The Brazilian foreign ministry, Itamaraty, has announced that as of October 1st this year, citizens of Canada, the United States, Australia, and Japan will need to obtain tourist visas again when visiting Brazil.
As per the press release, the Brazilian government has made the decision to reinstate the need for visitor visas for individuals hailing from Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States.
After discussing the possibility of granting visa exemptions to Brazilian nationals, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, the decision was made to reintroduce the requirement for visitor visas for citizens of these four countries.
As per the Foreigners Act of Brazil (Law 6.815), the country adheres to the principle of reciprocity and mandates visas for citizens of countries that require visas from Brazilian citizens.
However, in 2019, the former president Jair Bolsonaro eliminated the visa requirements to promote tourism in Brazil. Nonetheless, the four aforementioned countries still insisted on visas for Brazilians.
The press release mentions that the visa exemption violated Brazil’s migration policy’s pattern, which is traditionally grounded on equal treatment and reciprocity principles.
“Brazil does not grant unilateral visitor visa exemption to other countries without reciprocity,” Stated in the release of Brazil’s MFA.
The government also expressed its willingness to negotiate visa exemption agreements “based on mutual grounds with the four countries mentioned.”
In June 2020, Brazil waived tourist visa requirements for visitors from the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan and planned to extend the same to India and China to promote tourism.
As a result of the visa waivers, the number of Americans booking flights to Brazil increased by 39%. Despite this, concerns about safety, inconvenient flights, and inadequate infrastructure have been impeding Brazil’s tourism industry.
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