Week 58 & 38: Going to the Notary

We went to the notary office to have a travel authorization document notarized that would give our daughter permission to stay in a hotel in the charge of other adults while on a school trip. This was my second trip to the notary, and I found it to be a pretty interesting cultural experience. Having authenticated documents is very important for the Brazilian way of doing business and legal matters.

Every day in my job, I have people pushing to me documents that have purple stamps and holographic seals that verify their authenticity. These are declarations of custody, employment, education, school enrollment, authorizations to travel, certified copies, etc. Each document is presented to demonstrate their ties to Brazil. In fact, recognizing real stamps from inkjet prints are one of the skills a consular gains to identify fraudulent documents. The other problem is knowing whether or not these documents are as authentic as the seals, signatures and stamps would have one believe. What does someone need to present to prove the authenticity of a document here? How much can someone pay to make any document "real"? I figured that a trip to the notary would also be a good career development trip. What I learned was that a cartório in Brazil is quite different from going to a notary in the U.S. 

On my trip to the cartório on 27 April 2011, I wrote a few paragraphs intending to post them sooner. I took photos on my trip in September. The two experiences were similar. Here is my account: 

Cartório de Registro

Today I am sitting at the notary office waiting in line to have a permission to travel document authenticated so that my daughter can go on a school field trip to Cristalina next week. I take a number at the desk near the entrance. There are currently 60 people ahead of me in line. The number sign is beeping and calling the next person about every three seconds. There is a line of counters in front of the far two walls of the office from me. Behind the counters are the workers. Clients are standing at the counters, passing documents to the seated officials. I took a seat in the central waiting area with about 100 other people.

Fortunately, it's a pleasant day, and the fans are working to keep the temperature down. As with most things in Brazil, the hardest part was finding the actual location. I was unable to find an address on the Internet, and a colleague who had been here before gave vague directions ("Off the W-3 near block 503 or 504 in Asa Sul").

Rebecca dropped me off at the corner where we saw a 2º cartório. I knew that that was name for the official documents offices, but I did know what the numbers meant. It turned out that this cartório was the place to get official copies of civil records, like birth, marriage and death certificates. The receptionist instructed me that to get a document notarized, I needed to go to the 1º cartório, and she directed me down the street to Bloco 505. I got the general idea that I would find the notary office behind the building on the corner. 

When I got to the building on the corner, paper signs taped to fhe windows of told customers that the office had moved to the back of the building and down the stairs to the basement. I continued walking and encountered a mass of people holding official papers waiting for official stamps and seals. I wonder how many of these people are going to be at my window in the coming weeks asking for visas? At the very least, this experience will give me some experience of being on the other side of the desk, looking at the government official, sitting in the crowd of clients waiting to be served, hoping that I won't miss the moment my number is called. 30 more to go.

I still don't know how much this service will cost. The pricing sign on the wall has numbers and services, but I really don't know what I am asking for in Portuguese. Will I pay R$2.50 or R$5.00? At the consulate, we charge US$50 to notarized a document. Since everyone here seems to be eager to have paper signed, it can't be that expensive. At least I'm not requesting certification of a sale, because those fees are 10% to 30% of the value of the sale. There is a cashier booth on the left side of the room. When does someone pay for the service?

Just 10 left. The line is moving very quickly. This seems to be a very efficient process. My wife is not here yet since she had to make a trip to the school to pick up the younger kids. Can a father really give permissions for his daughter to travel without the mom being present? I guess I'll find out soon. 

It is my turn. My entire wait here has been less than 30 minutes. At the counter, the official asks to see my identity documents to register me with their system. I then present the form, which I sign, and then the clerk puts a stamp next to my signature stating that he compared it to my identity documents, and inserts the edge of the paper into a large electronic stamping machine that places a dated stamp on the paper. He then passes the paper to a man sitting at a desk behind the counter whose job it is to initial the seals. He is the notary. I am  then am told to go and pay the fee of R$2.50 and return with the receipt and pick up my document. 

Here's a photo with the personal information blocked out: 

Since that day, I have actually met a couple of notaries and owners of cartórios during visa interviews. It's an interesting line and work, and can be quite lucrative. (We had a cartório owner present income tax documents claiming millions of reais in income. Brazilians have a tendency to under-report, so he definitely was making a nice living.)  Having authenticated documents is key to conducting business here, and the only way a person can have an authenticated document is to go to the official cartório offices in their neighborhoods. I also now know that even if the stamps may be real, the information on the document can be easily fabricated and not necessarily verified. I was able to give permission for my daughter to travel without even presenting evidence that I was her father or even a custodial guardian. An interesting experience, and definitely one that a person should do to see what Brazilians face in their lives.