Canada and Australia would also have extended exemptions; The measure was a promise from government officials in Congress, which awaits publication this 3rd
The government will extend the visa requirement for tourists from the United States, Australia and Canada to 2025. The expectation of congressmen is that the decree will be published this Tuesday (April 9, 2024). The negotiation was carried out by the SRI (Secretariat of Institutional Relations) and the president’s support base Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the Chamber.
The idea was to avoid a defeat for Planalto with the overturning of the visa requirement by congressmen, who threatened to vote on a PDL (Project Legislative Decree) to suspend Lula’s act and resume the exemption from documentation for foreign travelers to the countries.
Currently, visa requirements for the 3 countries come into effect on Wednesday (April 10). Despite the expectations of congressmen, different areas of the government were still awaiting a formal decision on the issue until early this Tuesday afternoon.
Behind the scenes, the Civil House said that the decision was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This, in turn, claimed that the negotiation was carried out by the SRI together with Congress, which requested the extension.
On March 27, the Chamber would vote on the PDL 140 of 2023, presented by the opposition. On that occasion, the deputy Alencar Santana (PT-SP), which represented the government base in the House, said that the government would issue the decree to establish a new validity for next year.
Party leaders accepted the agreement and the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), postponed the vote.
When justifying the last postponement, the government claimed that the measure was to not affect Brazilian tourist activity, especially in a period of high season.
However, what happened was that consulates in the USA, Canada and Australia were unable to meet the demand. Thousands of Americans and Canadians had difficulty obtaining visas in time to travel to Brazil at the beginning of the year.
The Brazilian government’s planning did not take into account the demand and the need to provide visas quickly.
Still in January, there were problems with the online system that collects documents from applicants for Brazilian visas. These problems have been overcome, according to Itamaraty.
The government already denied any instability at the time. The bidding would have followed all the rules and deadlines set, and the system would have been running smoothly since December 2023.
The indication was that Itamaraty, with the technical problems overcome, would implement the requirement. The Brazilian chancellery, however, will follow what is decided by the government’s political articulation.
Understand
The government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) had unilaterally overturned in 2019, through decree 9,731, the visa requirement for travelers from the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. He said that this would help to increase international tourism in Brazil .
The Lula government’s decision to require visas for the USA, Canada and Australia should have come into force on October 1, 2023. The deadline was postponed to January 10. Reason: Brazilian bureaucrats were unable to meet this demand. Then it was scheduled for April 10th. Now, only in 2025.
The 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 only for trips of up to 90 days. In a reciprocal manner, Brazil no longer requires visas for Japanese people.
Hired company
The Brazilian government, through the Consulate General of Brazil in Miami, hired, on October 31, 2023, the company VFS Global to “to develop and operate 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 request Brazilian visas was hired on the day that the requirement was supposed to come into effect for the first time.
According to the contract extract published in the Official Gazette of the Union, on October 31, the company will receive US$ 184,000 per year, for a period of 5 years. Until 2028. The cost estimate is calculated with a unit cost of US$0.90 per visa issued and an expected issuance of 205,000 visas per year.
Applications for Brazilian visas can be made on the website controlled by the company at this link. Although the contract provides for the creation of a “Communication Center to serve applicants in English, Spanish and French”only the English version was available until January 4, 2024. This Tuesday (April 9), the 3 versions were already available.
According to the platform, applying for a visa is done in 3 steps: sending the documents, paying a fee of US$80.90 and downloading the digital visa. The company fee is $0.90.
Source: https://www.poder360.com.br/governo/congresso-espera-exigencia-de-vistos-para-eua-e-mais-2-so-em-2025/
