Everything You Need to Know About Getting a Brazilian Tourist Visa

Since April 10, 2025 Brazil is once again requiring that visitors from the USA, Canada and Australia apply and receive a tourist visa. 

The application process can take 3 weeks, I recommend allowing more than 3 weeks to send and receive your passport back. In addition to all of the paperwork you will need to send them an self addressed and stamped cardboard envelope (FedEx) so that they can return your passport and visa to you.

According to the Brazilian government's website:

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

1. Valid Passport (signed, valid up to the end of the travel to Brazil, 2 visa pages free)
2. Visa application form (completed online)
3. Passport-style photo (2” x 2”, white background)
4. E-visa fee payment (US$ 80.90)
5. Confirmation of flight reservation (showing entrance into and exit from Brazil)*
6. Printed bank statement showing transactions for the last 30 days and showing at least US$ 2,000.00 for travel*

*Numbers 5 and 6 are listed on some Brazilian consulate websites and not others. Please be prepared to provide that information.

I suggest that if your passport will be within 6 months of expiring before the end of your trip you should renew right away. I have heard that Brazilian Federal Police will no let you enter Brazil if your passport will expire within 6 months. 

Renew or replace your US passport here.

Filling out Brazilian government website forms can be extremely frustrating. It can look like you filled in all of the information correctly and you will still get error codes. Just keep tweaking and trying. And see the note above about number's 5 and 6, you may or may not be required to provide that information.

You can get same day Passport style photos at almost any Kinkos, FedEx, UPS office for $12. You can also DIY pretty easily if you have a printer that prints on photo paper. However there are requirements for how big your head appears and stuff. I find it easier to just go get it done. 

Printed bank statement. Yes, you need to show that you have an active bank account with at least $2000 in it for your travel. 

To apply for the visa you need to contact the consulate nearest your city. For us in the Pacific Northwest of the USA that is San Francisco. The website can be found here:  https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-sao-francisco/electronic-visitor-visa-e-visa

Application portal:
https://brazil.vfsevisa.com/

As you go through this process and find tips or tricks that could be useful for other travelers please share them in the comments below.