Brazil - anyone get a 5 year visa recently?

[CHK]

I didn't know there were 1 year visas, no one ever mentioned that there was a choice of 90 day, one year and 5 year visas.

 

I have still not received my visas back from Houston, their website tells me that my Visa is "In Process"...I didn't think it woud take this long. Glad I still have 7 weeks left before our cruise.

 

Marion

Hi--I hope you'll post when you get your visa--how long it took and what kind of visa (5 year or ??) I was going to wait to put in our request but maybe better not it if takes too long...

[Mparis184]

CHK: I am still waiting for our visas. I now call the Visa service daily to check on the status and am told the same thing "it is processing and they are very busy, it might be here tomorrow." It's getting old fast!

 

They received my visa application on December 31! We are leaving fro Rio on March 7 - good thing I gave them a lot of time to "process" it. :confused:

 

Marion

[Mparis184]

I just received an email that our visas have been shipped via FEDEX.

 

I will let you know when I receive them and how long they are good for.

 

Marion

[Mparis184]

I sent Visa Express a letter with our application requesting a 5 year visa - today our 90 DAY VISAS arived!

 

Do not use a visa service out of Houston if you want a 5 year Visa because they do not issue them. I don't have another trip planned to Brazil right now but I might have booked another cruise going in or out of Brazil in the future. The Visas were very expensive and I am not going to be too eager to book another cruise stopping in Brazil due to the cost of the visas! With shippinhg to and from Houston it came to $375 for the two visas. That was a lot cheaper than getting the Visas through Oceania. :mad:

 

Marion

[Shorex]

There is much confusion on the subject of how long a Brazilian visa is valid. Every reliable resource (including the Brazilian consulate) has indicated the following:

 

"90 Days" is significant in TWO ways:

 

1. Tourist Visas must be used within 90 days from the date they are issued or they become void. Tourist Visas are good for multiple entries for the duration of the visa. [From the Consulate General of Brazil]

 

2. All Tourist Visa holders may only stay in Brazil for up to 90 days, regardless of nationality or the length of time that the Visa is given for. [Also from the Consulate General of Brazil.]

 

3. The tourist visa for Americans, Canadians and Mexicans is valid for multiple entries for five years from the date it was first used (unless otherwise noted in ink in the visa). So, if you enter Brazil within ninety days from the date it was issued, it remains valid for other visits for the next five years.

 

Perhaps it is noted in ink in your visa that multiple entries are not allowed, but that would be very unusual.

 

This website shows how to read your visa. In the sample shown, the visa is valid for 1825 days.

[Mparis184]

When we get to Brazil I will ask Immigration how long the Visa is good for. It clearly states that the visa is only valid for 90 days. I understand others say 5 years.

 

Marion

[CHK]

DH and I will be in Brazil for a mere 6 hours as part of a Trans-Atlantic cruise this coming April. We've got all of the info on applying for the visa in late January or early February, BUT we'd really like to get a 5 year visa because we hope to do an Amazon River cruise in 2009 or 2010.

 

The visa services are all telling us the same thing: they have no control over the length of the visa that the Consulate authorizes. Several services have told me outright that the Consulate they deal with (Houston is one) will absolutely not give us a visa for longer than 90 days--even if we had the Amazon Cruise booked already.

 

It seems that maybe each Consulate does things a bit differently. If anyone out there has obtained a 5 year visa recently, maybe you could tell me which Consulate and/or service you went through (apparently, even though we live in Florida, some of the Consulates accept applications from Florida residents when submitted through a service)

 

:confused:

Here's an update:

 

Based on all of the replies--plus some conversations I've had with other folks, it appears that some Consulates never issue 5 year visas (Houston is one) and others routinely issue 5 year visas (I'm hoping that Miami is one of those) and with still others it depends on the person processing the application.

 

All things considered, we decided to apply directly to the Miami consulate by mail (not all of the consulates accept mail apps but Miami does, lucky for us) We very carefully followed every rule, attached every required document, and sent them off to Miami via UPS yesterday--1/28/08. They were received early this afternoon--1/29/08.

 

I'll let you all know when we get them back--and whether we got our 5 year visas or not.

[cruisenfever]

We just received our Visas for Brazil on Monday, January 28. We sent them in on January 18 and used TDS. The Consulate that we had to use was in Washington, DC.

 

Our Visas are good for 5 years. One of the couples on our roll call delivered their application forms to the Consulate in Miami in person. Their Visas are also good for 5 years.

 

It's strange that the validity of some Visas vary by what Consulate you have to apply to......when they basically cost the same.

[wdr59911]

We just got our Brazilian visas and used Travisa.com out of Los Angeles. The visa cost went up Jan 01. They were $140.00 each + the agency fee and mailing costs...right around $400 US for the two of us. (that is probably now about 10 Euros <G>).

 

From what I understood, it does not matter what agency you use or where they are located. Your visa is still processed at the consulate that has jurisdiction over your state of residence (if you are US). I am not certain about that, however. If you do it yourself, you must use the correct consulate since each one has its own application form, complete with their own quirky little questions. Viva SA!!!

 

Travisa is excellent, they actually answer phone calls and you can track it online. We live in Montana so we went through them because they are in LA.

 

Our visa was for five years.

[lloydwa]

DH and I will be in Brazil for a mere 6 hours as part of a Trans-Atlantic cruise this coming April. We've got all of the info on applying for the visa in late January or early February, BUT we'd really like to get a 5 year visa because we hope to do an Amazon River cruise in 2009 or 2010.

 

The visa services are all telling us the same thing: they have no control over the length of the visa that the Consulate authorizes. Several services have told me outright that the Consulate they deal with (Houston is one) will absolutely not give us a visa for longer than 90 days--even if we had the Amazon Cruise booked already.

 

It seems that maybe each Consulate does things a bit differently. If anyone out there has obtained a 5 year visa recently, maybe you could tell me which Consulate and/or service you went through (apparently, even though we live in Florida, some of the Consulates accept applications from Florida residents when submitted through a service)

 

:confused:

We just got Brazilian visas good for 5 years through the Casto Travel Agency and the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco. Casto's number is [408]984-7000

 

Lloyd & Anna

[CHK]

Well, we got our visas today--and they are good for 5 years. We mailed our applications directly to Miami (the Consulate for our State) and did not use a service. We mailed them to Miami on Jan 28th, they were received on Jan 29th and we received our visas on Feb 12th--a total of 15 days from start to finish.

[CHK]

We just got Brazilian visas good for 5 years through the Casto Travel Agency and the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco. Casto's number is [408]984-7000

 

Lloyd & Anna

Apparently some of the Consulates will process applications from states outside of their own jurisdiction--but only under certain circumstances. For example, Houston (which only gives out 90 day visas) will process applications from any state but only if you use a Houston based visa service.

And at least one other consulate (Washington, DC, I think) will process walk in applications no matter where you live. It makes you wonder if the US visa process is as complicated!

[jdr93]

thanks to everyone who posted here we got our visas yesterday. we considered going through a visa service right up until the moment we dropped them into the fedex collection box. we even spoke with our ta, and attempted to talk with american express who were advertising at a travel show we attended that they could help with the process. a few days later, when we asked, they said they didn't have a clue what we were babbling about. our ta said they only used a visa service in washington, dc.

 

so we read the posts here and on the thread for our transat from brazil to portugal (boy, did that get screwed up royally yesterday... but that's another story) and finally just took a leap of faith we could do it properly. we sent the passports, forms, photos,and money in on the 4th, they received them on the 5th (it's only 180 miles from here to boston), put the visas in the passports on the 8th, sent them back on the 11th and we got them on the 13th.

 

we've been doing our happy visa day dance.

[cafeamericaine]

I took my application in myself to Brazilian consulate in Los Angeles (they do NOT do mail-in applications). Although I had yellow fever certificate with me, they did NOT ask for it (or flight arrangements either, just the ship itinerary). I am told I can pick it up on March 4 (or any subsequent Tuesday or Thursday between noon and 1 pm), so that will be 11 days total processing time. Cost was $130 in money order (no cash or checks).

 

Waiting to see what time period of the issued visa will turn out to be, 5 years or if it's a shorter one.

[hcat]

we are researching way in advance for a cruise in 2010 whihc will be RT BA, Argentina with stops along the way in other countries... Do we need a Visa for each country we stop off in?

--can anyone tell us how fafr in advance we would we need to get all this Vias applic stuff done...seems it could be done too early or too late--not really catching onto it all.. didn't have these issues in Europe.... We are in NY so does that mean a day in NYC for this unless we use the service?

[cruisenfever]

we are researching way in advance for a cruise in 2010 whihc will be RT BA, Argentina with stops along the way in other countries... Do we need a Visa for each country we stop off in?

--can anyone tell us how fafr in advance we would we need to get all this Vias applic stuff done...seems it could be done too early or too late--not really catching onto it all.. didn't have these issues in Europe.... We are in NY so does that mean a day in NYC for this unless we use the service?

If you check out this site http://www.traveldocs.com/ it should give you all the information you need to know regarding the countries visited.

 

As far as SA goes, a Visa is needed when visiting Brazil whether you fly in or sail in. They must be used for the first time within 90 days of issuance and then are usually good for 5 years. The cost right now is $140pp plus postage and if you use a service tack on an additional charge plus the postage when sending to the service. It usually takes a week to 10 days for a Visa to be issued once it has been received by the Consulate that covers your state.

 

If flying into Santiago, then a $131pp reciprocity fee is collected at the airport before you claim your luggage.

 

Enjoy planning your cruise..............we are leaving on March 19 for our cruise on Splendour around the horn.

[cafeamericaine]

I took my application in myself to Brazilian consulate in Los Angeles (they do NOT do mail-in applications). Although I had yellow fever certificate with me, they did NOT ask for it (or flight arrangements either, just the ship itinerary). I am told I can pick it up on March 4 (or any subsequent Tuesday or Thursday between noon and 1 pm), so that will be 11 days total processing time. Cost was $130 in money order (no cash or checks).

 

Waiting to see what time period of the issued visa will turn out to be, 5 years or if it's a shorter one.

 

Picked up my visa today at Los Angeles consulate, right when they said and exactly 11 days after submittal. Long line for pickup, and wait was a little over one hour though. Ended up being for 5 years, so I'm happy about that!