After Black Friday, I noticed an interest in a lot of americans trying to find some place to live outside the United States. I would suggest Balneário Camboriú and I will explain why.

Balneário Camboriú is a fairly new resort town in Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is a very young city with 4 universities and the best night clubs. It is a place great for partying a lot, places like Green Valley - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVdS3A6epno - Warung - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rA8gsIWZX0 - Parador - http://paradorestaleirohotel.com.br/ - and private Green Valley parties like House Beach, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8-RlYHPr3s

According to the census, the city has only 100 thousand people living here. But there are quite a few surrounding cities, which all come to balneário for work, for partying, which makes this city have about 200 to 300 thousand people on average (this is my personal educated guess). It gets to 1 million people during the summer from december to march (this is by the census).

It is one of the safest cities in Brazil with a very high quality of life. The city is very different from the rest of Brazil. There is no poverty here, no slums, no favelas. There is no violence, there are cops walking on the city everywhere you look.

The beach itself right where the city is, is not the best. If you are looking for a beautiful beach, then you will have to drive 10 minutes to estaleirinho or praia brava, 30 minutes to bombinhas or 1 hour to Florianópolis (the capital of Santa Catarina).

You can rent a top of the line 4-suite apartment for about 5k reais or 3.1k dollars (current exchange rate is about 1 dollar for 1.60 reais. I myself live with another 2 poker players at a 4-suite top of the line apartment, with a gorgeous view of the beach, with a full time maid who cooks, does the dishes, clothes, everything. High speed 30MB internet connection, another 1MB (back-up connection). Cable TV from Sky, there are other providers to choose from as well. Overall, I spend on my regular month 2k reais to pay for my cost of living, and another 2k reais on parties and other luxury spenditures. Total of 4k reais or 2.5k dollars per month. Before I was at this 4 bedroom, which goes for 4k reais (we got a really, really good deal), I was renting a 2-bedroom with for 2k reais. We live in 3 people and the fourth bedroom has become our shared poker office.

There are also 3 private games that I have access to, and could potentially put anyone in these games. The fish love PLO, and this is the only game played in mid-stakes and high stakes live.

A little about the history of this region (South of Brazil). It was mostly german colonies, which explains why there are tons of blonds here, the most beautiful girls you can find in Brazil. Most of the brazilian models are from the south of Brazil, you can check that fact anywhere.

A little bit about me. I am originally from São Paulo (Brazil biggest city). I went to college in the United States and lived there for 5 years. After graduating, I moved back to São Paulo, lived there another 2 years and then found out about this town and moved here about 1 year ago.

If you have any questions or anything feel free to ask.

Felipe (or Phil)

I forgot to mention VISA permits for Americans. It is extremely easy to get a VISA to come to Brazil. Once you get yours, it will be for 90 days. You can apply for an extension of another 90 days and stay in Brazil for 6 months total. No more than that. Or else you would need to get a work VISA, student VISA or some special allowance to stay longer.

In short, very easy to come for 6 months. It will not be that easy to stay for much, but it can be done with some effort.

Wow thank you for posting this. Even tho i don't have plans atm to travel to Balnerio Camboriu, but will be looking into this in the near future. I think alotta guys will find this helpful. I hope you had a great here in the States! Where did u go to school btw?

Sounds Awesome!
Im stuck in Europe until the end of the summer though
I´ve been youtubeing and googling Balneário Camboriú for like an hour now and it really seems like the nuts.
If anyone is interested in starting up a poker house/ flat after the summer (september)I´d definitely be up for that.
Thanks alot for the info Felipe!!!

Well are you looking for a roommate?

ya damn this is great stuff

if i get cheap airfare i might check it out later on for like 4 months

poker house anyone?

Yea, I had a great time. I attended Saint Joseph´s University, in Philly!! Best years of my life!!

This is really nuts down here!! Its unique, nothing like it. I hope you come here after europe!

Im not looking for a roommate right now. I will be looking for one next March though. Right now we are 3 guys living in a 4-bedroom, and the 4th bedroom is where we play. So, there is really no room to fit someone here. But the city is tiny and everyone lives close by to one another. This is like one big neighborhood.

I'll echo other posters by saying thank you for posting this.



I'd just prefer this was a "roommate needed" thread, hah. Anyone who does need a roommate, PM me LDO.

WoW this place seems like it could be the destination I land. anyone PM if serious about getting a place hear...

Can you get a moneybookers / Neteller account there? Is poker explicitly legal or is like other places where you just don't mention it and you're fine?

december I'll be moving to a Camboriu poker house probably
and yes, I'm in Brazil and I have both neteller and moneybookers

How easy is it for foreigners to open a bank account in Brasil?

yes.. moneybookers and neteller are fine here. Poker is not explicity legal.

almost impossible. You need CPF (registration of individual).. and as foreigner, you could only have CPF if you get a job.

Then how do you guys send the sites your banking info so you can play?? What do you use for banking? That sounds like a big hurdle to overcome for people who are considering moving there.

Well.. im brazilian, and i dont need to send bank infos to the sites. The most used tool for cashing out is Neteller (you may use netellers card as a normal credit card - but prepaid - .It uses mastercard flag).

And bank transfer between players. This is very usual too. Player A transfer $100 to player B poker account, and player B transfer the ammount in Reais (BRL) to player A bank account. This is not an option for foreigners because of the bank account, ldo.

But remember that you may use neteller card to withdrawal cash at any ATM machine. Check the fees at the website.

^ The problem with this is that I can't get a Neteller or moneybookers account with a US I.D. So I need to get an identification card from another country if I'm going to open an account with either of those, which is also not simple (at least I don't think?).

Gettng a local residency card or drivers license is pretty simple in most countries of the world

One option would be sell online usd to other players and get in cash; there is a poker club in Balneario Camboriu (BC Club iirc).
Not very good option imo, since its a not sure thing and you would prolly not get a very good price on your dollars.

Second option is charles schwab. Afaik, its the best option overall, but tbh, i dont know much. Search for charles schwab in travel forum, you will get better informations. It looks like there are no(or very low) fees.

Do you know if this is the case specifically for Brazil or just in general for most S. American countries? When I was going to move to Canada originally (which I'm not sure I will be able to do now), it was not going to be possible for me (without some difficulty) to get a license or Canadian ID card, which is why I said that.

wow, awesome coincidence. i was planning on studying in this town next year. i saw it has a private university which offers gastronomy, since im a foreigner its gonna be close to impossible for me to pass the vestibular at a public one. ill be there and "test" live there in january next year. thinking a little bit of going already this year.

well..

Documentos exigidos:

- Original e cópia do RG, em perfeito estado com foto atual;

- Original e cópia do CPF (só será aceito o documento do interessado);

- Uma foto 3x4 colorida e recente com fundo branco;

- Cópia e original (para conferência) do comprovante de residência, que poderá ser: extrato bancário, conta de luz, gás, telefone, condomínio, IPTU. Será aceito em outro nome somente se for cônjuge, pais ou filhos do interessado).

translating: the documents you need are:
- brazilian ID
- CPF
- 3x4 photo
- residence proof

How easy is it get a the first item on the list? And if you can only get a CPF if you have a job, then it looks like a driver's license is not be an option.

Since i'm not sure, i rather ask u to search about this. Even tho, u will need a cpf anyway. And check charles option.