US citizens definitely need visas to visit Brazil. You need to get one via the Brazilan consultate that takes care off the area of the country that you live in. You need to get one prior to attempting to enter Brazil - they won't let you on the plane without a valid visa.

Now my question is about how long are tourist visas good for? I'm aware of 2 types of tourist visas - 1) good only for 90 days from date of issue and 2) visas good for 5 years from date of issue. All the people that I know that have been issued visas recently have been given the 90 day flavor of visa. Does one need to do something special to get a 5 year visa or is it presently only possible to get a 90 day visa?

Visas for Brazil are a breeze to get and if you indicate Business Visa on the application you will get the 5 year flavor. That's good for multiple entires, 90 days at a time, for a maximum of 180 days in any 12 month period.

You can expedite a visa also ( about 5 working days usually). There is a company called ABriggs that will obtain one for you for about $100 if you can not make it to the counsolate (abriggs.com)

Also I understand your trip has to be within 90 days of applying for a visa. Can someone confirm?

You also need to apply to the embassy closest to your residence address.

Here is the embassy in LA:
Brazilian Consulate General in Los Angeles
8484 Wilshire Blvd., suites 730-711
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Phone: (323) 651-2664
Fax: (323) 651-1274
E-mail: consbrasla@earthlink.net

I tried their email and never got an answer.

The new standard tourist visa is for 5 years, or the length of your passports validity, which ever is less. Your trip doesn't have to be within 90 days, but you need to have a roundtrip ticket. They charge $45. only beacause the US charges Brasilians that fee for visas.

Dohlyn

I'll call LA embassy tomorrow but on their web site:
"First arrival in Brazil must take place within 90 days from the date the visa was issued."

LA embassy is opened 9:00 am to 1:00 pm mon to fri.
It is OK to use their Houston web site to get visa aplication:
www.brazilhouston.org

You must apply to Brazilian embassy allocated to you area.
LA embassy covers: AZ, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and SoCal.
For northern cal, there is an embassy in S.F..

Reposted from ymmv. Initial info courtesy of R66

http://www.brazilhouston.org/


Here's the link to the consular general's office in Houston. There's also a link to addresses of other offices, fees, application form which can be downloaded, what's needed, etc. All of which I hope will be helpful to you.

Well I called embassy and got recorded message but I think Dohlyn is right, trip does not need to be within 90 days of visa issuance date.
Also there is no tourist fee for U.S. citizen, $45 is the reprocity fee, plus add $10 for handling fee if you do it by mail or though a travel agency.

That's not what I knew
You HAVE TO USE the visa WITHIN 90 days from the date of issuance OTHERWISE it becomes invalid and you have to pay 45.00$ to apply again. Once used, the duration is 5 years from the date of stamped passport at the FIRST ENTRY.

The length of the tourist visa (and the other types) is not standard. You may get a 90 day tourist visa or you may get one for 5 years.
Same goes for business visas. My understanding is that 5 year visas, particularly business visas, are more difficult, if not impossible, to get now-a-days. At least that was what I was told by the consulate general; 5-year tourist visas appear to be at the whim of the consulate general. The tourist visa I got last month was only good for 90 days & first use in 90 days. (All visas require initial entry within 90 days. That is indicated on the visa itself.)

How long does it normally take to get a visa w/o paying for rush service?

Hi r66.

It takes 3 days to get a visa from the Houston consulate. If you drop your paperwork off, they tell you to stop back in 3 days to pick up your visa.

I started getting my visa paper work together today and discovered something. Because I will be in Colombia within 90 days before entering Brazil, I must supply proof of Yellow Fever inoculation. Have to go to the County Health Department as regular doctors in my area, not CA, are not allowed to dispense this vaccine. Cost of the vaccine is $75. I could probably get in without it, but why risk being denied admission if someone in immigartion spots the Colombia stamp. Incidentally, this applies to Bolivia, Venezuela, anyone visiting the Amazon while in Brazil, and a whole mess of African countries.

No visas for UK passport holders. Visa is issued same day for US passport holders in Consulates in London/NewYork provided you show up yourself.

Brazil making US citizens obtain visas is retribution for the US making them obtain visas. They say as much in the v-mail system at the Chicago Consulate. Turn around time at the Chicago Consulate is 2 business days. Only open 9 to 1.

Picked up my first visa today. It's for 5 years, although that will be 3 years in my case because my US passport will expire. I hope they let me keep it at renewal. I was looking through it today. Lots of memories.

Gitano,
When are you going to Brazil? That and maybe Cartagena are my next trips. You were right about the Columbian girls flooding the BM, there were some absolute hotties there. Anyways drop me a line.

Scooter

Scooter,

There are 3 of us going the first full week in November. This is my first trip to Brazil. BTW, I am going to Cartagena for a long weekend in mid-September. I'll send you an e-mail tomorrow.

Well I am ready to go, did my visa by certified mail, less than a week to get passport back with 5 year visa.

You sent your passport to the Brazilian embassy to get a visa?

Yes, sent passport valid for at least 6 months, money order $55, photo, certified mail return envelope, copy of airline ticket (travel must occur within 90 days of application), filled out application.

Actually that's the Brazilian Consulate, but we won't quibble.

Embassies in the Capitals and Conslates else where. Except commenwealth, where it is High Commission.

Wow I learned something today, thanks for details, details...5 weeks to go Gitano...

Gitano -
About your passport. When it expires you do get to keep it. When mine expired, they punched holes on the front cover and stamped "cancelled" on the sig page.
So you will get to keep all those memories

I have been to Brazil 4 times in the last year and a half. I found the Visa easy to get. The first time I went, I got my Visa beforehand through a company in Wash, DC. I sent them my passport, and $100 bucks. At the time I got the Visa, I lived near Santa Barbara. To go to LA for a whole day would have taken too much time from work. A lost day of work costs me much more then $100.

When I got the Visa, it is stamped that you have to use it within 90 days. I did not know about the yellow fever stamp needed to enter Brazil. I was entering from Peru. When I got to the airport in Lima for a flight to Sao Paulo, I could not get on the plane in Lima. However, this problem was quickly solved. I got a yellow feaver shot in the Airport. I now keep the yellow feaver certificate with my passport. Who knows when the next trip to Brazil will be, but I do not what the shot again.

Have fun. Brazil is a nice place, the people are nice, and there is much to. Just to not get mugged, and under any circumstance, never go in or near a favela because there is a 100% guarantee that you will not come out alive.

Chau. Have fun.

I am going to Rio next month. What is a favella so that I can avoid it?

The favelas are the slums on the hillsides around Rio (there are favelas in the flatlands as well but the ones on the hills are the most noticable especially at night as they are well light). Apparently many of these slums started with people temporarily squatting on public lands but many of the favelas have become permanent.

Apparently many people find these favelas interesting as it is possible to take tours of the favelas.

The favelas are the slums where they have not got any bucks, and will do anything to get something to eat. This includes killing any gringo that has a good pare of shoes they can wear. Also, there is a lot of drugs in the favelas. Last year three dutch went into a favela in Recife. They did not come out. Big international thing after that between the Dutch and Brazilians.

Basically, there is nothing in a favela that you could possible want.

I agree, with Youngtom and Canonperdido, you do not want to visit a favela. They are controlled by drugdealers and at night you can hear machine guns going off where one favela is shooting in the air at another favela. At least this is what happens in Vila Isabel nite. Also, many policemen live in the favelas and work for drug dealers. So don't take their picture or even bother to ask for their help. They only make about 400.00 per month and can be very wicked.

For a brutal look at the favela experience, rent the movie "Pixote," a film about Sao Paolo street kids. At the introduction, the director explains that the kids in the movie are not actors, and shows the favela the kid who plays the main character lives in (he's around 11 y.o. at the time). There is a scene where a street girl picks up a drunken gringo.
Even more brutal is knowing that the kid who plays the main character is gunned down by the police at age 19.

I saw that movie also. It was bleak and brutal. On a different note, a local took me on a scenic drive through Niterois beaches. She took a shortcut to get to the other side. The area we cut through didn't seem so bad. I was surprised when she told me it was a favela. Compared to other 3rd world countries, the conditions there seemed surprisingly modern. Nothing that we would care for. And of course it was only a drive through.

A native drove me by some flavelas on the Copacabana, Botofogo, Botanical Garden and Corcovado side of Rio. Even though they were stark slum areas, I also thought that they looked a lot better than I expected. These seemed to have some semblance of modern conveniences. He explained that these flavelas are halfway decent. These are the "better" flavelas. The worst ones are on the other side of Rio and that they are a whole lot worse, heartbreakingly worse.

BTW, the highway from the airport to Copacabana and Centro has been repaired. It took one month instead of the anticipated three.

Another note on flavelas and poverty. There are a number of progrms on Brazilian television where the theme of the program is an attempt to lift someone from the almost inescapable cycle of poverty and provide them with a new start in life. I do not understand much Portuguese, but the emotions involved in these programs are universal. A person is chosen from letters sent to the program or sometimes an inmpoverished but enterprising street person is chosen, apparently, at random from the street. The program takes you into their flavela, and you see the heartbreaking conditions in which these people live. The person and his or her family are given new furniture, appliances, toys, clothes, makeovers, gift certificates to supermarkets, educational opportunities and, most importantly, a job. The Brazilian people are extremely sentimental (as am I) and many tears are shed by all.

The movie Black Orpheus won an Oscar for best foreign film and was filmed in the area.

I understand all the sympathy . Still, how much is your life worth? I still will not go into a favela for any amount of money. Have fun without me.

CP

I just got my tickets for Rio, for the last week of November. I have a double nationality
US and Peruvian, so I guess I won't need
the Visa, but I'll carry both passports, in
case I need to show them (The Airline). Do you
think it could be problem? anyway I'm going to check it out. Thanks if you have any suggestions.

Use your Peruvian passport to get into Rio, use your US passport to get back home.

The Mercosur nations are Brazil,Paraguay,Argentina and Uruguay have treaty among them to allow their citizens to enter withour visa. I am not sure Peru is inclusive, better ask before you go.

How about working in Brazil, has anyone considered moving to Brazil???
Do you need a special visas and more importantly is it easy to find a job?
As for a tourist, how long can you stay? is it 3 month without having to renew visa stay???

I have been trying for 2 years to get a job in brasil. It is EXTREMELY diificult!! I figured because I was in the IT field, I should have no problem getting a job in Rio working for a American company. WRONG!! Damn near impossible, unless you know a bigwig who can give you a "hookup" you can basically forget it. Imagine walking into a job interview for General Motors and at the end stating " oh yeah, by the way, I want to work in Rio de Janeiro". They will practically laugh you out the door.

One possibility that I am going to look into is applying in Miami. Miami is the headquarters for a lot of American companies divisions in Latin America. Usually they will have you on a schedule where you will go to Latin America for 1 month and then return to the states for 2 months. This was the job that Lucent offered me last year, I wasn't interested because I wanted to live in Brasil fulltime. Good luck in your search.

Thumper
I checked Hotjobs.com, Brazil has barely anything so big gamble to work over there. Maybe you know of better sites for jobs in Brazil???
Microsoft has a new office in Rio and has a sw/test position, probably lower scale.
I guess I'll work on early retirement in SD for now.
My new gig will send me to Puerto Rico so not far from Cartagena, half way there to Brazil.

Question:

What if your passport expires before your visa does? Once you get a new passport, can you just bring both passports to the airport?

Brazil consulate checks the expiration before issuing visa.
if your passport is about to expire, they will ask to to get a new one before issuing the visa.

That's not my point. I have a valid brazilian visa already from a few years back. That passport expired and I got a new one. Do I have to get the visa transferred into the new passport or can I bring the old and new passports to the airport?

How did you get a visa whose duration outlasts your passport expiration?
I guess there may be some oversight from the Brazilian.
You must have visa on the passsport to enter though. I would check with the nearest Brazilian consulate before the trip.

I believe that the consulate only insists on having a passport that is valid for six months so if they issue a visa longer than six months (or whatever time is left on your passport) then you get into this situation.

Best bet at -3.5 is to think visa is good for passport stamped and not valid for new passport as any country can use money.

Many countries charge transfer fees, if the visa that they issue has not expired, and your passport has. Case in point, India issued a 10 year visa, and the Consular section will for a fee transfer the visa onto your new passport :-)

There are one or two other counries that do similar things, I forget which ones.

I've related this story elsewhere but not here. The Houston Consulate is a pain in the ass in regards to granting tourist visa. Most guys relate how easy it is to get a tourist visa but that is not the current situation there the Houston consulate. To date, they have either granted me 90 day or 30 day visas. I wrote a polite letter requesting a visa longer than 90 days & received the 30 day visa a reward. Don't exactly understand what is going on in Houston but I've heard 2 different stories. The first is that the spouse of Consulate General runs a visa expediting service so they have trying to push business her way. The other story relates to a number of oil companies getting nabbed after sending guys down to work on tourists visas (without work visas) so the consulate is being a pain for everyone.

I need a visa for my next trip so it is time to find out what stupid documentation the consulate will want from me.