Brazil postpones visa requirements for tourists from the USA, Canada and Australia until April

The federal government has postponed the visa requirement for tourists from Canada, Australia and the United States to enter Brazil until April 10th. The decree with the determination was signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and published this Thursday (4) in an extra edition of the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU).

According to the government, the postponement occurred so that the system implementation process can be completed. Furthermore, the measure was postponed so as not to coincide with the start of the high travel season at the end and beginning of the year. “The intention is to guarantee a safe introduction of the measure, without consequences for the tourism sector”, informed Palácio do Planalto, in a note.

The resumption of the requirement was decided in March. The government considered the “principle of reciprocity”, as these countries did not relax the visa requirements for Brazilian citizens after the exemption adopted unilaterally by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), in 2019. Japan was one of the countries on the list, but was released from the obligation in September, after committing to stop requiring visas from Brazilians for trips of up to 90 days. The agreement will initially be valid for three years.

In September 2023, at the time of publication of the previous version of the decree, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, highlighted that the government is always willing to negotiate visa exemptions on the basis of reciprocity.

“In other words, the country that accepts Brazilians to travel without a physical visa, we will give them the same advantage… Under the previous government, the requirement 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 the chancellor.