Congress expects visa requirements for the U.S. and 2 others only in 2025

The government will extend the visa requirement for tourists from the US, Australia and Canada until 2025. Congress is expecting the order to be released this Tuesday (April 9, 2024). Negotiated by SRI (Secretariat of Institutional Relations) and Presidential Support Base. Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) in the room.

Planalto's idea was to avoid a defeat by repealing the visa requirement by congressmen who threatened to vote on a PDL (Project Legislative Decree) to suspend Lula's action and continue document exemptions for foreign travelers to the countries.

Currently, the visa regulations for the 3 countries come into effect from Wednesday (April 10). Despite Congress's expectations, various parts of the government are waiting for a formal decision on the issue till this Tuesday afternoon.

Behind the scenes, the Ministry of External Affairs took the decision, Civil House said. In turn, the SriRI said it had held talks with the Congress, which sought an extension.

On March 27, the Chamber will vote on the PDL 140 of 2023, presented by the opposition. At that time, the Vice-Chancellor Alencar Santana (PT-SP), represented the government base in the House The government will issue an ordinance to establish the new validity for next year.

The party leaders accepted the agreement and the Speaker, Arthur Lyra (PP-AL), the vote was postponed.

While justifying the latest postponement, the government said the move was made to avoid hurting Brazilian tourism, especially during the high season.

However, consulates in the US, Canada and Australia were unable to meet the demand. Thousands of Americans and Canadians struggled to get visas to travel to Brazil earlier in the year.

The Brazilian government's planning does not take into account the demand and the need to issue visas quickly.

Still in January, there were problems with the online system for collecting documents from applicants for Brazilian visas. According to Itamarathy, these issues have been overcome.

The government has already denied any instability at the time. The auction will have followed all the stipulated rules and deadlines and the system will be operational from December 2023 onwards.

Note that Idamarati will implement the requirement after overcoming the technical issues. However, the Brazilian president will follow what is determined by the political interpretation of the government.

understand

Government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was unilaterally overthrown in 2019 Decree 9,731Visa is required for travelers from USA, Canada, Australia and Japan. He said it would help boost international tourism in Brazil.

The Lula government's decision to require visas for the United States, Canada and Australia was to take effect on October 1, 2023. The deadline was postponed to January 10. Reason: Brazilian authorities could not fulfill this request. Later it was scheduled for April 10. Now, only in 2025.

This decision does not apply to Japan.

The Japanese government announced in May 2023 that it was considering removing the visa requirement for Brazilians. Tokyo confirmed the decision in August 2023, valid from September 30 and limited to trips of up to 90 days. Reciprocally, Brazil no longer requires visas for Japanese.

Employed company

The Government of Brazil, through the Consulate General of Brazil in Miami, hired VFS Global on October 31, 2023. “To develop and implement an online platform for processing electronic visit visas for citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia”.

In other words, the company that was supposed to create and manage the website for foreigners to apply for Brazilian visas was hired on the day the requirement was to go into effect for the first time.

As stated therein contract extract Published in the Union's Official Gazette on October 31, the company will receive US$ 184,000 per year for 5 years. Until 2028. A cost estimate is calculated assuming a unit cost of US$0.90 per visa and an expected issuance of 205,000 visas per year.

Applications for Brazilian visas can be made on a website controlled by this company connection. Although the agreement provides for a formulation “Communication Center to serve applicants in English, Spanish and French”Only the English version existed until January 4, 2024. 3 editions already available this Tuesday (April 9).

According to the site, applying for a visa is done in 3 steps: sending documents, paying a fee of US$80.90 and downloading the digital visa. The company fee is $0.90.