Visa Requirements
Brazil has a reciprocal visa policy with all countries, meaning that whenever prices and restrictions are applied to Brazilian visiting a country, Brazil adopts the same measures for that country's visitors.
Citizens from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Zambia may enter the country with a valid ID card and stay up to 90 days.
No visa is required for stays of up to 90 days from holders of passports from these countries, unless otherwise indicated: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Rep., Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR passport, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom Including British National (Overseas passport holders), Uruguay , Venezuela 60 days and Vatican City. Note that the immigration officer has the right to restrict your visa to less than 90 days, if he deems fit. This has been done routinely for lone male travellers arriving in Fortaleza, allegedly to combat prostitution tourism. He will then state the number of days e.g. 60 or 30 in pen writing inside the stamp just given in your passport; if not, it remains as 90 days.
Citizens from all other countries complete list (http://www.portalconsular.mre.gov.br/antes/quadro-geral-de-regime-de-vistos-1) do require a visa. The fees vary depending on reciprocity: for example, US citizens have to pay at least US$160 for a tourist visa and US$220 for a business visa. As of August 2012, citizens of Canada should expect to pay at least CDN$81.25 for a tourist visa, not including any handling or processing fees. Cost of Brazil visa for citizens of Taiwan or Taiwanese passport holder pay $20 Reference from Embassy of Brazil in Lima, Peru and 5 days to process. The reciprocity, however, also frequently applies to visa validity: US citizens can be granted visas valid up to 10 years and, likewise, Canadian citizens for up to 5.
Tourist visas including those granted on the spot in immigration control, as for most Europeans can be extended at any office of the Policia Federal. All state capitals, and most border towns and international ports have one. Tourist visas only be extended once, for a maximum of 90 days, and under no circumstances can you be granted more than 180 days with a tourist visa for any 365-day period. You should contact the federal police about 1 week before your visa expires. The handling fee is currently R$ 67 Oct. 2008. You may be asked for an outbound ticket book a fully refundable one on the internet, then cancel when your visa is extended, and a proof of subsistance for which your credit card is mostly accepted. In order to apply for the extension, you must fill out the Emissão da Guia de Recolhimento on the Federal Police website, which you will carry to the Banco do Brasil in order to pay the fee. Do not pay the fee until you have spoken with a federal police officer about your case. If she/he denies the extension of your visa, you must have a bank account in Brazil in order to receive a refund.
The requirement to first enter Brazil within 90 days of the issue of the visa now only applies to nationals of Angola, Bahrain, Burma, Cambodia, Cape Verde, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, The Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Syria, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and Tunisia. Failure to enter Brazil within 90 days will invalidate the visa, no matter how long it is otherwise valid for.
Entry vs. exit stamps
Immediately after your passport is stamped by the Brazilian Federal Police, ensure that the last number on the right-end of the stamp is a 1. A number 1 indicates that you entered the country and a number 2 indicates that you exited. Some federal police officers have mistakenly given foreigners the number 2 stamp upon entering. If you have the number 2 stamp and try to extend the visa in a city that is not your port of entry, you will be told to return to the city where you received the incorrect stamp so that it may be corrected before you can receive the extension.
By law you are required to produce your outbound ticket upon entry, but this is only enforced in exeptional cases. Even if you are asked, you could often get away with explaining that you are taking the bus to Argentina, and couldn´t buy the ticket in, say, Europe.
If you overstay your tourist visa, you will be fined R$8.28 per day as of October 2007, for a maximum of 100 days. This means that even if you stay illegally for 5 years, the fine will never exceed R$828. You will be made to pay this at the border crossing. As this can take time, it could be wise to do it a few days up front at a federal police office, especially if you have a domestic to international flight connection. The federal police will then give you 8 days to get out of the country. If you don´t pay your fine upon exiting, you will have to pay the next time you enter. The fact that you have been fined for overstaying in the past does not normally imply future difficulties with immigration, but you´d better keep all receipts and old passports for reference.
If you want to enter/exit the country for some reason without coming in contact with the immigration authorities, there are numerous tiny border towns that have virtually no control. You will perhaps be told by the local police who don´t have stamps or computer registers for immigration to contact the federal police in such and such nearby town.
When you are travelling from certain tropical regions to Brazil you need a yellow fever vaccination and the certificate showing you had this. Note that it is illegal to bring in animals, meat, dairy, seeds, plants, eggs, honey, fruit, or any kind of non-processed food without a permit. Contact [[email protected]] for more information.
By bus
Long-distance bus service connects Brazil to its neighboring countries. The main capitals linked directly by bus are Buenos Aires, Asunción, Montevideo, Santiago de Chile, and Lima. Direct connections from the first three can also be found easily, but from Lima it might be tricky, though easily accomplished by changing at one of the others. Those typically go to São Paulo, though Pelotas has good connections too. It should be kept in mind that distances between SÄo Paulo and any foreign capitals are significant, and journeys on the road may take up to 3 days, depending on the distance and accessibility of the destination. The national land transport authority has listings (https://appweb.antt.gov.b...) on all operating international bus lines, and BuscaOnibus english version (http://www.buscaonibus.co...) is great to find bus times and prices for most destinations in Brazil. Green Toad Bus (http://www.greentoadbus.com) offers bus passes between Brazil and neighbouring countries as well as around Brazil itself.
By ship
Amazon river boats connect northern Brazil with Peru, Venezuela and Colombia. The ride is a gruelling 12 days upriver though.From French Guiana, you can cross the river Oyapoque, which takes about 15 minutes.
By train
Train service within Brazil is almost nonexistent. However, there are exceptions to the rule, including the Trem da Morte, or Death Train, which goes from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to a small town just over the border from Corumbá in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. There is still a train line from there all the way to São Paulo which at the moment is not in use, but bus connections to São Paulo via the state capital, Campo Grande, are plentiful. The journey itself is reputedly replete with robbers who might steal your backpack or its contents but security has been increased recently and the journey can be made without much difficulty. It goes through the Bolivian agricultural belt and along the journey one may see a technologically-averse religious community which resembles the USA's Amish in many ways.
By car
The main border crossings are at:
with Uruguay: Chuy/ChuÃ, Bella Unión/Barra do QuaraÃ, Artigas/QuaraÃ, Aceguá/Aceguá, RÃo Blanco/Jaguarão, and between Rivera/Santana do Livramento
with Argentina: Paso de los Libres/Uruguaiana, Santo Tomé/São Borja, Bernardo de Irigoyen/DionÃsio Cerqueira, Tobuna/ParaÃso Santa Catarina, Comandante Andresito/Capanema, and between Puerto Iguazu/Foz do Iguaçu
with Paraguay: Ciudad del Este/Foz do Iguaçu, Salto del Guaira/GuaÃra, and between Pedro Juan Caballero/Ponta Porã
with Bolivia: Puerto Suarez/Corumbá, Cobija/Brasileia/Epitaciolandia, San MatÃas/Cáceres and between Riberalta/Guayaramerin/Guajará-Mirim the bridge over Mamoré river will be ready in 2007
with Peru: Iñapari/Assis Brasil
with Colombia: LetÃcia/Tabatinga No road connections on either side of the border.
with Guyana: Lethem/Bonfim
In certain border towns, notably Foz do Iguaçu/Ciudad del Este/Puerto Iguazu, you do not need entry/exit stamps or other formalities for a daytrip into the neighbouring country. These same towns are good venues if you for some reason want to cross without contact with immigration authorities.