I am, I think, quite a capable man. I have come up against my fair share of struggles and strife and found myself able to overcome them, for the most part. I was brought up to believe in self-sufficiency and self-reliance, and it’s served me well. However, I am not so stubborn that I don’t know when to ask for help, as much of a dent to my ego it may be.

Emigration was something I never expected to be easy, but just how hard it could be was eye-opening. I am bureaucratically illiterate. It’s not just a case of being unable to learn; my problem stems from a bone-deep fear. As soon as I see protocols, forms, and applications, I start to sweat. Beurocraphobia is real, and it keeps me up at night.

I didn’t really know this about myself until I started trying to apply for my nomad residency in Brazil. In all my 30+ years of life, I had managed to avoid most form-filling and box-checking. I simply refused to register or sign up for anything. If it was essential, whoever it was that needed my info would seek me out and squeeze it out of me. This wasn’t the case with immigration. I had to perform the process myself or face the deportation consequences.

A Rough Start

I started the Brazilian nomad visa application in the UK while I visited for a short time this year. Nievely, I thought that, by using the consulate in London, I would be able to quickly and easily finish the process. On the flying visit to England, I picked up my required documents and sent them off before leaving for Turkey. I left it in the hands of the bureaucrats and believed that I had given them everything they needed. I was drastically wrong.

Over the rest of the year, I was within flying distance of London and its Brazilian embassy, and I was drip-fed more and more corrections to my application. My documents showed more than £30,000 in savings in one account, and another account with a significant monthly income and invoices over a year or more. The folder included birth certificates, police checks, proof of parents, and anything else they could possibly want. I paid their various bribes and requests, and still, they found more things to pick at.

In the end, they requested that I sign up with Companies House in the UK. I don’t live in the UK, I don’t earn money in the UK, I don’t work for UK companies, and I wasn’t planning on being in the UK. That was the final request I put up with. There are only so many times the application can be revised before it has to be scrapped and paid for again. This was my last attempt.

The person I had paid to help me with my UK application told me to either oblige or just give up and apply in Brazil when I returned. I opted for the latter. I had already wasted hundreds of pounds on the Brazil digital nomad application in the UK and wasn’t about to spend any more.

My reasons for being around the European area for a year were coming to a close, and I had run out of time and patience. I couldn’t fathom what the UK Brazilian consulate wanted, and neither could the person I paid for help. I wrote it off as lost money, and, with a folder full of documents, I flew back to Brazil from Morocco.

Attempt #2

Already, I was exhausted by the process. But, Sabrina, a good friend of mine and a specialist in smoothing out the immigration process, assured me that it would be a lot easier in the country. Despite the language barrier, she fully believed that I would be signed up for a Brazilian nomad visa in no time. I was sceptical. My struggles in the UK had convinced me that I was destined to never live anywhere longer than my visitor visa would allow.

But, Sabrina said differently. Within a few days of my arrival, she had gathered together all the documents I had collected in the UK and told me what I did and didn’t need. Various pieces required translation, I had to acquire different identifications, and there were plenty of other documents that I had no idea I had to submit. There was almost no information about most of what was required available online. I knew that it would have been another case of the immigration system sending my application back and forth with more requests for obscure forms and filings. She facilitated all of it.

Due to Sabrina’s experience, having gone through the process many times with people from all corners of the globe, she knew everything I needed. I had a glimmer of hope. Maybe I would be able to stay. Maybe I could finally rest my weary head for more than a few months. Perhaps I could build a home here for a time. The Brazilian nomad visa might be attainable, even for a financial reprobate like me.

It took a week or so of popping backwards and forwards between translation companies and banks to get everything together, but the process was remarkably painless with the patient guidance of someone in the know. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on. Comparatively, it was a completely hands-off process. Sabrina just told me what to do and where to do it. I followed her instructions, and before I knew it, I had a shared Drive folder with everything I could possibly need for a seamless Brazilian digital nomad visa.

So I sat back as she sent off my application with the assurance that it would be seamless and that I would be approved within a few months. At least I had the comfort of knowing that, while the process was in place, I couldn’t be deported. But I still had my reservations. Compared to my experience in the UK, this had been outrageously smooth.

Nothing comes easy. I was waiting for the impassable obstacle that was going to sit its fat bureaucratic ass in my way.

Not Hard Enough

During the process, I decided that Sabrina had made my Brazilian digital nomad visa application too simple, and I wanted to pile stress on myself to make up for the avoided anxiety. So, I bought an apartment. It almost killed me.

Dealing with the paperwork and intricacies of property transfer was one of the most stressful experiences in my rather blessed life. I went in feeling fresh and excited, and came out akin to a well-used hiking sock.

Again, though, Sabrina eased the process by going to war with the mountains of forms and hoops to jump through. That story is for another day.

Show Me The Money

Again, it was my funding that caused the only hiccup we had with my Brazilian digital nomad visa application. Despite having shown tens of thousands in savings, they wanted a little more proof. The request came through to validate a constant income, which we did in a few hours, and then waited for their response.

In a few days, we had the reply. I was cordially invited to visit the Polícia Federal Immigration Office to have my biometrics scanned and become a temporary resident of the best country in the world. Sabrina booked a slot just after the new year. So, with a folder full of documents, my proof of birth, and a remarkably clean criminal record, I hopped on a moto to Rio’s SDU Airport.

We’re In

I sat in the Santos Dumont airport waiting outside their immigration offices. My folder was thick with documents I hadn’t read, but I was assured by Sabrina that I would need. I had signed a few of them and paid for many. They would, according to her, provide all the information, along with what we had submitted, to validate my stay for a year.

As I started by saying, I am a capable man. My only other phobia, besides bureaucracy, is being out of control. I like to keep my foot on the neck of my life and only allow it to stand up to face me when I let it. Rarely am I blindsided because of this, and I can usually see a struggle coming. I can mediate when things get hard and take them on in my own time.

Handing over my application process to Sabrina felt very odd. I knew I was out of my depth with it all, and she was kind enough to do the entire process for me. As I sat there in the offices waiting to be called, I was aware that the accomplishment was due to her. I had handed one of my struggles to someone else, and they had run with it, leaving me with nothing to accept but the rewards.

It is a strange feeling. However, it’s not a hollow victory because it took a long time to get here, and the outcome is something I had wanted for a long time. The result is the ability to move into my home here, settle, hopefully write more, build relationships, cook properly, and live a stable life for a while. However, the process of submitting control was a new one for me. I had to depend on someone else almost entirely and trust in their capabilities.

I chose well, clearly. It was a learning curve. I got my Brazilian digital nomad visa and can now stay in the country for a year.

If you’re looking for some help with immigration to Brazil, get in touch with Sabrina Lopez.