medicines), and I was able to get it at the municipal pharmacy for free!

But in general, municipal hospitals are more likely to be scolded. And buy health insurance. For example, insurance for our 3-year-old son costs us 140 reais per month. Consultations and surveys are paid in excess of insurance, albeit in part. But the hospitalization is completely free. But, unfortunately, getting a good doctor for insurance is not always possible, you have to pay the full cost.

Floripy Streets

And here you begin to understand that medicine is expensive here. One appointment with a doctor costs about 300 reais ($95). This is without tests or examinations.

We have here an exclusive experience of local childbirth. Immediately decided not to give birth for free. The peculiarity of Brazil is that the order of 70% of births here is with a cesarean section. Doctors have learned to deftly cut, but only now they are learning to accept children in a natural way.

That is why, on the recommendation, we found both a doctor and a clinic where no one would persuade us to have a cesarean section. Because of this, it turned out to be quite expensive - 6500 reais ($2000) for the entire process. But, let me make a reservation once again, this is a very expensive option. In principle, it can be done cheaper, or completely free.

Education

With education, things are about the same as with medicine. There are free kindergartens and schools, but the situation there depends greatly on the city and region. Those who don’t have money for private schools end up in municipal schools, so anything is possible there, including bad influences and drugs.

In our city with this better. There are cities in which it is better not to go to the municipal school at all.

There are many private schools. The monthly fee for a private kindergarten or school starts from 700 reais ($220). But even for this money you will most likely get the usual set of subjects, perhaps with more in-depth study of a foreign language or a sports club. We just have to test for ourselves what education is like in Brazil. On some Russian-language forums he is strongly criticized for the primitiveness of his knowledge and for his weak set of subjects.

Since February, our son goes to the municipal kindergarten. We were lucky we could claim a place there. Parents with higher incomes do not have this opportunity and are forced to either give the child to a private garden or hire a nanny.

Summary

When people ask us why we chose Brazil, we, of course, say - not least because of the climate. But having lived in Floripa, where it seems to rain 70% of the time and also have winter, I would adjust my answer a little and say - not so much because of the climate, but because of nature.

Monkey species saga in the courtyard Natalia

The Atlantic Ocean, mountains, evergreens - this is what makes Brazil a wonderful and very attractive country for those who do not like cold and snow, like my husband, and those who adore the ocean, like me. It is enough to be on the coast once to fall in love with these places once and for all.

They make you forget about the high prices and the lack of security for which Brazil is so fond of scolding.

From the personal archive of Natalia Shalygina