Visas and Passports

Overview

Brazil has a reciprocal visa policy with all countries, meaning that whenever prices and restrictions are applied to Brazilian visiting a country, Brazil adopts the same measures for that country's visitors.

That applies to the United States. As of March 2007, the current cost is 110 USD to 170 USD for a 90-day visa (plus up to $90 for an agency to handle getting you the visa), but check before you travel in case of another increase. If you live close enough to the embassy or consulate for your area (other regions won't accept application), you can go in person, but you must go two times about one week apart (check the list of consulates and embassies. Don't forget they are closed on Brazilian holidays as well as those of your country.

Citizens from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay may enter the country with a valid ID card and stay up to 90 days.

No visa is required for stays of up to 60 days from holders of passports from Venezuela.

No visa is required for stays of up to 90 days from holders of passports from Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Rep., Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong (British National (Overseas) passports only but not HKSAR passports), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and Vatican City. Note that the immigration officer has the right to restrict your visa to less than 90 days, if he deems fit. He will then state the number of days (e.g. 60 or 30) in pen writing inside the stamp just given in your passport. No pen writing means 90 days.

Citizens from the following countries currently need a visa for Brazil: Angola, Armenia, Australia, Canada, Cape Verde, China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau), Cyprus, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, Taiwan, the United States, former Soviet countries and others not listed above.

Tourist visas (including those granted on the spot in immigration control, as for most Europeans) can be extended at any office of the Policia Federal. All state capitals, and most border towns and international ports have one. Your visa can maximum be extended for as long as your original visa was granted (i.e. another 90 days if you originally got 90 days.), and under no circumstance can you be granted more than 180 days with a tourist visa for any 365-day period. You should contact the federal police about 1-3 weeks before your visa expires. You have to pay a fee of about R$ 20. Mostly you will be asked for an outbound ticket (book a fully refundable one on the internet, then cancel when your visa is extended), and a proof of subsistance (for which your credit card is mostly accepted.)

By law you are required to produce your outbound ticket upon entry, but this is only enforced in exeptional cases. Even if you are asked, you could often get away with explaining that you are taking the bus to Argentina, and couldn´t buy the ticket in, say, Europe.

Even if you receive a tourist visa that is valid for a longer period of time, a tourist visa is invalid unless it has been initially used within ninety days of its issue.

If you overstay your tourist visa, you will be fined R$ 8,28 per day (as of October 2007), for a maximum of 100 days. This means that even if you stay illegally for 5 years, the fine will never exceed R$ 828. You will be made to pay this at the border crossing. As this can take time, it could be wise to do it a few days up front at a federal police office, especially if you have a domestic to international flight connection. The federal police will then give you 8 days to get out of the country. If you don´t pay your fine upon exiting, you will have to pay the next time you enter. The fact that you have been fined for overstaying in the past does not imply future difficulties with immigration, but you´d better keep all receipts and old passports for reference.

If you want to enter/exit the country for some reason without coming in contact with the immigration authorities, there are numerous tiny border towns that have virtually no control. You will perhaps be told by the local police (who don´t have stamps or computer registers for immigration) to contact the federal police in such and such nearby town. Just say yes and do nothing.

It is illegal to bring in animals, meat, dairy, seeds, plants, eggs, honey, fruit, or any kind of non-processed food without a permit.

Source: Wikitravel, licensed under the GFDL

Rio de Janeiro

Sao Paulo

	Rio de Janeiro Fair, 75° F
	Sao Paulo Fair, 72° F
	Brasilia Fair, 73° F
	Foz do Iguazu Fair, 79° F
	Manaus Mostly Cloudy, 81° F
	Salvador Partly Cloudy, 79° F
	Belem Fair, 77° F
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	Blumenau Fog, 70° F
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	Florianopolis Mostly Cloudy, 70° F
	Natal Partly Cloudy, 77° F
	Recife Mostly Cloudy, 81° F
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	Buzios Mostly Cloudy, 73° F
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	Ribeirao Preto Fair, 77° F
	Porto Alegre Cloudy, 73° F
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