Visitors to Brazil from the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan will now be required to apply for and obtain an entry visa into the country.
This requirement will take effect from October 1, 2023.
Visa requirements from the aforementioned countries were formerly in place, but were suspended in 2019 by former president Jair Bolsonaro as part of efforts to boost the Brazilian tourism sector.
The suspension was however not mutual, and the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan continued to require entry visas from Brazilian visitors.
According to media reports, the decision to lift visa requirements for these countries had only weakened Brazil’s international relations with those countries.
Also, owing to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision did not boost the tourism industry. Data from the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism says that visits from America, Australia, Canada and Japan dropped between 2019 and 2021.
Incumbent Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently made the decision to bring back entry visa requirements. According to a statement by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the entry visa suspension was a “breach of the pattern of Brazil’s migration policy, historically based on the principles of reciprocity and equal treatment.”
The Brazilian government will also be re-introducing the previously suspended electronic visa modality from the 1st of October 2023.
