Federal Police

Since arriving here in Brazil we were suppose to go to the Federal Police and register and get our RNEs. Getting our RNE is the final piece we need to set up our bank account and also we can't leave the country without them either because of the type of visa we are on. It was suppose to happen in the first 30 days we were in Brazil, but I still am not sure why it took the relocation company so long to set up appointments for us. Eric has no clue either. He sent plenty of unanswered emails about getting an appointment. They finally set us up for Friday December 13th.  Maybe that was our problem we should have never gone on Friday the 13th. EVERYONE had to go. We got up early and were there by 8:20 am but the relocation guy didn't show up until closer to 9am. Then when we got inside we found out the computer system was down. We ended up waiting 2 hours just to see if it would come back up, but it never did, so we wasted the whole morning waiting for nothing. Let's just say entertaining 3 kids in a police station isn't that much fun. The system to get another appointment was also down, so we went home without getting anything done. 

We went back this last Wednesday Dec 18th and luckily this time the system was up and we were able to get registered. It still took all morning. Luckily I am pregnant because it gave us priority status which helped move the process a long a little bit faster. First Eric dropped off our paper work and when through it with them. Then we all had to sign the paper work. While he was giving them everything they needed I was waiting with the 3 girls. A nice older Japanese lady make Carli a darling paper crane and everyone was so helpful picking up Carli's toys she kept throwing! Then we all had to get finger printed. Eric , Gretta and I all had all of our fingers done and Eliza and Carli just had to do thumbs. I guess everyone in Brazil has a national identification card and to get it you have to get finger printed. Our RNE is like our national ID card, but is only temporary. I was thinking what an out cry you would get in the US if you required everyone to get finger printed and the government kept a whole data base of finger prints. Interestingly enough Brazil doesn't seem to have a big problem with "Big Brother" All traffic ticket are given by radars and cameras. Yet the US spies on everyone. I think that is why Brazil is most upset about the NSA spying scandal. 

After getting finger printed we had to go to the special 4th floor to pay a fine because we had been in the country for more than 30 days before coming to register. The relocation company paid the fine, but I am sure that really we did some how even though we have been asking since we got here to go and get this done!

While we were waiting on the 4th floor seats were limited. Gretta, Eliza and I were sitting down and Eric was walking Carli around. The girls were watching TV on the ipad. Thank goodness of the Ipad!!! It had already been a long morning and I wouldn't let them use it the whole time we were on the 3rd floor because there  were so many people around. However Eric did say you would have to be rather desperate to steal something at the Police Station. The 4th floor had quite a few less people and also we had to go through special security to get there so I figured it was safer. We were at the end of the hall almost by ourselves so I let the girls watch the ipad. Gretta had scooted over to the side of her seat and then all of a sudden a big lady sat on the other 1/2 of the seat. I guess she figured 1/2 seat was better than no seat. Of course Gretta moved! I was going to stay something about it being super rude to Eric but then thought maybe the lady spoke English. It's a good thing I didn't because she did speak English. A little while later she started to talk to me. I found out that she was from the Netherlands and was waiting for some paper work so she could fly back to the Netherlands that night. She had been in Brazil 6 years and said she was involved in bad stuff and was NEVER coming back. Then she told me she spend 1 year on the outside and 5 years in Prison in Brazil and needed paper work to leave the country because she was a criminal. So much for me thinking the 4th floor was safer than the 3rd floor. She was actually very nice and told me she has 3 children back in the Netherlands and 2 grand children.  She was very excited to be going home. After a lot of waiting we were finally done and got home around 1pm. It was a long morning of waiting even with priority status,  but now we have our RNE's and officially legal in Brazil. The funny thing is it will take up to 180 days for our official cards to come and we long gone once they get here. Oh well. I don't really understand our visa situation, but I guess if we want to come back to Brazil it should be a lot easier the next time.