Well... Having been through this BS makes you an honorary Brazilian. It's a rite of passage for every one of us, and now you're one of us. I wish I could help with something practical.
I saw a comment saying to add the word "Brazil" in the title to get more views from Brazil, i tought this was genius, as a brazillian i assure much more brazillians will watch the video
Man as another foreigner who has gone through that same process, I feel for you. Last year I had to renew my permanent visa (because 10 years ago they put expiry dates on permanent visas😂) and I have to say dealing with the Policia Federal was way more of a headache than the first time around. It seems they've outsourced a lot of the services to private companies who don't actually know all the rules in detail. After having started the renewal process I briefly travelled outside the country (my first visa hasnt expired at that point) and I took the opportunity to ask the people at airport immigration if they would let me back in if my residency visa had hypothetically already expired (I had also received a similar "no don't worry its all fine" message from the muppets at the PF). Sure enough, airport immigration said they wouldn't, even though they're also from the same organsation. My advice to anyone doing these processes in Brazil is to simply not even think of leaving the country until things are finalised, don't trust anyone who says "it'll be fine", most of them don't actually know what they're talking about.
I'm Brazilian, and this is classic Brazil juice. So much bureaucracy that no one exactly knows how things work (not even the government itself). My wife is a lawyer, so she can help you if needed!