Hi brazilsupergringo,
Yes, as the spouse of a Brazilian national you are entitled to a VIPER Permanent Visa.
Let me ask one important question... have you already registered your marriage with the Consulado-Geral do Brasil that has jurisdiction over the US city you live in? This is something you must do in order for the foreign marriage to be valid here in Brazil.
What you need to do is take your Marriage Certificate, your identifying documents, your spouse's identifying documents (especially her Brazilian RG or something that states her nationality as Brazilian) to the Consulado, pay the fee and they will register the marriage and issue a "Certidão de Casamento" on the Consular Cartório (registry) that is the document that will be valid in Brazil. I can't remember for certain, so please check with the Consulado beforehand, but I believe you will also have to have your US Marriage Certificate translated into Portuguese by a sworn translator and submit the translation along with the application to register the marriage.
Once you've done this you then have two options:
Option 1. You can apply for your VIPER Permanent Visa at the Consulado-Geral where you registered the marriage. You will need to submit all the same documents regardless of where you apply (discussed later). The processing time abroad is usually much shorter (usually from 3 to 6 months) than for applications made in Brazil, however the disadvantage is that you cannot enter Brazil until you have actually received the VIPER visa.
Option 2. You can then come to Brazil on a VITUR Tourist Visa or any other visa category and apply for the VIPER here in Brazll. It is my understanding that if you choose this option you must make the application within the first 90 days of your arrival (check to make sure this is correct). As I said the documents are all the same. The processing time here in Brazil is considerably longer, in some cases in excess of two years or even more. The advantage is that despite the delay you are legally allowed to remain in Brazil and work (only applications based on marriage or on having a Brazilian child) for as long as the process takes to be completed.
There's only one small hitch with this option, not that it should be a great problem. Once you've applied you can only leave the country for periods not to exceed 90 days until you've actually been issued the VIPER and have it and your Cédula de Identidade Estrangeiro in your hot little hand. At that point you can leave for periods up to 2 years.
Also your protocolo will say a "PRAZO" 180 days, you'll therefore have to go back to the Federal Police and get them to stamp it with an extension (prorrogação) every 180 days to keep it current until such time as you've been issued the visa.
For the documents required for the VIPER Permanent Visa application see the second part of the list in the topic posting linked below:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=280525
Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team