A Minnesota couple in the midst of a “bureaucratic nightmare” amid a months-long stay in Brazil, where paperwork issues regarding their newborn son have prevented them from returning to the United States, is one step closer to being able to leave. 

Chris and Cheri Phillips, of Cambridge, located 50 miles north of Minneapolis, visited the South American nation in February for what was supposed to be a two-week trip. The couple consulted with doctors before leaving and were encouraged to travel, as Cheri Phillips’ due date was not until June 2. 

Chris, who has a young daughter who lives in Brazil with her mother, visits the country at least three times each year. His wife usually accompanies him on at least one of those trips, they said. 

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On March 8, two days before they were slated to return home, Cheri Phillips began bleeding, and they went to the hospital. Several days later, Greyson Phillips was born through C-section. He spent 51 days in a neonatal intensive care unit before being discharged to his parents on May 3. 

“While his health track has gone overall quite well, we are still stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare with regards to Brazilian documentation and American documentation,” Chris Phillips told Fox News Digital from the AirBnb where the family is staying in the coastal city of Florianópolis. “The only reason we can’t bring him home is because he doesn’t have a Brazilian birth certificate, and we can’t get him his American passport until he’s got that birth certificate.”

Despite the fight for their son’s life, the fight to get him to the U.S. has proven to be an unexpected challenge. To leave the country, they needed a passport for Greyson, which requires a birth certificate. However, the local registry office, called a cartorio, refused to issue one because the passports for Chris and Cheri Phillips do not have the names of their parents on them, which is required in Brazil, they said.

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Cheri and Chris Phillips with their newborn son Greyson Phillips following his premature birth in Brazil. (Chris Phillips)

Loved ones back in Minnesota sent the couple their individual birth certificates containing their parents’ names and their marriage license. A court translator said the documents would still be denied because they lack an apostille, a little-known provision that certifies a document to be recognized by member nations of the 1961 Hague Convention, Chris Phillips said. 

As their plight caught the attention of the Brazilian media, the cartorio “had a change of heart” and issued Greyson’s birth certificate. The agency blamed the holdup on an employee who refused to comply with the request, Chris Phillips said over the weekend. 

“No acknowledgement of wrongdoing. No admission of ignorance regarding a law of which they should have been fully aware,” he said in a statement. “No apology for the 2+ months of unnecessary stress and mental anguish they had caused for Cheri and me.”

“Supposedly, as we were told by somebody here, Brazil had passed a law in 2023 that excludes foreigners from needing to present official documents with apostles that contain a child’s grandparents’ names in order to process their Brazilian birth certificate,” he said in a statement.  

Getting American documentation was equally difficult. Getting the proper paperwork required Greyson’s birth certificate and a trip to a U.S. consulate or embassy. The nearest facility is some 300 miles away in an area that has been heavily impacted by flooding. 

Additionally, the newborn doesn’t fit in a car seat, so driving was out of the question, Chris Phillips said. The couple contracted a local lawyer, but the court process has been slowed to a halt, likening the infant to a child without a country, they said. 

“He (Greyson) does not exist officially on paper yet in any system,” Chris Phillips said last week. “He has not officially been registered as they say in Brazil.”

The couple also reached out to Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., for help to cut some of the red tape.

“He (Greyson) does not exist officially on paper yet in any system.” 

— Chris Phillips

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Cheri Phillips seen being discharged from a Brazilian hospital after giving birth to Greyson Phillips. (Chris Phillips)

“I can only imagine the incredible stress that this family has had to endure, both in giving birth unexpectedly in Brazil and then having to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to come home,” Smith said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “After calling on the Embassy in Brasilia to do more to help the family, we received the news that they will provide extra service to ensure the family does not have to travel to get a U.S. passport.”

As of Sunday, the couple was working with the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia to produce a passport for the son.

“We will not begin to feel truly comfortable until we have that passport in hand. To be clear, we still have a long road ahead of us. But, at long last, at least we can see it,” Chris said. 

Aside from the stress of trying to navigate Brazil’s legal system, the Phillips have had to deal with the mental and financial ramifications of their predicament.

“I don’t speak Portuguese and not a lot of people here speak English,” said Cheri Phillips, a first-time mother. “It’s incredibly taxing to go through childbirth and having a child in the hospital when you can’t directly talk to their care team.”

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Greyson Phillips sits in a crib at the Brazilian hospital, left, and is with his mother, Cheri Phillips. (Chris Phillips)

The family has had to stay in several Airbnb properties, forcing them to move each time their reservation ends. Additionally, they have had to extend the contract for their rental car and adjust their flight home, which can come with significant costs. Their health insurance provider has so far covered their medical expense claims, Chris Phillips said. 

Chris, a photographer and video producer for a pediatric health provider, has been working remotely, and Cheri will return to work virtually on a part-time basis next week.

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“Getting him home, that’s the goal now,” he said. “By birth, he’s is a Brazilian citizen. Being born to Americans, he has a right to be an American citizen, which he will be.”

“By birth, he’s is a Brazilian citizen. Being born to Americans, he has a right to be an American citizen, which he will be.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment. 

LOWELL, Mass. — Jess Healey scored from the point late in the second period to lift Boston to a 4-3 win over Minnesota on Sunday night in the first game of the inaugural Walter Cup, the championship of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

The best-of-five series continues Tuesday. Game 1 drew 4,508 fans.

Healey, a defenseman who had one goal during the regular season, got her first playoff goal just 15 seconds after Minnesota’s Taylor Heise scored her second goal, tying it 3-3 with 2:50 left in the second period.

Boston goalie Aerin Frankel survived two power plays, 1 minute and 35 seconds of Minnesota pulling goalie Maddie Rooney for an extra attacker. and 13 shots in the third period. Frankel finished with 30 saves, and Minnesota came up empty on the only three power plays of the game.

Healy got the puck at the left point and she sent a high wrist shot through traffic over Rooney’s glove into the far, top corner.

“We’re just absolutely relentless,” Haley said. “This whole playoff stretch we’ve really shown that, we never gave up. We had a good response every time they got a goal.”

It was the fourth straight playoff win by one goal for third-seeded Boston, which swept second-seeded Montreal 3-0 with all three games decided in overtime.

Minnesota went on the power play just 10 seconds into the game and although that didn’t produce a goal, it set a tone for pressure that resulted in Michela Cava’s goal less than five minutes in.

Susanna Tapani, who had two of the overtime winners in the semifinals, scored the equalizer for Boston 2 1/2 minutes later.

That set the stage for a wild second period that featured five goals.

After Heise scored for Minnesota at 8:04, Taylor Wenczkowski and Hannah Brandt connected 2:21 apart, and Boston led 3-2 with 4:49 remaining in the period.

Heise tied it again about two minutes later but that just set the stage for Healey.

Rooney had 18 saves for Minnesota.

Both teams finished with 35 points in the regular season and didn’t secure a playoff berth until the closing days. Boston beat Minnesota three times in five games and had the tiebreaker for the third seed.

Minnesota won three straight to beat top-seeded Toronto 3-2 in the semifinals.