smooth

Brazlian Embassy internet site, along with FT posts, have a lot of useful information regarding Brazilian Tourist Visa for US citizens.
However, one question remains: has anybody tried to obtain visa by mail recently? What is the procedure?
I live in the Los Angeles Consulate Jurisdiction ( State of Idaho ). The Consulate does not allow me to apply by mail: only in person. Consular Service and Embassy in Washington, D.C. reffered me back to the Los Angeles office.
Looks like the only option available to me is via services of specialized visa agencies in Los Angeles. All of them charge $50/visa for assistance, plus the standard charges by the Consulate itself of $110/visa. Knowing that I'll be visiting Brazil for just (2) short days, any suggestions on how to obtain visa by mail with a minimal cost?

RioFF

Sounds like your stuck, have to use a Visa service, or possibly have someone you know in LA go for you. However, in the latter case, they will probably have to make 3 trips - one to get the right forms (which they'll have to send to you to sign), a second to drop it off, and a third to pick it up.

1K_From_SNA

My son just did it in person and had to make two trips, one to drop it off and one to pick it up. The forms are on the Internet, you fill it all out then it prints (you can't save it and edit it etc.). But your right it wasn't just one trip.

Then to make matters worse there are specific times to drop it off and specific times to pick it up. IIRC the pickup was after 3:30pm just in time for rush hour traffic.

And somewhere I read no exceptions, so they don't seem to be very flexible.

Jaimito Cartero

I recently went through the same thing. I ended up sending it to a place I found via a Google search. If you send it to an visa agency, it doesn't matter what state they're in.

The best deal I found was $110 Brazilian fee, $39 agency fee, plus $6 s/h.

Visa Express - 800-884-7579
www.visa4you.net

I got my passport back in less than 2 weeks after I mailed it. Just remember you have to use it for the first time with 90 days of issuance.

KSinNYC

First of all, if you are crossing into Brazil from Argentina at Iguazu Falls, half the time they don't even look for your visa (especially if you are crossing in a taxi and the driver says you're only going for the day). When we crossed there, we literally had to argue with the Brazilian official to stamp our visa (you have to validate it by entering the country within 90 days of the date it is put into your passport or it is no longer considered valid, and we were warned by the Brazilian consulate that at Iguazu we might have to "remind them" to validate it). But if they do check, you're stuck. And you didn't say where you were entering. So I would suck it up and buy the visa. Once you validate it, it's good for 5 years (at least it used to be). I promise that you will want to go back to Brazil -- it's an amazing place.

Regarding how to actually get the visa, I've found that you can usually go to a consulate that's convenient for you, rather than to your "assigned region." Nobody has ever asked me to prove that I'm a resident of a certain state and if really pressed you could say that you are on vacation. There is a consulate in San Francisco if that's easier for you than LA.

If you ask a friend to go for you, perhaps you could save him a trip by printing the forms beforehand. Try this link:

http://www.brazilhouston.org/ingles/visaform.htm

Hope this helps. Have a great time!

grnwayrob

Yes, it s*cks, but if you were a Brazilian and you needed a US visa, you would have to submit to a face to face interview in your assigned consular office. And you would end up spending most of the day waiting. At least Brazil doesn't carry the reciprocity thing THAT far.

vandykes44

We applied for our Brazilian visas by mail last year. We live in Michigan and sent all the necessary paperwork and $110 per visa to the consulate in Chicago and had our visas back in about 3 weeks.

ILuvParis

Will you be coming from some other (third) country? I was told by the Consulate that if I was doing a day trip from Argentina, I could apply there. They ended up accepting my application in person, anyway, however.

smooth

All of this was changed on January 1, 2005, according to the Los Angeles Consulate website: " Effective 01/01/05, the Consulate will only take walk-in applications. Alternatively, you may hire the services of a Visa agency".
I called the Consulate to confirm: yes, it is correct, walk-ins only. I asked if I could send my application to the Washington DC office: no, it will be retured to me without processing.

At this point, I would probably follow the advice of Jaimito Cartero and will use Visa Express services. Thanks to everybody for the input.

ILuvParis

I received my visa today, having applied on Tuesday, 8/23. I had also assumed that it was for five years. However, no where does it say five years. It says "valid for multiple entries within [something has been blacked out with a black marker] and a stamp next to it says 90 dias/90 days. However, elsewhere it says "Total stay per year: 180 days" - so I'm confused. I'm wondering if 5 years is what was blacked out.

GUWonder

Did you get one of the ink-only stamps (which, by the way, fade quickly and often get stamped over by other countries)? Sometimes it's hard to read. The 90 dias/90 days.

Under the date it was issued, it should say valid for entry within 90 days. And below that, in text (often in English in the US) it should say "five years". (They may have blacked out that portion.) Down below that and the consular signature stamp, it will also note "05 ANOS/05 YEARS". If you didn't get that, then you probably got a multiple entry visa good for 90 days from the date you first enter Brazil -- within 90 days of issuance or it will be no good probably -- and on any visit during the visa validity period when you enter Brazil you can stay as long as 180 days or no more than 180 days (whichever comes first). Does that make sense?

The Brazilian foreign ministry has been extremely capricious with giving Americans visas and being arbitrary in what they give vs. what is requested. It's "payback", because a fair amount of Brazilian government employees have horror stories about what happened to their relatives trying to get visas to the US or about what happens to some Brazilians upon arriving into certain OECD countries.

ILuvParis

Well, I guess I got the 90 day multiple entry visa - because the 5 years is apparently blacked out. Had I known, I would never have paid $100 for what amounts to a 1 day visit to the Brazilain side at Iguazu. I was hoping to use the same visa for later visits.

Jaimito Cartero

All this talk of Brazilian visas made me pull out my passport and look at the one I just got. It doesn't say 5 year on it anywhere, and only says 90 days.

I decided to call the visa agency and ask, and they say, as of 4 months ago, they do not give out 5 year visas anymore. The agent says the law changed. I think this will definitely make me not visit Brazil after my next visit. It seems so dumb to do it in this manner, or perhaps the visa agency is asking for short visas so they can pump you for the fee again.

work2fly

I picked mine up yesterday in SF

Valid for 5 years

GUWonder

Brazil still gives out 5-year visas. To whom, where and under what conditions is the arbitrary part.

One "trick" that helps is showing an itinerary that has you in business class when applying for a tourist visa and/or showing multiple trip itineraries in business class over the course of a year.