How do you dress to go to the police station? And not just your local police station, but Brazil’s federal “Polícia Militar” military police headquarters?
I’m guessing wearing my vaguely anarchist and sarcastic t-shirts are not a good idea. Unfortunately, this is most of my travel wardrobe. I didn’t pack a classy little black dress or whatever must-have item Cosmopolitan recommends. One day, when I grow up, I’ll dress like a proper lady. I’m just not at this stage yet.
Funny enough, this is the second time I’m having this issue while travelling. In 1999, as a 16-year-old foreign student in Beijing, I was invited to the French embassy’s Bastille Day party. I had nothing suitable to wear for a presumably posh event—and forget about shopping for clothes in China, not being your typical cute and tiny Chinese girl, nothing fits. I ended up wearing a brown cotton dress from Petit Bateau someone lent me.
I don’t even have a dress this time.
Okay, shorts. T-shirt… my red owl. Neutral enough.
I’m aiming for the “I’m a normal person, please let me stay in your country because my two countries don’t let me come back” look.
On my way to Maceió, it suddenly dawned on me it was almost March and that my 90-day stay in Brazil would be up soon—on March 16, to be exact, the day I should have boarded my return flight to Canada. I still don’t have a solution to go home and I was adding “illegal in Brazil” to my list of worries.
I can’t speed up vaccination programs, charter a plane or sneak into Canada.
I have to start somewhere. Let’s see if Brazil can let me stay longer.
Technically, you can ask for an extension. I just didn’t know what to expect. Advice ranged from “it takes forever and you have to be persistent” to “Brazilian bureaucracy at its finest, good luck.”
I took a last look in the mirror. Damn. I’m wearing all red and black. So much for an apolitical look… I guess I’m subversive by default, merci maman.
The night before, I had asked the local police for advice. They had sent me to the Superintendência Regional da Polícia Federal em Alagoas, i.e. the military police headquarters in Alagoas, the state I’m in. They even wrote me the address on a piece of paper. So far, positive experience with the Brazilian police.
I grabbed my passport, credit card, phone and some money and decided to go have a look. Maybe I needed to make an appointment or get some paperwork.
I kind of knew where the building was but considering I was carrying pretty much everything a traveller needs to survive, I took a taxi.
I felt like a complete badass when I gave the Superintendência Regional da Polícia Federal as the address. Yes sir, I’m a… spy? Agent reporting for duty?
The taxi driver dropped me off in front of a large building that screamed “federal government!” I pushed the door. The first thing I saw in the lobby was a bunch of armed agents in uniform crowded around a guy. “Shit,” I thought. “If someone just got arrested or something, I should probably come back…” And then I realized they were all actually petting a puppy a civilian had brought. So far, so good.
“Take a seat, won’t be long!”
I did as instructed although I hadn’t even spoken at this stage. Ten minutes later, I was offered a cafezinho (!) and invited to go sit in the “stupid foreigner needs more time in Brazil” room. I sipped my coffee surveying the room.
To my left, piles and piles of registro de arma de fogo, gun registry records. Huh. Lots of firearms in Brazil. To my right, a Chinese guy trying to extend his work visa—I eavesdropped on him when I called a friend and spoke in Mandarin. Entered a loud Brazilian-Colombian couple who then spent thirty minutes arguing with the police.
“Senhora?”
That would be me.
“You were here before the couple, you skipped your turn!”
“Oh, it’s okay,” I said before explaining the situation—was totally going to go home before my 90-day stay was up, can’t technically go home now.
The officer disappeared with my passport.
“It’s alright,” she stated ten minutes later. “Fill this up, pay the 110-real fee, print out the flight cancellation email and come back tomorrow at 9 a.m. I’ll see what I can do.”
I filled out the Requerimento de Prorrogação de Prazo form, went to pay the $25 fee at the Loterias CAIXA and found a place where I could print out Air Canada’s cancellation email.
The next morning at 8:30 a.m. I took a taxi once again to the Superintendência. I didn’t wait long. The same officer called me, took the documents and fifteen minutes later she gave me back my passport with a brand new stamp stating my stay had been extended for another three months.
Brazilian police experience, A+.
I truly hope that Brazilians stuck in the EU or in North America—flight cancellations affect people both ways—are treated as decently as Brazil is treating me.
Now, if I could just find my way home at one point…
Oh yeah ! What a relief! I mean, you’re not home yet but at least, you’re not staying illegally in Brazil. I am wondering what you’re gonna do, where you’re gonna travel for the next 3 months… Of course, it would be nicer to be free and probably you would go back to your guys, but this is also an adventure! A forced one, for sure, but you’ll remember it!! You’ve never stayed that long in Brazil, right?
It’s good that you speak Portuguese… Take care!
probably won’t travel around that much, especially now as Brazil is implementing more restrictions like curfews. And I’m tired too 😉 It’s a relief to keep a legal status in Brazil and it’s an experience for sure… but I do hope to go home long before June, I miss the guys!
What if you stayed illegally AND got caught? Would they have deported you on the spot? I have no idea how Brazil handle immigration, but hey, it could have been a solution.
It would have been ridiculous if it worked.
And I checked how France handle entries. Indeed, we can’t enter the country without a “good” reason.
I don’t think Brazil deports, apparently you get fined for each day you overstay. Pay up at the airport, I suppose.
And with my luck, if I had been deported, I would have ended up in French Guyana!
I’m a bit relief reading this!
Brazil was kind to me 😉