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On Being Caught By The Federal Police

On Being Caught By The Federal Police

posted on May 23, 2011

Last week, I arrived in Brazil for the 5th time since 1998. I prefer to believe that every ticket is really one-way only but I know that’s not the way things work. This is my 3rd time actually living in Brazil (and by “living”, I mean staying the length of my tourist visa).

The nitty-gritty, though, is that I accidentally overstayed my tourist visa by 2 days the last time around. Since tourist visas are good for 90 days at a time, I absent-mindedly converted that time into 3 months and forgot about the actual days, which is what really matters. Upon leaving Brazil, I was caught at the airport by the Federal Police and had to promise to either pay the fine of R$8/day for each day I overstayed or pay upon my next trip to Brazil.

By the way, “being caught” generally involves signing a promissory note either by entering the airport office of the Federal Police or by signing at the general entry/exit window.

Not wanting to leave the secure part of the airport I was already in so that I could find a bank and pay the R$16 fine, I decided on the “pay later” option. After all, who really is going to care about what amounts to US$8 anyways? Well, the Brazilian government does, apparently.

One week before returning to Brazil, I contacted the Brazilian embassy in Washington DC to make sure I wouldn’t run into any kind of problem upon reentering the country and, in so many words, they assured me it wouldn’t be a problem at all. It seems they hadn’t been introduced to the Federal Police officer I met last Friday at 8PM who, by the way, threatened me for over an hour with the prospect of sending “the gringo” back on the very next return flight to the US.

His main argument was that, first, I shouldn’t have overstayed at all and, second, that I shouldn’t have booked a flight that arrives after-hours when everyone has gone home for the day. While I agree in principle, I hardly see how I should pay US$1400 in airplane costs to make up for US$8 in fines that could have been easily solved when I returned for my connecting flight the next morning. Where was the famous jeitinho that I had heard so much about?

Of course, I had the measly fine in dollars in my pocket but what was needed was Brazilian currency and a receipt that it was deposited in a nearby ATM in order for me to be allowed officially into the country. After an hour in the hot-seat, a TAM airlines baggage employee named Hugo happened to wander into the office and overheard my state of affairs. Upon being filled in, he very kindly offered to pay my fine out of his own pocket, even though he was just about to clock-out after a long day at work. All I had to do was to promise to pay him back.

At that moment, the under-the-table and often illicit jeitinho went out the proverbial window and I found myself saved by a simple act of kindness from a total stranger. When he came back with the required receipt, I thanked him profusely and he told me, “it was nothing, don’t worry about it”, after which he let me know who to give the money to once I exchanged my dollars on the outside.

Little did Hugo know, for some odd reason, I ran into every problem conceivable when trying to plan this latest trip. Any and every roadblock a person can run into, I ran into it. Being sent right back after finally stepping foot in Brazil would have been the last straw and I don’t know how I would have handled it. He definitely colored my return in the right light and I owe every experience this time around to him.

Welcome to Brazil.

—————-

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About Adam Lee

Adam is a writer and a researcher who has studied Brazilian culture for over a decade and created several Brazil-themed blogs going back to 2008. Having taught himself Portuguese, he put it to practical use by spending three years doing Brazil on a budget (and living in favelas), from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon.

He now resides in Lisbon, Portugal, developing a startup and dreaming about having a beachside B&B in the Northeast of Brazil.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gringo in Bazil

    December 14, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    Hello, so I see that if you get “caught”, you have an option to pay the fine upon reentry in Brazil. So here is my dilemma: I am an exchange student from Europe, staying six months in Brazil. Being extremely absent-minded as I am, I forgot to register with the Federal Police when I should have. I am now two days away from my departure back home, and I therefore cannot get a reservation with PF in time. Does this “paying the fine later” thing also apply to my scenario? Or will they keep me from flying back home, and therefore miss the holidays with my family.
    In advance, thank you,
    a desperate gringo.

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      December 14, 2016 at 3:48 pm

      Oi! We don’t know much about this visa stuff. Adam Lee shared his own personal experience, but we cannot offer any advice or recommendation. Boa sorte!

      Reply
    • Adam

      December 16, 2016 at 2:53 am

      Gringo in Brazil,

      My own opinion is I wouldn’t worry about it. You may likely have to talk to the PF at the airport upon leaving but if you have a valid student visa / reason for being in Brazil, then there’s no reason to prevent you from flying back home. In the case that you are just going to visit your family and then return to your studies in Brazil, I can’t say what will happen but the important thing is that you are a valid study abroad student (ie, have a visa for this purpose) and you haven’t overstayed.

      Reply
  2. Brazilian

    April 19, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    Oh please! So you were upset to see that the jeitinho didn’t work out as expected?
    You know what? Well done, Polícia Federal!
    Adam, my dear, this is not even close to what ANY immigration officer in the US would have done to foreigners arriving at any US airport under the same conditions as you did. Honestly, you should be happy to see that there’s still hope for Brazil’s lack of accountability and that jeitinho brasileiro is not always the rule. Overbureaucratic? I wouldn’t say so. You decide not to pay the fine. You received the right treatment for this. Oh no, well you actually found the kindness from the airline’s employee. That would NEVER happen in the US…

    Reply
    • Adam

      December 16, 2016 at 3:08 am

      I fully disagree with your view. The federal officer decided to make me the escape goat for his built-up frustration (perhaps at his job). He was either clearly an angry person or was having a horrible day and decided to take it out on me. As a representative of the Brazilian government, he has a responsibility to be professional and act accordingly. Instead, he treated me like I had shot his dog. All of the other Brazilians who came into the office (including other PF agents) during my time there were professional, calm and courteous. And Hugo, a shining example of a human being. The officer-in-charge could learn a lot from him.

      In the US, you will also find the same – most people are nice, a few are not. That’s life.

      Reply
  3. Carl Spanoghe

    May 28, 2011 at 5:46 pm

     It is amazing how a little bit of kindness to a total stranger can make a world of difference.  I’m beginning to think that TAM hires generally good-hearted people. I, too, have been unecessarily helped out by TAM employees in times of travel despair.

    Reply
    • Brazilian

      April 19, 2016 at 1:02 pm

      Dear Carl,

      That’s just usual Brazilian kindness towards clients. So bad foreigners don’t receive the same treatment from US officials and airlines employees…

      Reply

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