One of things that went very quickly for me, was the permanent residence and the work permit (carteira de trabalho): The first I obtained within 3 days of arriving in Brazil and the latter I obtained within 7 days.
Background story: I was working in Europe, went to Brazil in my holidays and married my wife there. After the holidays we went back to live in Europe. I then applied in Europe for my Brazilian permanent residence visa (based on my marriage with a Brazilian citizen).
This visa was issued after one month. With this visa I arrived in Brazil, and on the third day I simply went together with my wife to the Polícia Federal in my city to register. I was immediately issued a SINCRE protocol with my new condition as permanent resident. With this protocol I went to the Mnistério do Trabalho e Emprego (MTE) on the same day and applied for my work permit (carteira de trabalho) which was ready for me to collect already in the next week.
The only thing that really seems to take some time is the issuing of the Carteira de Identidade de Estrangeiro (CIE), but this is mostly only a formality and the protocol is a sufficient document for most purposes.
When I married my wife and when we decided to move to Brazil, I found on the internet a lot of discouraging stories (almost "horror" stories) of people waiting for months or for years for their permanent residence.
One advice I found, is the one to apply for your permanent residence visa FROM ABROAD, where you currently living and not to arrive in Brazil (on a tourist visa for example) and then ask for permanent residence. Asking for permanent residence in Brazil takes just takes awfully longer and there is list is long list of documents you have to chase in from various Brazilian authorities to be able to apply for it. Also, when you arrive already with your visa from abroad, there seems to be no home visit by the Polícia Federal: you are simply registered.
I am not sure why this is so, but one explanation might be that Brazil (as any other country in the world probably) prefers to give permanent residency to people whose social and economic condition they understand: when I applied for my visa from Europe I was asked for paychecks, work contract and other documents.
When a foreigner applies from within Brazil, often she/he is not working yet and it is much more difficult for Brazilian authorities to judge whether this person has the capability to provide financially for himself (or for his family) or if they are just somebody who did not manage to sort their life out in their home country...
Brazil might also want to discourage people coming to Brazil on a tourist visa and then marrying just to continue to be able to remain in Brazil.
In any case, the bottom line is, if you want to avoid hassle, apply for your permanent residency visa (based on "reunião familiar") from your home country.
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