Brazilian bureaucracy

I have already mentioned some of my early experiences with the Brazilian organisation. I have already had a few other “funny” experiences:

It is compulsory to register with the police within the first 30 days of entering the country. The office is, obviously, located on the other side of the city. The queue was actually not too long so I didn’t have to wait too long. But then I, obviously, didn’t have all the documents so I had to go to some other place and print and fill in some boring document. I knew I needed some pictures, so I had brought some passport sized photos. But why would that be correct? They obviously wanted some other random size, so I had to get new ones. At least everything was fine in the end, but it did take most of the day.

I also bought a phone and a SIM card a few days ago. It is activated by calling a phone number, which didn’t work. I went to a shop of the network company and asked them if they could register it. They called the same number, followed the same steps and claimed that it should start working in a little while. Several days later my phone still doesn’t work…

You also have to have registered with the police before you can open a bank account. I had already received a paper describing everything I needed to open an account, so I foolishly thought that it would be easy. At the bank they told me that they needed copies of some of my documents and that I could get copies next doors, but that otherwise everything was fine. However, when I returned with the copies I talked with a different clerk, who wanted me to go back to the police to get a proof that I had been processed there. Even though I already had a document that is only possible to receive after registering with the police! I wasn’t too thrilled by the idea of going back there, so instead I went back to the bank the day after. Then with a paper from my boss saying that I should be allowed to open the account. Then everything was fine…