Brazilian Visa for US Citizens

[Tina_G]

Hi All!

Quick Q - I'm planning on heading to Brazil from Buenos Aires and as a US citizen--as many of you know--will need a visa to enter the country. I'm planning on being in South America for 6 months, and I'm not quite sure when I plan to head to Brazil. At the moment, I don't have an itinerary to show the Brazilian consulate here in Los Angeles that I will be entering the country, but want to make sure I will be able to enter Brazil without any issues.

All of this said, is it easy to acquire a visa in Buenos Aires, or should I get one stateside? Thoughts?

Thanks!

Tina

 

[del mundo]

I got one last year and used a visa service in the US before departing as I did not want to chance getting to BA and have to figure it out there. It took a few weeks to get my passport back with the visa, though. The visa service said that Brazil is bad about issuing a one time visa for a specific time frame that you have to establish in advance. I wrote a letter that they included in the application esentially begging for a 5-year visa (e.g., previously had a 5-year visa, love brazil and the culture and plan to go often in the future, blah, blah...) so that hopefully I would not have to go through the hassle/expense each time. Fortunately, they granted the 5-year. As I recall, it would have cost the same fee for a one time as it would for a 5-year visa anyway so why not give it a try. I made some hotel reservations in Brazil (that were later cancelled with no penalty) just to show an itenerary (e-mail confirmation works) and used my US to BA R/T to show the airline ticket in order to apply. I think I told them I would be driving into Brazil to avoid having to already have the BA - Brazil R/T ticket. As I recall, you have 60 or 90 days to get your first stamp to "activate" the visa if they grant the 5-year visa. Of course, since I was not sure if I would get the one time or the 5-year, I made the dates something that I could live with, if needed, but, in the end, it worked fine since they granted the 5-year. A little bit of a game of chance but well worth it.

Suerte!

 

[Tina_G]

Thanks so much for the feedback! So for the sake of clarity, you would suggest booking a hotel/hostel that doesn't charge a cancelation fee to have for the initial application submission instead of handling in BA? Is it hard to cross the border w/o a visa?

 

[sesamosinsal]

Tina_G,

According to some users here, they have been able to get the 5 year visa at the Brazilian Consulate here in Buenos Aires. But I think these users all had some form of permanent residency here in Argentina. I've never had residency here, so when I applied for the visa in 2008 and 2009, I was given both 30 and 90 day visas, respectively.

Will you be purchasing roundtrip airfare from the U.S. to Argentina? In that case, I'd reserve a hotel room in Brazil and purchase a fully refundable airline ticket (RT EZE/AEP><Brazil) toward the end of your 6-month trip. Then, I'd mail those documents with my RT airfare from the USA><Argentina to the Brazilian Consulate that is closest to you. Once they give you the visa, just cancel the airline tickets and the hotel room.

You would have to confirm this, but I don't think the Brazilian consulate requires people to travel on the visa within 90 days of its issuance anymore. Thus, you should be able to use it whenever you want within your 6 month stay here.

Lastly, make sure you send your documents to the Consulate that serves your area. Each one has a different jurisdiction. Some consulates require that you apply in person -- if you do it yourself.

Good luck!

 

[Tina_G]

Thank you both!