Tuesday 20 March 2012

USA to Review Tourist Visa for Brazilian Citizens

The USA is making moves to simplify the process for citizens of Brazil visiting the States, so that they receive 90-day Tourist Visas on arrival in the country. This will avoid the lengthy and expensive process of paying to book advance consulate appointments, the interview with the immigration departments of the various consulates, and perhaps lessen the possibility of still being refused entry to the USA on arrival there.

President Barack Obama signed a new executive order with the aim of promoting travel to the USA for citizens of Brazil and Argentina, amongst other countries with growing economies. There may be some delay with implementation of new rules though, due to larger budgets being necessary to provide more staff to deal with applications, and with elections looming this is unlikely to be a priority for Congress.

As always with such changes, the bottom line is the dollar. Brazilians visit the USA as tourists in large numbers and spend more money per capita than any other nation as they spend small fortunes on consumer goods such as clothes and electronic goods. This amounted to US$5.9 billion in 2010, and with such large sums involved, the USA is keen to capture even more of the Brazilian travel market and make it as easy as possible for Brazilians to visit and spend money.

This good news is not yet guaranteed but hopefully it will also mean an eventual change in the Visa Rules for citizens of the USA who want to visit Brazil.

The reciprocal visa system in Brazil is used as a tit-for-tat response to countries which insist on prior organisation for Brazilians. With a strengthening economy and an emerging middle class, Brazilians now travel abroad in ever greater numbers. Hopefully other countries will also want to attract Brazilian tourists and introduce a visa exemption for them, resulting in citizens from Canada, Australia, India and Singapore amongst others being issued 90-Day Tourist Visas on arrival in Brazil. The more countries that are on the Visa Waiver list along with those from the European Union, Mercosul, South Africa, Namibia, Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand amongst others, the easier life will be for all of us involved in the Brazilian Tourist Industry as well as those people wishing to visit Brazil.

We can only hope!

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