Brazil and Mexico announce return of electronic visa – 07/18/2023 – World

Brazil and Mexico announced, this Tuesday (18), the return of electronic visas for citizens of both countries. The measure will allow Brazilians and Mexicans to apply for visas for tourism or business over the internet, without the need to go to a consular office.

The communiqué released by the Brazilian and Mexican chanceries does not detail the deadline for the execution of the project, to be implemented “in the coming months”. Until then, the requirements for traveling to Mexico will be the current ones: physical authorization or visas to travel to Canada, the USA, Japan, the United Kingdom or countries in the Schengen area —which comprises most of the European Union.

To apply for a physical visa, you must schedule an appointment on the Mexican embassy website and submit a completed form along with copies of your identity document and passport, in addition to paying a fee. It is valid for 180 days.

The online document is not exactly new.

In October 2021, Mexico announced that, after 17 years, it would again charge visas from Brazilians who wanted to enter the country, in response to US requests. Washington is pressuring the neighboring nation to increase its barriers and prevent migrants from Latin America from reaching the southern US border – the scene of a migratory crisis driven by the economic shocks resulting from the Covid pandemic.

At the time, an electronic authorization was required from Brazilians — a system that created problems for applicants.

In June 2022, the Sheet collected reports from tourists who missed trips, protested outside consulates and on the internet, and organized joint efforts to help strangers. In August of the same year, the measure was also dropped, and the physical visa was required again, which had not occurred since 2004.

This Tuesday’s announcement does not eliminate the objective of gradually resuming the Visa Waiver Agreement between Brazil and Mexico, according to the joint statement from the two countries. In May of this year, Chancellor Mauro Vieira stated that the Mexican government would once again exempt Brazilians from the visa requirement to visit the country.