greetings,

my 1st post on flyer talk & i hope i have chosen the correct
forum for this topic.
i am taking my first trip to brazil & incurring my 1st Visa
requirement. i have seen many Visa facilitators on my
search results --- is there a firm recommended by the
members of flyertalk?
its a $160 Brazilian consular fee & this seems common, so i figure the
consular price is what it is. but it seems many firms are using
the "overnight" delivery services with much fluctuation in price!
and there is also the time vs price valuation system. my trip
is planned for April 4th departure, so i am assuming a 10 business
day turn-a-round is appropriate . . . .?

seems like a very good forum with a lot of technical saavy applied.
i don't think i will reach most members' skills, but i hope i can
ask better questions from studying.
i hope my studying brought me to the correct forum . . . .
apologies to all if i am in error.

thanks for the efforts & consideration my way,

There is more discussion on Brazil visas in "The World - Brazil" area.

While I don't know a specific Brazil visa facilitator, I do encourage you to use one. I tried to do the process myself several years ago. It took much longer than I expected, and was frightening. The first submission was returned and I had to pay a second round of "overnight" mailing fees. The actual visas arrived one day before our flight.

Do get professional help for the process!

Romelle

greetings Romelle,
thanks very much for the re-direction.
will take a look for sure.
and yes - i am right now in the process of
the final application thru an internet Visa
facilitator & i spoke to a person here locally
(for me) who gave me a good review of prices
& "awareness" attributes for this process.
in her words: "Brazil !!!!!! oh my god! . . . . you
had to pick this country for your 1st Visa experience."

ruh-roh . . . .
but still on course.

thanks for the reply

I've only done three - Brazil, Russia and Turkey.

I learned my lesson as to not trying to do it myself with Brazil. As my flight date got closer and I still hadn't received it, I learned American would charge me $750 to change my flight. Fortunately I didn't have to avail myself of that service.

I just paid my money to a facilitator for the Russian one. Quite a lengthy form to fill out, $$$, and mailing and waiting. However it went very smoothly, with the visa coming back to me exactly when promised.

Turkey has a completely different approach. When you arrive, at the airport, you just give them a $20 bill and they put the visa in your passport on the spot.

Good luck to you. Brazil was very interesting to visit. I'm sure you will have a fine time after you've struggled through this.

Romelle

I used Travisa and the entire process took about 3-3.5 weeks. Cost a bit, but I think the price was justified in the speed of service

Is it really that hard? I've obtained two Brazilian tourist visas in the past, and in both cases it was no problem at all.

The first was several years ago in Asunci�n, Paraguay - I showed up at the embassy with my passport, a couple of photos, and money, and I came back the next day to pick up my passport with the visa stamp in it.

Then I had to get a visa last year while I was living in DC. I printed out the form online (they even had terminals at the embassy visa office where you could do that), dropped off my passport, photos and fee, and was told to come back to pick the visa up in two weeks. When I went on the date indicated, I got my passport and visa immediately, no problems. I admit I was surprised that it took that long - but then, I didn't wait until the last minute to get the visa, so everything was OK.

If you're not located in a city with a Brazilian consulate, I imagine you'd just need to send your passport in with several weeks' notice and a self-addressed, shipping return envelope, no? Just make sure you have plenty of time before your trip, and you're fine.... or am I missing something?

I posted previously under the other thread on this board about experiences getting a visa. I sent mine November 11th and finally have it back after taking three and a half months. It went through a processing service in D.C. I did send it in early hoping to have it back by Christmas. The reason given for the delay was that with Carnival coming up and cruise ships leaving it was a particularly busy time so mine was put to the back of the line. Send it in early or closer to leaving - good question. However, hopefully this does not happen other times of the year. Wonder what is going to happen when the Olympics are in Brazil?