Had a thoroughly infuriating day at PF in Lapa today. After waiting in line for 4 hours just to hand off my protocolo and pick up my RNE, the system crashed and they gave them all back to us and told us to come back another day... even though I'm pretty sure my card was just sitting in a cardboard box behind the counter (they did, however, let some despachantes rifle through everything). I guess since it was over 2 hours until closing time, it made for a nice early end to their day so there was no sense in trying to reboot!? For most of my wait they were taking the protocolos one-by-one. Finally the rent-a-cop (surprisingly the only helpful or proactive person around) decided to collect a whole stack and take back all at once. He was also kindly announcing the names for those people waiting, since the employees couldn't be bothered. There were 3 women in and out, at some points literally hiding from people, refusing to answer any questions, shooing people away.

A guy in front of me had his card sent to Brasilia, despite never having lived there, and they told him it was up to him to get back to Sao Paulo.

Yes, it shows as ready. I even printed out a copy of the screen from the PF site, thinking it might help if things got ugly. I waived it around to several employees, but no one was interested in taking a look in the box for me. Their hands are tied without their precious "system" (Is it just me or does "o sistema caiu" get used an awful lot in Brazil...) 

Back in the day I always thought about this amnesty thing. I had a friend who overstayed his visa and on the very last day of the amnesty a friend rang him up and told him to go immediately to the airport.

Unfortunately, he didn't make it and so missed his shot. Anyways, I'll throw this one out there anyway.

If one had no other way to get into Brazil do you guys think one could leave unnoticed through a border, without stamp, arrive back to ones country, live life for 7-10 years, return to Brazil when the next amnesty is called, enter un-noticed through a border a voila... you can apply for amnesty!?

Well, for all those who have already returned to their respective countries without proof of leaving the country... possibly this is for you.

But "dig down" and I'm sure this idea is be flawed.

oh yes, I was kinda also hinting at it retrospectively also, say December 2008... after the person has already "served" 10 years. :)

Originally posted by zerotres Originally posted by danielmarkhobbs If one had no other way to get into Brazil do you guys think one could leave unnoticed through a border, without stamp, arrive back to ones country, live life for 7-10 years, return to Brazil when the next amnesty is called, enter un-noticed through a border a voila... you can apply for amnesty!? I don't think it's possible. You'd need to avoid ANY passport stamps, right? If you claim to have been illegally in Brazil for all that time, and have an entry stamp to prove it... but don't the entry/exit stamps from other countries DISprove it?

I guess it depends where you go after leaving Brazil. EU citizens won't get a stamp if they enter an EU country. Presumably US citizens wouldn't get a stamp if they returned to the US.

Once back in your "home" country, you could apply for a second passport (yes it is possible to have multiple passports, for example if you tell the authorities you are planning to go to Israel, Palestine, Iran and then the US). You could then use this second passport for any other travels. Or a bit more risky, you could claim you "lost" the first passport and get another one - risky because the Brazilian authorities might know that your original passport was "lost".