Immigration Interview

By Josh Nielsen

Brazilian Facts

• Population: 198,739,269• Capital: Brasilia• Official Name: Federative Republic of Brazil• Area: 3,287,612 square miles• Brazil is the largest country in South America and covers 47% of the continent

• Brazil is the fifth largest economy in the world

Brazilian Facts

• Brazil was given to Portugal in 1494 and the first person to claim Brazil for them was Pedro Alvares Cabral

• Portuguese is the official language and there are over 180 native languages

• Brazil has 13 cities with over 1,000,000 residents

• Literacy rate is 86.4% and is the lowest in South America

Most Common Exports

• Coffee• Soybeans• Wheat• Rice• Corn• Sugarcane• Cocoa• Citrus• Beef

The Brazilian Flag• The flag was designed by

Raimundo Teixeira Mendes• The green and yellow colors

represent the Braganza-Habsburg dynasty.

• The 27 white stars each represent a state. They are aligned in position of the stars over the Brazilian skies.

• A banner in the middle says “Ordem E Progresso” which means order and progress.

Corcovado

• 2329 ft granite peaklocated in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil

• Known worldwide for the 98 ft high statue,Christ the Redeemer, which has been there since 1931

Rainforests

• Home to more than 1000 birdspecies, and 3000 fish species

• The Amazon Basin covers 7,000,000 sq kilometers

• The rainforests are being cut ata rate of up to 4% per year.

Roberto Fugazza

Home

• Home: Santos, São Paulo Brazil(an island off of São Paulo)

• Best Memories: Growing up near the ocean, Laid back lifestyle

• Rob has 3 brothers and no sisters

Fugazza Facts Continued

• Favorite food: Mom’s Lasagna• Rob definitely misses his family

most from home, along withcheap BBQ, the ocean, and fresh seafood

Holidays

• Most holidays are Catholic holidays, like Mary’s day, a national holiday.

• Independence Day: He thought it was September 14th, but Wikipedia says September 7th

• Brazilian Carnaval: Celebrated before thebeginning of Lent. It means to remove meat

Education

• Rob went to college in Brazil for two years before coming to the United States.

• Rob said the education system is laid back like the rest of the country. He didn’t have to put in a lot of work to get good grades. Coming here was an adaptation to study a little harder.

• He said in Brazil school teaches there are only 5 continents: Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and one America. He was taught Antarctica is not a continent.

Recreation

• Rob played a lot of sports growing up• Soccer (not football )• Basketball• Taco, a game like cricket• He would go to the beach

all the time since it wasa half block away

Immigration Process

• Rob left Brazil because his fiancé was an American. He said he chased a girl.

• They considered Brazil, but in the end thought the US would be a better place to raise a family and it would be less hard for him to be away from his family than it would for his fiancé.

Immigration Process

Immigration Process

• It took 8 months• It cost about $4,000 in total. The application was

$400. Medical tests for communicable diseases and such was about $600. He had to take a 6 hour bus ride to Rio for an interview with the consulate. When he got on the local Rio bus he was robbed while sleeping. They took just the money out of his wallet, but thankfully they didn’t take his wallet and cards. He then got over charged by the taxi driver on the way back. He said he didn’t like Rio.

• He worked about 7 months to pay for everything

The Journey

• Flew from Sao Paulo to Houston, then to Los Angeles• The trip was about 18-20 hours• He prepared for coming to the US by learning English

on his mission. Rob served an LDS mission in Brazil when he was 19. He received an apostolic blessing from the apostle Russell M. Nelson that if he would put forth an effort to learn English he would be able to, and have a better chance of providing for his family when the time comes.

Cultural Differences

• Most difficult thing was starting over finding a circle of friends and only speaking English 24/7

• He misses the laid back culture of Brazil• He misses having a two hour lunch break• When he was sick he would go to the doctor

and no matter what the sicknesswas, he said it was funny, that they would always put you on an I.V. 

Work

• Rob is a broker/banker for Wells Fargo Bank• In Brazil he repaired and built computers• His father is a lawyer in Brazil, and his

mother is a stay at home mom• He said women mostly stay at home in a

traditional family in Brazil

Religion

• Free to choose religion, although Catholicism is the official religion

• He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

• Religion is very important to him and his family

Media

• Rob uses Facebook and Skype to communicate with his family

• He enjoys the TV programs, movies etc here in the US. He says they are more family friendly than in Brazil

• His dad went to a leadership meeting in the US when he was young and bought the original Nintendo. Rob quickly became the coolest kid on the block.