Brazilian Bureaucracy

[sydneyboy]

The most irritating aspect of visiting Brazil has always been the acquisition of a visa. The system was always pedantic and time consuming. In the 10 years I have been visiting Brazil the system has become increasingly onerous. I am planning a trip at end October and the system has reached new heights of bureaucratic absurdity. Now all travel documents including photos, itinerary etc must be scanned and sent with the online application form prior to an appointment at the Consulate. . At the appointment original documents must be presented along with your passport and another visit is required to collect the passport with visa. It is rather amusing that they strongly stress that no money should be expended on your proposed visit prior to the issue of a visa when they require your itinerary with, naturally flight details.

 

They will not accept telephone calls to clarify issues and the only way to ask questions is via email. Email responses simply refer you back to their website which is about as clear as an arcane chapter from a James Joyce novel. One of the great joys of travel for an older gay traveller has been the rent boy saunas of Sao Paulo and Rio. The Brazilian Consulate is making this experience a needless ordeal.

[+ azdr0710]

have you tried these folks?....I used them for my Brazil visa three years ago and it was nearly painless....yeah, there's a fee for their service and you still have to fill out forms.....I had to call them for some minor printing problem and a person answered!

 

http://www.travelvisapro.com/

 

oh, just saw you're in Australia...maybe this company won't work

[sydneyboy]

Since my original post I have cancelled my forthcoming trip to Brazil. My travel agent told me that Brazil and India used vie with one another as the most difficult countries to obtain a visa. More recently India have streamlined their procedures whereas Brazil has become more nit picking than ever. The only sane conclusion you can come to is they want to deter rather than encourage tourism.

[+ azdr0710]

interesting comments, sydney......about three years ago here in the US, then- Sec'y. of State Napolitano announced some plan to do away with the visa requirement for US citizens......don't know if anything substantial became of that.....with next year's Olympics in Rio, I wonder if there is going to be some frustration

[+ Charlie]

Last Sunday's Travel section of the LA Times had an article about this subject, in response to a reader who had written to the editor about his problems getting a Brazilian visa from the consulate in LA. Apparently there are many complaints about the process. One of the explanations, for Americans, was that the Brazilian and American governments are not on very good terms at the moment, so the Brazilians have decided to make the process as onerous--and expensive--for Americans as the Americans generally make the process for South Americans.

[sydneyboy]

Charlie

You make a good point. There is a lot of tit for tat in all this. Australia and Brazil do not have reciprocal arrangements so Australians have got to go through all the rigmarole meanwhile across the Tasman New Zealand and Brazil do and New Zealanders do not need a visa. However this does not fully explain the almost incredible obstacles Brazil has in place in the obtaining a visa.

[Nomadic]

Later this month I'm heading to Rio for the first time in about 5 years and thought I'd peruse the message boards to find out what the saunas with boys were like nowadays. I stumbled across this thread and just had to laugh ... such first world problems.

 

Yeah, their process is clumsy. Yeah, it could be better. But is it difficult? Not in the least. They even offer very clear instructions on how to complete your visa application, something you hardly ever find. To clear up a few things, you do not have to upload any documentation to their website. Their instructions tell you that it may help speed up the process if you do. Though they use the non-existant word 'agilize' for 'streamline' in the instructions. I knew what they meant, it just took some research to figure out the translation of 'agilizar' in Portuguese is 'to streamline'. The only thing I uploaded was my photo, and creating that photo was a goofy process. Passport photos are 2" x 2" and they want you to upload a 1 1/2" x 2" picture, without changing the aspect ratio, so you have to crop the photo, no Coneheads. If you're have troubles doing that, again, the instructions walk you through it. All the other supporting documents they listed I brought along with me to the appointment.

 

As to having to make a return trip to collect your passport, that's not unusual for most countries that require visa applications. The Brazilian website states you possibly could get the passport same day or you could give them a paid next day postal envelope and they would mail your passport back to you. I don't know if I got lucky, but I showed up about 5 minutes before my appointment time, they called me 15 minutes later and the completed passport with visa was returned to me about 45 minutes after that and I was on my way. In all I was there an hour. And it's not like the office was empty, she was calling name after name from her list of appointments (spaced 5 minutes apart) and taking in lots of applications.

 

As to the cost, they charge in reciprocity to whatever your country charges their citizens, in my case it was $160. Yeah, that might sound expensive, but the visa is a multi entry 10 year visa. Most countries I've visited that required visas are just for a single entry. If you only travel to Brazil once, it's relatively expensive and some work. If you go a few times, it's a lot cheaper and less time consuming than places that require you to go through the process for a new visa for every single visit.

[Tigger]

I was thinking of a trip to Brazil to visit the saunas. But I don't think the dates I could get away are going to match the time it would take for a visa. I'm wondering if Buenos Aires in Argentina has a similar sauna scene.

[mattr]

Even though I live in NY I went through a service called "It's Easy" and it was. The Visa is good for 10 years and you can even use it if your passport expires. Of course you need a current passport but they will look at the visa in the expired passport.

[+ Axiom2001]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer is NO! If there had been saunas in BsAs similar to the ones in Brasil, my friend and I would definitely had gone, for I've visited this "Paris of the South" on five occasions since 2005; I even met a porteno who escorted as well as served as our guide during my second trip there. Have been back since then and do yearn to return!

 

(Many portenos have big cocks, too and are quite gorgeous in their own right!)