Bound for Brazil? Beware of visa delays
A drastic slowdown in Brazil’s visa processing is threatening the plans of travelers who live in California and neighboring states.
“It’s a crisis,” said Julio Victor do Espirito Santo, Brazil’s deputy consul general in Los Angeles. “We are trying everything to improve it.”
The problem, Victor said, is a new processing system adopted on orders from officials in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia. At current staffing levels, Victor said, the Los Angeles consulate can’t keep pace with the rate of applications.
“I don’t know what Brazil’s thinking,” said a spokeswoman at Adams Passports and Visas in Burbank. “We have had to turn away so many clients because we’re not able to get them a visa.”
Though visa slowdowns often have political overtones, Victor took care to say that in this case, it’s “a technical problem…. We’re not trying to do anything against the American people. We want them to come.”
Under the old system, his office was issuing 120 visas per day in July, Victor said, but now it can handle only 30 per day.
Typically, travelers are required to submit their passports along with a visa application. In a move to keep travelers’ passports from piling up in the office, Brazil’s Los Angeles consulate on Sept. 1 banned walk-up visits by visa applicants. Instead, would-be visitors must first apply by e-mail, then make an appointment to appear in person. This way, Victor said, applicants will still have their passports in hand while waiting for appointments.
But travelers and travel agents say the slowdown is fraying nerves and has put many travelers in a tough spot.
“They’re pretty upset,” said Donna Ratte, owner of Cruise Holidays of Palm Springs, who has four customers booked on a 30-day Princess cruise from Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro, beginning Nov. 22. “You’ve got 2,600 passengers on that ship. If they’re all going to try and get visas… they’re not going to be able to do it.”
A spokeswoman at Princess Cruises said officials there had recently learned of the Brazilian backlog and were looking into the implications and options.
The Brazilian Consulate here (8484 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills; [323] 651-2664) handles visa applications from Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Its website warns that the processing time is at least 10 working days, and Victor urged travelers to submit their applications well in advance of travel. But travelers can’t act too early because Brazilian tourist visas expire 90 days after the date of issue.
Victor said he’s hoping to reduce the backlog by hiring two more visa-processing staff members in coming weeks. But if travelers want to press for more dramatic changes, he said, they “have to complain to Brasilia until Brasilia authorizes us to have more people and more machines.”
The consulate gives detailed instructions on obtaining a visa on its website.
– Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times staff writer
Photo: Rio de Janeiro’s beaches and scenery attract crowds of tourists and locals. But if you want to visit Brazil, you’ll need a visa, and that could take a while. Credit: Mario Ortiz
8 Comments on “Bound for Brazil? Beware of visa delays”
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September 19th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Are there any alternatives?
September 28th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
The reason given in this story for the visa delays is simply not true. If you go to , you will read that the only reason US citizens are required to have a visa to visit Brazil is because the US requires visas from Brazilians. The $130 fee is because the US charges that much to Brazilians.
The Los Angeles office only accepts applications from 9am til noon. You can only pick up your visas between 1pm and 3pm. And they require an appointment. When you try to make an appointment, there are none available.
On the San Francisco Brazilian Consulates’ website (the one above), it makes it very clear that this is just “tit for that.” Shame on the US government for making it difficulty for Brazilians to visit us. I don’t remember ever having a terrorist come from there. And shame on the Brazilian government for behaving like a spoiled 3-year-old brat.
September 30th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Spoiled 3 year-old brat? That´s called reciprocity, my friends. Have any of you ever seen how your Consulates abroad work? Do you have to stand in line, exposed to the elements, in the hope - frequently vain - of having your applications accepted?
October 10th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I work in the same building as the Brazilian Consulate, and Im in the Brazilian Consulate from open to close. They are trying their best to solve the New Online System, and have given a few solutions into getting more visas done. I am a Brazil Visa Service with 123brazilvisa.com and deal with the consulate everyday. I can get large groups in and individuals in without the Visa Appointment.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:23 am
To Wellington’s comments:
How many Americans are living abroad illegally?
What percentage of Brazilians in the U.S. are here illegally? (I read that in Massachusetts, where there are many Brazilians, 90% are illegal.) That, my friend, is why it’s hard to get a U.S. visa.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:49 am
I think Brazil shouldn’t require visa for US citizens. But unfortunetly It is necessary for US to require visas from Brazil otherwise there would be millions of more immigrants.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I think it is only fair to treat other countries treat you. 90% illegal is a false statement as you could never truly measure someone’s status legitimately. This treatment is completely fair when you see how we as Americans treat foreigners coming here.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I am Brazilian and American citizen living in Arizona. I was trying to help a few friends get a visa for Brazil and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like we are going to get it on time. This reciprocity makes no sense because these 2 countries live a completely different reality. As a Brazilian born citizen I believe Brazil should NOT require a Visa for Americans. Let’s face it, how many americans intend to live and work in Brazil? Nearly no one and the ones who do wish to do so, know better and would seek legal status regardless of visa being required for tourism or not. The way I see this is, it’s everyone’s loss. The people who do not get a Visa and don’t get to go to Brazil and mainly Brazil’s loss because tourists bring money to your country!