Tourist Visa Stays in Brazil - 180 days per year maximum

Hi Jordan.usa,

Your posting gives absolutely no details about yourself and your particular situation, so I'm not going to jump to conclusions here.

That said, I can tell you from experience if you are worried about how YOU can prove your financial sufficiency to travel to this country, then perhaps you really don't have the financial ability to do so in the first place.

It is NOT cheap to travel and live here for more than 3 months. Unless you are staying with a Brazilian friend or family your accommodations alone will be a major expense. If you are staying with a Brazilian friend then they should be willing to provide you with a notarized letter stating that fact. This will reduce substantially the amount that immigrations authorities are going to be looking for in terms of your ability to be self-supporting here.

A notarized letter from your mother guaranteeing your support and a copy of her most recent bank statement combined with the above mentioned letter about accommodations, might get you into Brazil. That said, it's not likely that if you're relying on the full financial assistance of your mother that you would be allowed to enter the country at all.

Cheers,
James

I am a former exchange student who is visiting friends and my girlfriend's family in May. They said they would provide food and housing while I'm there but the Chicago consulate says that my invitation letter doesn't count as financial capacity. I was curious if my mother's bank statement with with a notarized guarantee count as financial capacity.

I am a university student, i will be purchasing my own ticket but by no means to I have enough money to stay there that long alone. My mother would write a guarantee and my girlfriend's family said they would provide food and shelter.

Hi Jordan,

You will need a formal (notarized) Letter of Invitation from your Brazilian friend's family stating clearly that they are providing you with lodgings and meals during the entire stay. You will also need a notarized letter guaranteeing your financial support, apart from food and lodgings for your entire stay in Brazil. Then you will likely need to show that you have enough cash or access to cash for daily expenses, such as a credit card with reasonable credit limit, debit card to access your mother's account directly, etc. Your mother will need to annex her most recent bank statement to her letter of guarantee. You should also check with the Consulado-Geral do Brasil if your mother's original letter will need to be translated into Portuguese or if they will accept it in English.

Cheers,
James

Hello,

I am an American so far living in Argentina for 1.5 years. I would like to go to Brazil by bus and want to know if this is possible. After some research, I cannot tell if the visas are very complicated or very easy to get. It seems like it will be very difficult just to cross the border. I just want to go to the beach for a few months, maybe it is not worth the hassle. Please advise me what exactly I would need to do in order to go to Brasil. I am an expat and this may complicate things, although I do have all of my documents.

You would need to apply for a VITUR Tourist Visa at the Consulado-Geral do Brasil in Buenos Aires and it is my understanding that you must schedule your visit online.

http://www.conbrasil.org.ar/agendamento … dario.aspx

For the documents required for a US Passport holder see the information below, even though you'll be applying in Argentina the requirements will be the same for you wherever you apply.

You will need to check out the information on VITUR Tourist Visas and application at:

http://www.conbrasil.org.ar/CONSBRASIL/ … 01engl.asp

Note: The link in 2.2 is for the online application form for the visa.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank you for the reply sir!

It appears to me like it wont be possible for me. If only I had been born somewhere other than in the USA haha.

Hello James, me again.
Neither of my parents were willing to sign a notarized letter. My family in Brazil signed a notarized letter stating they would provide food, shelter and covering my expenses while in Brazil but the Chicago consulate states invitation letters don't count as financial capacity. Should I even try to apply for a visa with only my mother's bank statement and the notarized letter from my family or would it just be wasting money on the envelopes and reciprocity fee money order? What would be enough in the eyes of the Chicago consulate to prove financial capacity? I have 10 weeks I could be working and saving, would it be better to wait to apply?

Hi Jordan,

Without a letter from your mother stating that she accepts financial responsibility for you the Consulado is probably not even going to accept her bank statements at all. Do you have any savings no matter how small? Do you have any credit cards? Those will be accepted and I think that since your friends here are going to provide you lodgings, food and have expressed willingness to support you too, then you're not going to have to show access to a very large amount of funds as one needing to pay for food and lodgings for example.

Cheers,
James

Hi there James and every one, Ive just extended my Brazilian Tourist Visa with 4 working days to go, of my 90 days finishes. The Fed, never said nothing about 'only having 4 days before my tourist run out',,,, but did say about. That my 90 day extension their giving me. they said, they have worked out,, that I would be an over stayer in Brazil for 4 days before my flight back to the UK,
all he said don't worry just pay the 4 day fine,,
but I have reworked the days here in brazil, and iam will not be an over stayer, because I fly out 3 hours before my 181th day starts,

Are you counting all days of entry and departure as full days? That's the way they calculate stays.

Their computers are generally correct.

the man worked it out in his head and fingers, but also he really was not that fussed about me being an over stayer,

Hi James, well after reading most of the thread here I'm still confused!! Just when I thought I had it figured out someone else posted something that was contradictory and turns out they got their 90 days when it wasn't supposed to be! Go figure! All the confusion about calendar year vs. rolling year. I hate for you to rehash for me but it's very important I get this figured out so here goes.

Okay, first time in Brazil arrived June 3rd, 2014.
During World Cup was June 3rd thru July 16th. Then I returned September 4th thru September 10th. Then flew back to Madrid where I had been living the past 2 years. Returned to Brazil December 7th and been staying here ever since! Today is May 14th.

I originally extended my Visa on February 26th but they obviously subtracted my previous days so I was only awarded extension until April 17th. Long time passed now!

I have been traveling on my UK passport but also have a USA passport with me. I'm wondering if it's possible to simply cross over to Buenos Aires for example and maybe process my VITUR Tourist Visa from there and then re-enter Brazil this way on my USA passport?? I don't know if there's any connection of my two passports in there computer systems. I doubt it since it's Brazil and my USA passport is clean as could be. No stamps, nothing. My whole time in Spain I've used my UK passport to enter, live and then travel around Europe.

FYI - I'm from California, family lives there now but my father is English and I lived there as a young boy. I got naturalized USA and have my British passport due to my father.

What I really want to do is somehow stay here long term. I have read about enrolling in a language school program and could then get a student visa for 1 year which can be extended if you continue in school.

I didn't do it the first time and now it's too late since my extension time has passed (I tried actually), but I need to obtain my CPF. I am looking to buy an apartment here in Rio de Janeiro and of course one needs a CPF to do so and needs a Brazilian bank account to do so which one also needs a CPF to open!! The headaches!!

I'm just a bit confused on my passport being UK (not part of Schengen Area) what the exact rules and time frames are. And of course also my question about switching to use my USA passport if I were to leave the country and re-enter. Finally the option of enrolling in a language program here in Rio to then apply for a student visa?? Is it possible to do from within Brazil or do I need to be outside? Just trying to figure out a way to stay and buy an apartment and get my CPF!!

Anyway, any info you can provide would be most appreciated.

Regarding passport flipping: before making more permanent arrangements, I have done exactly that and it worked like a charm.  Asuncion embassy has always been very friendly but they are quite bureaucratic.   Takes a minimum of 3 visits to secure visa.

Hello gspdac,

It's all going to depend on what information gets entered into the computer system from the passport you exit the country using. In your case your UK passport.

If it is a machine readable passport that has biometric data and a chip as many now do a whole lot more information about you than you imagine gets entered, and eventually may even get shared with other nations too.

So if you try and return to Brazil with a US in such a case the Federal Police computer would probably cross-reference the information and come right back to the UK passport. In this case you'd be denied entry if your had more than 180 days (even on the other passport) in the year prior to the entry date.

While you'll have no problem getting the visa in your US passport because it's not the Consulado's job to check any further, I really would NOT recommend trying to slip by the Federal Police using a second passport. While the Federal Police here take a pretty lax position about overstays, there are things they take very seriously. If they catch you trying to put one over on them you're likely to wind up on the receiving end of a very messy Immigration Fraud charge. Really not worth the risk. A visa, in and of itself, is no guarantee of entry to ANY nation; the final decision is ALWAYS the immigrations agent you deal with at the point of entry. If that person gets PO'd and says, "Go to Jail, go directly to jail, do not pass GO and do not collect $200," what do you do then???

And don't forget, they work on a different system of stay calculation for the US and UK passport. US passports are the "rolling" year which is essentially a look back 365 days prior to date of entry and count the days in Brazil. UK passports they go on a "calendar" year based on your FIRST EVER date of entry to Brazil.

Thank you James.

Well it doesn't look like either of my passports have the biometric date and chip you speak of. My UK was issued Dec. 2011 and my USA Jan. 2012. Yes definitely don't want to get in trouble with the Federal Police. Especially since my Portuguese is not very good.

I'm wondering if it's even an option about the enrolling in a language school program to hopefully get a student visa for 1 year or is it fruitless because I am now technically illegal in Brazil having overstayed with the UK passport.

Can you just touch on why you mentioned the difference between US and UK passports as far as how they work on a different system of stay calculation?  If I were to use my US passport then I would presume I would just have 90 days since I haven't used any days on it.

I do have a flight scheduled to go back to Madrid on June 6th. If I were to leave when would I be able to return on my UK? Is it true on day 181 of being outside Brazil is when I would accumulate my first day of the maximum 90?

Regards

The VITEM-IV Student Visa is going to be you best and safest bet for sure.

Trust me, you don't want to find out what then inside of Braziian jails look like up close and personal.

Cheers,
James

HI James. That reminds me, since I am now illegal being past my extension on my Visa I was wondering will I have any problems traveling within Brazil by plane? I would like to visit a friend in Belo Horizonte and maybe go to Natal as well. I'm currently in Rio.

Cheers,
Dean

Yes, you will because the airlines are required to see your passport even for domestic flights. They will likely look at your visa page and if they do they're required to call the Policia Federal immediately.

Interstate bus lines are also required to check your passport, but they will likely ONLY look at the ID page. If you're going anywhere, it's much safer in these terms to go by bus.

These are rules imposed by ANAC and ANTT on the airlines and bus companies.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

Yes of course they see your passport. I actually did it one time recently flying to Sao Paulo and returned to Rio without any issues. My visa expired on April 17th and I flew from Rio on the 15th but returned on the 22nd which then I would have been illegal. But like I said, no issues at all. But maybe I got lucky. I went ahead with the trip because I had asked a friend who had overstayed his US Visa and I guess he had flown as well and was okay.

By the way, mine is a UK passport so I don't have a Visa page, but I do have the stamp by the Federal Police with my extension date written.

For Schengen Area Agreement and Visa Waiver Program (VWP) entries in the country the current stamp IS your visa. So essentially yes, you do have a visa page (maybe even several of them). 

I have a tourist visa 90 days to Brazil. I would like to know about renewal of tourist visa. Because of politics my country it is possible my passport annulled when in Brazil. If I go to Federal police for renewal 3 weeks before passport expire, will they find out my passport not valid anymore, in case. It happened to a colleague visit Thailand but immigration did not know anything wrong with passport. What about in Brazil?

First of all unless your passport will remain valid for 3 months beyond your expected exit date from Brazil the Federal Police will probably not even allow you to enter the country.

Extension of your stay (Prorrogação do Prazo de Estada) should be requested about 4 or 5 days before your visa stay expires and not sooner, at the time you request an extension if they check your passport  and it has been revoked or expired you would not be granted an extension and must leave the country on the date that the initial visa stay expires.

You aren't very clear as to what your intentions are, but I would suggest that if you are planning to remain in Brazil for any length of time that you request Refugee Status IMMEDIATELY upon arrival in Brazil. They will not accept refugee applications at any other time than on arrival. At least that way you would be legally in the country while your refugee claim is being handled. If you tried to make a refugee claim at the end of your visit they would simply deny the application and you would have to leave Brazil immediately or be deported.

Cheers,
James       Expat-blog Experts Team

My passport is still valid 5 years. My intention is to be tourist for 180 days and leave Brazil. I am not refugee. It is politics in my country that they can annul passport. Federal police check in my country if passport is ok when I ask renewal? Or they just check that passport is still valid for 3 month beyond expected exit date? How thorough is passport check when renewal tourist visa? I have valid passport, return ticket, and funds.

They likely will check the validity of the passport at the time you apply for a renewal. If it has been cancelled for some reason then they would not issue an extension. Just remember that at any rate an extension is NEVER guaranteed, you will still need an OUTBOUND ticket for within the 90 day initial stay.

That does not necessarily mean a return ticket home, just a ticket out of Brazil to some other country that you have a visa to enter, or can enter without a visa.

If you book your return airfare then at least that portion of the ticket should allow you to change dates without too many problems or huge extra fees.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

Hi James,

First of all thanks for providing such detailed information. I would like to have your suggestion for my wife´s visa. I am an Pakistani and hold a Pakistani passport and have a VITEM V work visa here. My wife holds a British passport so i want to bring her to Brazil on tourist visa (for some reason my current employment can´t apply for her visa as my dependent and the Brazilian Embassy in Pakistan wants my Wife´s visa to be approved by Ministry of Labor in Brazil first and then they would stamp the visa).

Now I understand she can get 90 days on arrival plus there can be another extension of 90 days. However, I am planning for her to make an overstay after that (180 Days) for another 2-3 months and happy to pay the fine as well when she leaves the country. however i need to know two things

1. Are there any implications of overstaying apart from the per day penalty that she will pay at the airport while leaving?
2. To enter brazil on her passport will she need to provide any documents like proof of funds (Bank statement), Proof of residence etc. or its just a normal procedure where they would just stamp her passport straightaway.

Really appreciate your feedback on this.

Thanks
Faheem Minhas

Hello Faheem,

Regarding the overstay, there won't be too many consequences here in Brazil other than the overstay fine and the overstay stamp being placed in her passport.

The problem will arise in the future should she want to apply for a visa in some other country, that will require her submitting her passport. The overstay in Brazil might be a justification for that country to refuse to issue a visa, since most other countries take the matter of overstaying one's visa very seriously. I would really advise against an overstay if there is any other way to avoid it. Perhaps enrolling in some kind of course that would qualify her for a VITEM-IV Student Visa, for example.

On arrival in Brazil she will need to show an outbound ticket (not necessarily a "return" ticket, just one out of Brazil) dated for the initial 90 day stay. If you do purchase a return ticket, then make sure it permits changes to the date without too great an additional charge. Another option is that you could purchase a "throw-away" bus ticket for one of the neighboring South American countries that she can visit without a visa. That will satisfy the "outbound" ticket requirement. You would have to send it to her by SEDEX or private courier so she'd have it in hand on arrival in Brazil.

She will probably need to show the ability to support herself during her stay in Brazil, this shouldn't be too difficult since you're working here and she'll be supported by you and residing with you. A notarized letter from you stating that she will reside with you (give the address), and that you are responsible for her support, outlining your employment here, and a recent bank statement or credit card with a decent credit limit will help greatly to that end too.

Hope this helps you.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

Thanks James for a quick response. It makes a lot clearer to me now. however, below are some further specifics where I will request your guidance.

I am travelling on this weekend to Pakistan and will apply for my VITEM V visa next week (already approved just need to get it stamped) and basically I will bring her with me when I come back. I would need a little more clarification on this notarized letter which you have recommended to have when we arrive here. Is it just a simple statement and i will have to get it authorized from a Notary Public here? and if possible could you please guide me what is the process to get notary public attestation here in Rio. I stay in Copacabana

For bank statement, I have my bank account in Pakistan so I will get my bank statement attested from Brazilian Embassy from Pakistan. I hope it will be Okay. Do I have to provide proof of residence as well here or I can just mention the address where I will be staying when I come back.

As far as ticket is concerned, that shouldn´t be a problem I will buy her a return ticket with return after 3 months.

I know I have asked a lot of questions here but just want to make sure there are no unnecessary hassles.

Regards
Faheem

You probably won't even need a letter if she's travelling with you. Bring along a few bank statements and your credit card statement showing a reasonable line of credit and that should be just fine.

Yes, you only need to give them the address where you'll be staying when you return to Brazil.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Thanks James for all the information and help. I think i got all the needed info. surely will share my experience (hopefully a good one when i am back.

Cheers
Faheem

Hi James,

Ive recently moved to Sao Paulo through my company. My brother will be coming to visit me. He has a South African passport. He has booked a return ticket with a departure day 89 days after arrival.

What i wanted to know is, if he plans on staying an additional 90 days on top of the 90 afforded him through his VISA waiver programme, on day 89, can him and i exit the country to Argentina or Uruguay for a weekend, and the upon return, he receives a further 90 days extention automatically?

Rgds
Mike

Hi James. Great information here. Thanks.
Just a quick question- if i come to Brazil and stay for 90 days can I just come back again at a later date in the same year and avail of my  extra 90 days? ( Irish citizen)
Regards.

Hello Barneyitis,

Yes if you hold a UK passport, provided that you haven't been in Brazil at any other time than that initial 90 day visit in the previous year.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Thanks James. I hold an irish passport. It's my first time going to Brazil but hope it may turn out to be longer! I'm hoping to find work there and possibly live there. My boyfriend is Brazilian. However, I'm beginning to see how difficult the whole process could be re visas!

Hi James, just want to check something with you as the more the read the more confused I get!

So as I said before, I'm an Irish passport holder and I'm arriving in Brazil for the first time at the end of November 2015. So as an Irish citizen I don't require a visa to enter and my passport will just be stamped at the airport. Is this correct?

I plan on staying in Brazil for 90 days (until Feburary) and then travelling to other South American countries with the intention of going back to Brazil after 3 months or so, let's say June.
So can I just re enter Brazil in June and I'll be allowed stay another 90 days? Or do I have to apply for a visa extension in advance?
I thought I read something about tourists with 'airport visas' are not allowed a visa extension but does that apply to Irish passport holders?? Hope this makes sense. Thanks in advance James!

Hi Barney,

Yes, you're correct. Once you enter Brazil at the end of November your passport gets stamped. This is your 90 day visa, which will permit you to stay until February. You will however need to have your outbound ticket to some other South American country for February when you arrive in Brazil. The Federal Police will want to see that. A bus ticket will satisfy that requirement and you can purchase it online or through a travel agent.

After you've been out of Brazil for three months (June) you will be able to re-enter Brazil with no problems. On arrival the Federal Police will again stamp your passport and you're good for a further 90 day stay. Again you'll likely need to have another outbound ticket, presumably your return airfare home if you're not intending to continue your "world tour".

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

hi expat team
very clearly laid out thanks but one question please..
in reply to this does all this information refer to uk citizens too?
  if the rules are any different please explain for me
  regards
gary

Hi Gary,

If you hold a UK passport you don't need to apply for a visa, you present your passport on arrival at the airport and the Federal Police stamp it for a 90 day visit. You can apply for a 90 day extension for a total of 180 days per year. Your dates are calculated from the date of your very first ever entry to Brazil.

Cheers,
James

Hello James,

  I am a UK citizen and visit Brazil regularly to stay with my lady-friend. I visited twice during 2015:90 days from 14/2/15 and another visit of 82 days from 19/9/15.I tried to extend the last visit,but this was rejected. I've now been back in England for 38 days and would like to go back to Brazil again. My lady-friend insists that,as we are in a new year,that I could go back there for another 90 days.
I'm not convinced about this and have to admit that reading this forum I'm somewhat confused as the rules seem so complicated.
I don't want to book a flight and find that I'm turned away.By the way,as my passport expires in September this year,I intend to get a new one anyway.
Please can you help. If it helps,my very first visit was on 4/12/06.

Cheers,
Nick.

Hi Nick,

Visa stays for Brazil do not get calculated on a CALENDAR year.

For (consular) visas - those that are applied for through a Consulate and affixed to one's passport, the calculation is based on the number of days one has been in Brazil during the year prior to one's date of entry. They go back one year from that date and count all the days you've been in Brazil to calculate your entitlement. Maximum stay is 180 days during that "rolling" one year period.

For Visa Waiver Program (VWP) entries, such as with a UK passport, one receives a visa stamp in their passport upon arrival. The calculation of those stays is based on one's FIRST EVER ENTRY DATE to Brazil. Essentially that becomes your anniversary date from that point onward. Most VWP entries are restricted to 3 months in any 6 month period and they cannot be extended. UK passport holders however, due to a separate agreement, are permitted to extend their stay and thus obtain a maximum of 180 consecutive days.

If Dec. 4, 2006 was your first ever entry to Brazil then that is your start date for calculating stays. So by my calculation you left Brazil on Dec. 10, 2015, putting you 6 days beyond your "anniversary date". You could return to Brazil for up to 84 days, however due to your previous stays you would not be able to extend that stay. (note: you may even get lucky and the Federal Police may just stamp you for a 90 day stay anyway - but don't count on it).

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team