Saturday, January 28, 2006

oop's.....


Here is something funny for you...turns out Liliam and I are living in sin! Yep that's right...the country of Brazil does not recognize our marriage. Even though we where married here. Seems that most Latin countries require a civil ceremony and leave the religious ceremony optional, or at the very least, you have to fill out certain forms and get them notarized. Since we lived in the US, we where supposed to go to Houston to have our marriage validated. But we never knew that, so Brazil looks at us as two single people who have had two children together. So we have two options....wait till we are back in the US and go to Houston...or go downtown to the court house and get married...again....and in case you are keeping score...that would make it THREE weddings for the Gardner's! Of course, Liliam wants to get married….again….seems two weddings were not enough for her. I wonder if I can get more presents out of this?!?

Fortunately, this does not complicate any visa issues for me. In Brazil, it is much easier to get permanent residency on the basis of being the father of a Brazilian child that it is to be the spouse of a Brazilian. (Brazil is famous for its immigration laws with regards to children....man criminals on the run from their government will flee to Brazil knowing that if they father a child, then Brazil will not extradite them. Ronald Biggs, the famous British Train Robber, is a perfect case in point. He lived in Rio for decades, known to everyone. He even had tourist into his home for a fee. But because he had a child with a Brazilian, the government, Brazil would not extradite him.)

1 comment:

Jim said...

This reminds me of the "I Love Lucy" episode where - I think they discover a spelling error on the marriage license. It might be a good episode to watch when you go on your next honeymoon (hey, milk it for all its worth!).

Actually, I was 16 years old before I corrected and error on my birth certificate. You may not be married, but I didn't exist!