Brazil extends visa requirement deadline for tourists from the USA, Canada and Australia to April

The federal government has once again extended the visa requirement date for tourists with passports from the United States, Canada and Australia interested in visiting Brazil. The billing start date was scheduled for January 10th, next Wednesday, but was postponed to April 10th. The measure had been criticized for creating more barriers to the entry of foreign visitors of this nationality and making it difficult to boost tourism.

The extension has already been made official through a decree (11,875), signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), and published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) this Thursday, 4th.

In a note, the Ministry of Tourism states that the extension of the deadline was defined to prevent the implementation of the charge during the high season for travel. “The intention is to ensure a safe introduction of the measure, without consequences for the tourism sector,” said the ministry.

The Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, said that the decision to extend the deadline by three months was the president's own. The postponement of the charge, according to Sabino, will be necessary to adapt the system for issuing electronic visas, the E-visa.

“The government, by decision of President Lula, decided to postpone the requirement for these visas until April 10th. So, we will have another three months (…) so that we can deliver a system that works quickly, efficiently, quickly for issuing electronic visas”. said the minister in a video published on his social networks.

Mandatory visas for tourists from the three countries is a requirement of the current government, which relies on the policy of reciprocity as a diplomatic mechanism with other nations. To enter the United States, Canada and Australia, Brazilians need a visa.

Previously, the country had stopped requiring the document for American, Canadian, Australian and Japanese tourists under the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration. The main argument was to facilitate the entry of visitors from these nationalities and promote tourism.

“In the previous government, the obligation for Americans, Canadians, Australians and Japanese was suspended. The measurement was given free of charge. No reciprocity. Brazilians continued to need a visa to travel to these countries”, said Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, in September last year.

In the case of Japan, Brazil reached an agreement with the Asian country in May last year to establish reciprocal visa exemption in the case of stays of up to 90 days. The exemption came into effect in September 2023.