Bolsonaro applies for a tourist visa in the US – 01/30/2023 – Politics

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) asked for a tourist visa to stay longer in the United States, where he has been since the end of last year, according to a law firm that operates in Washington.

The former president’s process was initiated by AG Immigration, which is headquartered in Washington and has offices in other parts of the country, including Orlando, where the former president is located.

The information was published by the British newspaper Financial Times and confirmed by Sheet.

Bolsonaro traveled to the US on December 30, 2022, the day before leaving the Presidency, and, breaking a democratic tradition, he did not pass the presidential sash to his successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

He took a presidential plane and headed to Kissimmee, a city in the Orlando area a few minutes from the Disney parks, where he took his family to a vacation home that belongs to former MMA fighter José Aldo, in a gated community.

As he entered the United States still as president, he was in the country with a diplomatic visa and had 30 days to change that status from the moment he left the Presidency, according to the American government, a period that ended this Monday (30). If he didn’t, he could even be expelled from American territory.

Now, the change to the tourist visa still needs to be approved by the State Department, which may or may not do so not only for technical reasons, but political pressure, according to an immigration expert consulted by the Sheet last week. After the attacks in Brasilia on January 8, politicians from the US left have been calling for Bolsonaro to be deported from the country.

The tourist visa, however, does not allow the former president to carry out paid activities, which would disrupt the plan of his surroundings to finance his stay by giving lectures to businessmen.

Supporters have been calling on social networks for an event with Bolsonaro this Tuesday (31), described on the internet as a “reunion with the Brazilian community in honor of the former president”, and tickets are sold for values ​​between US$ 10 (common entry ) and $50 (VIP entry).

Bolsonaro asked José Aldo to extend his stay at the house in the Orlando area for about a month, until after Carnival, according to a friend of the athlete, as shown by the Sheet last week.

The house, an eight-bedroom property in a gated community close to the Disney parks, is available for rent on an online platform for prices starting at US$519 a day (about R$2,600, not including taxes and fees that can make the value almost double), but it was given by the former fighter, who supported Bolsonaro in the 2022 election.

This weekend, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) said that his father is “disappointing” in the United States and has no date for him to return to Brazil.

The family, according to the senator, has already returned from the US. Regarding a date for Bolsonaro’s return, he says: “It could be tomorrow, it could be six months from now, it may never come back, I don’t know. He’s despondent. You never took a vacation, did you?”, Flávio said in a press interview. on Saturday.

It is not known, however, whether Bolsonaro’s health problems will make him cut short his trip. He was even hospitalized with intestinal obstruction at the beginning of the month and, at the time, said he would advance his return to Brazil. This week, her doctor told Sheet that he will have to have another surgery when he returns.

Flávio said that his father is calm and is not afraid that the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) will make him ineligible.

“The preparation, the lawyers are looking technically, and the return is that there is nothing legally implicating President Jair Bolsonaro. Now, courts, Judiciary, is not the place to make a political judgment”, said Flávio.

“The president is very calm, because he knows that even if he pushes a bar a lot, there is no way to link Bolsonaro to any criminal act.”