Red-hot Brazilian economy running afoul of paperwork

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/study-abroad/101002/brazil-development-economy-bureaucracy



Every evening after the federal police headquarters in Sao Paulo closes, immigrants and foreign professionals begin to line up along the street where they will remain, huddled under blankets, until the building reopens in the morning.

Since there is only one official to receive documents and only 100 people are attended to on a first-come-first-served basis each day, applicants have to wait in the cold all night to try to register as temporary residents, a process required by the Brazilian authorities.

Brazilian bureaucracy affects nearly all aspects of life, requiring investments in time and money that are costly for workers and inhibit businesses eager to invest in the country’s growing economy, according to studies by international and local financial institutions.

Starting a business in Brazil takes an average of 16 processes and 120 days, according to a study by the World Bank on doing business in Brazil in 2010. That’s nearly twice as long as the average for the rest of Latin America and 20 times the average time it takes in the United States, the study reported.