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Hi Mike! Great choice for a place to live. I like Floripa!

If your Portuguese is good and you've had time to visit Brazil over the years there should be too many surprises for you - just administrative stuff to get fixed up and you'll find appropriate advice all over this forum.

One of the things I always used to advise Brazilians moving to the USA was to avoid falling into closed groups of people from your own home. Find ways to make local friends who are always very interested in sharing (especially here) their favorite parts of Brazilian culture or their city with you.

All of Santa Catarina (SC) has interesting things to offer. I used to visit a stepdaughter in Chapeco and we visited some pretty diverse places in SC and Rio Grande do Sul.

Regional book of interest for Blumenau (a very German city): "O Sábio e a Floresta," Moacir Werneck de Castro (untranslated I think but I see other books by David A. West on Amazon). O Sábio e a Floresta = The Sage and the Forest and the sage is Fritz Müller. Müller was born in Germany but moved to "Desterro" (means exiled and is the original name of Florianópolis) and later into the countryside. He was a contributor to Darwin's works. His special contribution  was about mimicry in nature.

Hello everyone,

Welcome on board @Mike !

Please note that I have created this new thread from your post on the Brazil forum so that you may better interact with members.

All the best

Bhavna

@mberigan Thank you very much for the information and the recommedations.  I will surely look for them. 

I have been coming here for the last 15 years and it gets harder and harder to leave to go back the U.S.!  My wife’s family is all here and I just love what Floripa has to offer us.

I really am looking forward to learning more about Brazil and specifically this region.

Thank you again!

@Bhavna Thank you very much!  I appreciate that!

@mdorn934 if you haven’t already learned Portuguese l would strongly suggest you do so. it makes things so much easier and more interesting.

02/03/24    Hello all!My name is Mike and my wife is from Brazil originally and we have a home already in Florianopolis.  We plan to retire early and move from Los Angeles in 2 1/2 years and reside in Floripa, fulltime.I’m finally doing a deep dive into what I’m going to need to do to make the transition and excited to be on this site and learn from everyone. I appreciate any and all help that you can provide.Thank you!       -@mdorn934

Welcome, Mike!  When you're ready to move, you'll have a choice between requesting a VITEM XI Family Reunion Visa or a VITEM XIV Retirement Visa.  I strongly suggest that you opt for the VITEM XI, which has fewer limitations and conditions on it.  The requirements from the Brazilian Consulate General in Los Angeles for the VITEM XI (and the VITEM XIV) appear here:

If you and your wife were married in the United States, you (technically she) will need to register your marriage at the Brazilian Consulate before you request a VITEM XI.  If you've already done that and have the Certificate from the Consulate, you're fine; if you were married in Brazil and have your Brazilian Marriage Certificate, you're also all set.

Lots of us have moved here permanently, so as you get closer to the move, you've come to the right place for questions.

@abthree Thank you very much for the information.  Yeah, my wife and I were married in Brazil and it is registered both in Brazil and the U.S..  I will probably be using the Family Reunion Visa for sure when it comes time.

I am so happy I found this site as I’m sure most of my questions have been covered in other threads but I’ll be searching!!

Thanks again!

Thanks Ken!  I’ve been working on it for some time and slowly, very slowly, it’s coming along.  I am working on Rosetta Stone but will be hiring a teacher as I get closer to the move.  I absolutely love the language for sure!

@mdorn934 Rosetta Stone is ok. Might l offer a suggestion? Take a deep dive approach. For example on a Saturday, you and your wife speak only Português. No English allowed . Keep it simple. You will be surprised how quickly you will progress.

Try doing what helped me the best. A tutor is perfect, I had one for twice a week......2 hours a day for a couple of months. Then I started watching TV all night in Portuguese with my wife.

You can get SBT, Record, Band, etc, on YT daily and Globo International as well on Roku for example, here in North America.

I'm fluent now, and TV gets 75% of the credit IMHO. It'll take a lit of time, but if you go into the deep end first, you'll get to a basic level faster.

@KenAquarius I really like that idea Ken, thanks!

@Gasparzinho 777

Online tutors?