On vacation for permanent residence in the heart of Latin America. Why Paraguay and how we were almost deported from Brazil due to covid 19
And another story about lost luggage.
Hello friends, personal life story. It happened quite recently, the main participants are me – Misha, my wife Inna and my two-year-old son Konstantin.
My wife and I decided to get the opportunity to legally live in another country ( get permanent residence means), well, and then maybe even a second citizenship. Everything is scheduled for early 2023.
We chose a country, there were many criteria. But the main ones were:
– Easy to obtain
– Full cost
– Lack of winter
– Well, that people were good
– Excellent features
As it turned out not So a lot of countries ready to give straightaway permanent residence, even less for the Russians and very little for little money. I can’t say how long we chose Paraguay, but we chose it because we needed a minimum of documents with us: this is a certificate of good conduct, a birth certificate and a certificate of marriage or divorce. Everything had to be apostilled. Oh, and a valid passport.
In addition to documents, money was also needed. it deposit in total $5,000. Deposit returnable, one per family. And other filing costs. That’s another $1,300 per person.
The plan is this: the wife flies with her son to their homeland in Kazakhstan to put an apostille on their birth certificate, then we meet in Istanbul (where we turn the electronic ruble into a cash dollar along the way), then a transatlantic flight to Sao Paulo, transfer to a domestic flight to Foz de Igausú, from where by taxi (10 minutes drive) to Paraguay, to the city of Ciudad del Este, where we were to be met.
When buying tickets in the requirements for entering the country Brazil: Mandatory return ticket or a ticket further to another country and the presence of a PCR test no older than one day). Making a return ticket reservation on another aggregator and PCR tests.
Morning, taxi, airport. A small quest with luggage check-in, it has grown in a week, plus a suitcase. No surcharges. A chic plane, they feed well and often, there is also alcohol, like beer. Without any restrictions. Gorgeous multimedia, a good new plane. In general, the Turks are great, the service is excellent almost everywhere. 13 hours of flight passed almost unnoticed, even a two-year-old child in her arms does not interfere much. About tickets: we bought 2 tickets, the child had to be in her arms, but they put us on three chairs, or rather, all the passengers were seated a little so that the families were nearby and the children had their own chair.
Sao Paulo met us with gloomy weather and a police inspector, the inspector took aside all foreign tourists and talked. There is no Internet, we communicate in broken English, but this is enough for him to understand that the ultimate goal is still Paraguay. Show printouts of return tickets. Looks carefully, but without any online checks. Takes pictures of contacts of our acquaintances from Paraguay, takes pictures of us. Wish you a happy journey. We go further, passport control. There are three separate windows for foreigners, there is no queue. Locals all go in a separate stream. And this is where the adventure begins.
We gave the documents, everything is OK, they ask for a certificate of vaccination against covid, we give PCR. They say no, you need a certificate. In general, it is difficult to understand everything, they have bad English, we have bad English. We understand that we are not allowed. Time passes, the child howls, wants to sleep. We connect to the local wi-fi, find their website with entry requirements. We show that a certificate or PCR is possible, they say yes! But this is for locals, and for tourists only a certificate. I start looking for support on the Internet, I write a question in a profile chat in telegrams. They answer me pretty quickly, but the answer does not please me, the practice is such that tourists are not allowed to go through PCR. It’s been more than two hours and we haven’t really moved. The child sleeps in his arms. Chilly. From time to time, a passport control officer appears, who more or less speaks English. Agrees with all our arguments, but can do nothing. We already understand that we did not have time to transplant.
Adventure act 2: after about 2.5 hours, we and a small group of people were moved to another part of the hall, we are sitting. The child sleeps in his arms in turn, sometimes an employee appears who is more or less talking. Some of us are not left for a minute, all the time someone from the representatives is. They have passports from the very beginning, once again a “talkative” appears. He brought some documents, asks to sign, the wife flatly refuses. Dialog:
We won’t let you into the city Turkish Airlines takes you back to Istanbul.
– no, we do not need to go to Istanbul, we are ready to buy tickets to Asuncion (Capital of Paraguay), we will not sign documents.
– Okay, I’ll help you buy tickets if you sign the documents.
this is a super brief content, in the end we sign.
We are moved to the area of the international airport. They are sent to the ground floor, the cold is like a dog: steam comes from the mouth. The child woke up and runs around, but we are tired, at the moment we don’t sleep for almost a day, and we didn’t sleep very long the day before. We ask for a lounge key or a hotel. They don’t let me in, I ask you to let me go to buy water, they say no, they will bring it now. Water, food and blankets were brought after 20 minutes of this tanner. Blankets are of no use, two blankets for my son, one for my wife, two T-shirts for myself. All clothes in luggage where the luggage is not clear. They haven’t touched the food, my wife is trying to take a nap, I am entertaining my son. A “talkative” one comes and says that soon, after 4 and a half hours, fly back to Istanbul. We ask what about the promise to help buy tickets to Asuncion, he says it’s impossible, but I’ll clarify something there. We sit waiting, freezing, under escort like criminals, we don’t entertain our son anymore, with whom the son sits warmer)
The wife begins to actively nag the brains of the overseers, as a result, after an hour and a half in the tannery, we achieve the opportunity to get to the hotel. They say: well, this is for money, we don’t care how much it will cost, as long as our son doesn’t get sick.
Hotel, minus $ 225, but warm, there is a shower and a blanket. We were warned that in three hours we should be ready. I managed to sleep less than an hour, a representative of Turkish Airlines arrived. Poor English, but the Turks are like natives after the Brazilians.
He is at a loss, asks what happened to us and why should we so urgent it took back in Russia. Dialogue for two minutes, says ok, you can not fly back to Istanbul, but you need to buy a ticket to Paraguay for the next flight. We don’t mind, but for cash. He says ok, the ticket office in this part of the airport will open at 5-00, shows where the ticket office is, the overseer has been following us all this time. I go back to my room and set the alarm. The issue is resolved, albeit with money, well, almost resolved. Falling asleep, knock on the door.
Again, the representative says you can’t wait for 5 in the morning, you need to buy tickets now and show them to the overseers, or fly to Istanbul.
The time is half past two in the morning, in Moscow half past nine in the morning. Fuss, I found tickets through an aggregator, 54,000 rubles for three. Zero on the cards, all cashed out in Istanbul. I start writing to all my friends and acquaintances to send them, after 20 minutes the tickets were bought, thanks to Artem hardboard. I go to the reception, I print tickets, I print PCR. PCR in a backpack, tickets to a representative, at the same time trying to find out the fate of the luggage, promises that everything will be okay with the luggage. They pay another 75 dollars for the hotel, until 6 in the morning.
We wake up on an alarm clock, the hotel is also cold, but not like on the first floor of the airport, we were about to leave. At the entrance, overseers are waiting, we are waiting for a representative of the airline, after 20 minutes we waited, already another, or rather another. We go to the landing zone. Everything is as usual here, cold, human bustle. We have a retinue of two people, a Turkish representative and a caretaker, because all of a sudden we still run away. And yes, and we were promised that our luggage is already on the plane.
Another 40 minutes of waiting, and we are the first on the bus, as a VIP person. I asked a nearby Paraguayan to share the Internet, wrote to everyone who was worried and sat on this Wi-Fi until the very take-off, thanks to a kind person!
On the plane, we have seats in the front part of the cabin, separated by a curtain. Business Class!
The most important difference is that we were fed, those who were before the curtain, and this was mega important, since the son had simply already begun to hysteria from hunger! We ate deliciously, a comfortable two-hour flight and we are in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, the goal is almost achieved. Why almost, because the target is the city of Hoenau. Why he is, this will be discussed separately.
Asuncion Airport is a very small airport, they even managed without a bus, just the plane drove closer to the building, adjusted the ladder and everyone went to the building slowly.
The morning feels warm, the mood is good, but wary after Brazil.
No intermediate policemen, passport control for foreigners in a separate window, smiling uncle. Our Spanish is poor, but hello and thanks can.
PCR test checked only the date, a cursory examination. He asked the purpose of the visit, whether there are acquaintances, took the phones of acquaintances. He specified how long we would stay, he did not ask about return tickets.
Passport control is faster only in Turkey, they don’t ask anything at all. Stamp, photo and went.
Hooray! We are in Paraguay
Then a little about the luggage: they didn’t give it to us … because it wasn’t on the plane …
How we released luggage from captivity and how we applied for permanent residence in my next posts.
I’ll be happy to answer any questions in the chat.
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