Tourist Visa Requirements to Brazil

To be allowed entry into Brazil and even prior to that, access inside the aircraft going to Brazil, a valid visa (in most cases a toursit visa) is required. There are various types of visas such as the tourist visa, the work visa, the business visa, the study visa, the one for religious or sporting event and so forth. But for the sake of this post, I'll only focus on the Tourist Visa which is what the majority of people going to Brazil will need.

You may be wondering, what a visa for Brazil? Is that a joke? I hear you. I felt exactly the same when I first heard about it before my first trip to Brazil in October 2005. But yes, Brazil requires a valid visa for citizens of Canada, the US, Australia, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Nigeria. To get a full and updated list of countries whose citizens require a visa for Brazil simply consult the Brazilian consulate in your city if there is one if not, contact the Brazilian Embassy in your country. For us Canucks, here's the link for the Brazilian Consulate in Toronto:  http://www.consbrastoronto.org/  For you my Yankee friends, here's the link to the Brazilian Consulates in major cities accross the US: http://www.brazilhouston.org/ingles/jurisdic.htm
Here's a list of Brazilian consulates in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and N.Z.:  http://www.deltatranslator.com/brazil-emb-consul.htm

Once you've located the nearest Brazilian consulate, browse through their site and make sure to read it carefully, specially all the requirements and criterias before applying for a Tourist Visa. The application itself is no big deal, but does take a few minutes. You can fill the form right there online and then print it and either take it in person to the nearest Brazilian Consulate or if that's not an option, you can mail it directly along your passport (again read very careful the requirements/criterias for doing that before sending it!). Make sure you apply at least 2 weeks before your trip. And once you've received your visa, you will have 90 days to enter Brazil otherwise, it will expire and you'd have to re-apply and pay the visa application fee again.

The length of visa one would receive varies greatly. I have heard of people receiving anywhere from a one time 30 days, a one time 90 days to as much as an unlimited entry for 5 years, which is the one I received. Again, the wild fluctuations are mainly encountered in the US, while for us, Canucks, the normal standard is the unlimited entry visa for 5 years!:) The application fee has been just increased, so check on your local consulate's website for the fee. I remember paying CDN$72 in August 2005 while it's been just increased to CDN$91.00 for Canadian citizens.

Citizens of most European countries do not require a visa to enter Brazil. Here's the complete and update list of countries whose citizens do not require a tourist visa to Brazil:
http://www.consbrastoronto.org/some_countries.php

It goes without saying (but I'll say it nonetheless) that a valid passport is a must to travel to Brazil. Make sure that your passport doesn't expire for at least 6 months before your return date from Brazil. In case your passport containing your Brazil Visa is about to expire within the next 6 months or has expired, and you have a trip to Brazil coming up, do not panick! You do not need to apply for a new visa and pay again the application fee provided your visa is valid beyond the expiry date of your passport. All you need, is make sure you get a new passport before you travel and when you go to renew your passport, make sure you tell the immigration officer not to damage the page on your old passport which has your Brazil Visa on it! On my last trip during Carnaval 2009, I had just renewed my passport and had made sure that the page containing my Brazil Visa was not damaged during the renewal process. All I had to do was take both passports with me on my trip  and I had no problem at all.

Now that you have a good handle of the requirements to obtain a Tourist Visa to Brazil, go ahead and apply for one. Again, apply at least 2 weeks before your trip and you'd be fine. This will be one trip you will never forget and one that you will be making for the rest of your life! Brazil and specially Rio, is truly an addictive place. You will be hooked for life, trust me on this! I'm speaking from personal and first hand experience on that. And I am not an isolated case. Very far from it! On the next post, I'll cover your very first day in Brazil/Rio and what to do and what not to do upon landing at the Galeão (Rio's international airport name).

So stay tuned and hopefully I'll see you in Rio....;)