Originally Posted by
China Clipper
Brazil is a horror show. I have friends whose passports were kept for weeks by the Brazilian consulates in the USA, which refused to respond to any communications regarding them. Nearly every consulate now requires not one but two in-person meetings which for many people involves considerable travel. The clerks are notorious for arrogant and capricious behavior. The fee ($160 or $180) is a trivial matter by comparison.
I wish I'd researched this before ever planning travel to Brazil. I'm sure it's a wonderful country but it's taken ten years off my life.
Wow - I'm sorry to hear about those experiences. I've had to get two Brazilian tourist visas in the past, and both times it was pretty painless.
The first time was in 2005, at the Brazilian consulate in Asunción, Paraguay, when I was traveling aimlessly around South America. I went to the consulate, got their bank information, went to the bank to make my payment, came back with the receipt to the consulate and dropped off my passport, returned the next day to get it and my visa.
The next one I had to get was early last year, at the consulate in DC. I went, used the Internet kiosk they had set up to enter my information and print out the application form, paid in cash (despite the supposed insistence on a money order/cashier's check), then picked up the passport and visa two weeks later. I actually think the visa was in fact ready a few days before the day they told me to come back.
It sounds like the process has become far more difficult and arbitrary since then.
