The Brazilian Foreign Ministry Affairs resumed the visa requirement for Americans, Australians, Canadians and Japanese citizens. The new measure will take effect from October 1 and is based on the principle of the status of reciprocity, in which Brazil must require visas from nationals of countries that require visas for Brazilians.
In 2019, the visa waiver for Americans, Australians, Canadians and Japanese was determined by former President Bolsonaro to encourage tourism for visitors from these countries who usually gave up visiting Brazil when they realized the bureaucracy of the Process of Applying for a Brazilian tourism visa.
“Lula’s decision demonstrates that the Brazil-United States relationship tends to be more balanced than in the previous government, where there was a favor for the entry of American visitors and, consequently, foreign capital for the Brazilian tourism industry. Legally, there has always been a law of reciprocity between the two countries, which aims to promote equal rights and duties for the entry of foreign citizens into their respective territories”, commented Marcelo Gondim, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there was, in fact, after the visa waiver, a 12% increase in the number of tourists coming from these four countries in 2019, especially from the United States, which registered 319,000 visitors that year. However, in the following years, the numbers fell again, which, according to the current government, would justify resuming the visa requirement for nationals of these regions.
About the specialist: Marcelo Gondim
Marcelo Gondim is an immigration lawyer in the United States with over 20 years of experience in green card and U.S. visa processes. He is licensed by the State of California. Marcelo was born in Brazil but also held American citizenship. He is the founder and principal attorney of Gondim Law Corp., an immigration law firm based in Los Angeles.