Loading ...Brasil Visa
Written by Brian David Crane on June 30th, 2005
Recently, the U.S. has updated its visa policies to increase security for our citizens and visitors. It will likely take you longer to get a visa than it used to, and you will find that a few new security measures have been put into place.
This is according to the U.S. State Dept. website and, thanks to this increase in security, U.S. citizens who want to travel abroad for business or pleasure to certain countries (ex. Brasil) will face the same type of restrictions.Perhaps you will be traveling outside of the U.S. or are searching for someone outside of the U.S. to fill a particular business need. What are these restrictions on the free flow of people and why should you care if you are a U.S. Citizen? A police database to cross-reference your references, an extremely high application fee ($150 and a mandatory in-person interview in the U.S. Embassy just to name the most difficult.It is clear to me that a country which prides itself on being a beacon of freedom to the world is setting a bad precedent. I recently received a Brasilian Visa and, after doing so, I now have an idea of how difficult and time consuming asinine immigration policies can be. Brasil enacted their immigration policy against American citizens as a result of the U.S. visa requirements Brasilians must go thru in order to enter the U.S. So what does receiving a Brasilian Visa entail?- A copy of your tickets showing you entering and leaving Brasil. This proved to be a problem for me as I had to plan a month in advance how to coordinate with my sister and her group in a place I have never visited.- A color passport-sized photo and a written visa application with the place(s) you will be staying in Brasil. More problems as we (myself and the group I am traveling with) don’t know where we will be staying (yet). Nonetheless, I was instructed to “fill something in” (under penalty of law for perjury).- Bank statement from the U.S. - Luckily, thanks to the Internet, I could print a copy from down here in Arg. so no problems with that other than the obvious privacy concern that I am handing over a document w/my name, address, and bank account # on it to someone I have only known for 20 minutes.- 3 day wait period and 344 pesos application fee (about $150) - Expensive and dangerous as I have to leave my visa at the Brasilian Embassy for 3 days. Luckily, there is a Brasilian Embassy here in Cordoba or I would have had to go to Buenos Aires. In comparison, when someone wants to enter the U.S., they have to go to the nearest U.S. embassy (there is only one in Argentina and it is in Buenos Aires) for an interview in addition to the requirements above.Two notes: The 3 day waiting period is extremely small in comparison to the U.S. Visa waiting period. As the State Dept. website notes: “The State Departments goal is visa delivery no more than 30 days from the time of application in most cases.”So the citizens of which countries have to go thru this maze of bureacracy? Here is the list of the 27 countries which qualify for the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Everyone else, you get to wait your turn in line.
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