Me: US citizen and 15 year legal resident of Uruguay.

While I've transited through GRU many times without issue, this new visa arrangement is already giving me pause.

My US passport expires next year so I'm delaying any visa applications until I renew later this year.

On April 1st (last month), I was checking in at NY's Laguardia airport for my trip home (LGA-DFW-GRU-MVD) As usual, they noted that I didn't have a return or onward ticket and asked about a visa for Uruguay. I whipped out my national ID card that says Residente Legal and was good to to go until ...

They asked me if I had a visa for Brazil. 1. Transiting through, not exiting GRU. 2. Wouldn't need one until April 10th (now 2025) anyway. They checked my layover time, thankfully a mere three hours. They let me board - but it had me wondering what COULD have gone wrong.

In doing research, I found this forum. Happy to be here. Lots of great detailed info.

I will be happy to answer questions about airports and airlines I'm familiar with.