Brazilian Visa Questions (American)

[2GuysInPM]

Hello Guys,

Now that I have my residencia precaria, I can use it along with my pasport to travel. It is stated on the residencia precaria. Do you know if I still need the visa for Brazil if I have my argentine temporary residence?

Assuming you are a US citizen (applies to others as well)...

You will need a tourist visa to enter Brazil, even if you have an argentinean temporary residency visa. I was told with with the argentinean residency you are eligible to get an extended stay tourist visa (more than 30 days), but I dont know the details. You should definately ask when you apply for it.

On a side note; Getting a Brazilian visa at the BA consulate can be a frustrating task. They can make it hard on purpose (requesting all sorts of documentation, and making you come back the next day for just about any excuse they can come up with at the moment). I believe this is because of "reciprocity", i.e. the want to mimic the same hardships the USA, Canada, Australia, etc put on Brazilian citizens when applying for visas to visit those countries. IMHO, The whole thing is mean spirited and may leave you not wanting to visit Brazil. For some, the process has gone without problems. But I know of others, who just gave up after trying to get a visa for Iguazu and simply stayed and visited the Argentinean side. We also heard a handful of problem stories like thisfrom others making the que at the BA consulate. We also experienced these problems first-hand at the BA consulate for one of our visas (even tho we were prepared with everything in hand).

IGUAZU TIP: If you just need a visa to visit Iguazu falls, I strongly recommend you get the visa at the consulate office in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina side), as they have "same day" service and will not give you as much of a hard time as they do here in BA. You can drop off your application, passport, photos, and pay the fee in the morning, then go visit the Argentina side of the falls and pick up your passport w/ the visa later that day. They did not ask for any extra documentation from me there (no bank statements, no travel tickets, no credit card statements, copies, etc., etc.) But be prepared to pay for the visa. I paid about US$120 just over a year ago, and I belive it's gone up since then.

Consulado de Brasil en Puerto Iguazú
Av. Guaraní 70
Puerto Iguazú
(+54-3757) 421348
​

90% of the time there is no customs checks in the Brazil side of the border (no one is there), but if they happen to be there and check, and you get caught without the visa, you will pay a hefty fine. I was told US $1000 by our taxi driver, but I don't know for sure.

In the Brazilian side of Iguazu, you will also pay more than the locals (or Argentinians) for tickets to enter the park or go to other attractions (like the bird park/sanctuary). They actually have a table/database with different entry prices based on your nationality and passport. Using your argentinean temporary residency visa or DNI will not help (I tried it). They will see the "temporary" stamp and not accept it.

Good luck!

 

[Piper]

An important bit of info about the Brazilian consulate in Puerto Iguazu is that while they are open from 8a-1p you can only get a same day visa if you arrive to start the process between 8a-10a. We arrived at 11a and no dice, which was a bummer because it was Friday and they aren't open on the weekend (and we were only staying until Sunday). So no Brazil side viewing of the falls for us!

The process did seem easy, though, if you get there early. You only need passport, photo, form (which they have there) and Argentine pesos.