The date for requiring a visa to enter Brazil for holders of joint passports from Australia, Canada and the United States has been postponed to April 10, 2024. The new date was made official by the Decree No. 11,875, published in an additional issue of the Official Journal of the Union this Thursday, January 4. The text signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva modifies Decree No. 11.692, published in September 2023, which provided for the start of visa collection on January 10.

The extension aims to complete the system implementation process and avoid starting implementation in a period close to the peak tourist season at the end and beginning of the year. The intention is to ensure a safe introduction of the measure, without consequences for the tourism sector.

RECIPROCITY — Reciprocity is a historical principle of Brazilian diplomacy. In September 2023, when publishing the previous version of the decree, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira clarified that the federal government is still willing to negotiate visa exemptions on the basis of reciprocity. “In other words, the country that accepts Brazilians to travel without a physical visa, we will give them the same advantage,” he explained.

“Under the previous government, the obligation for Americans, Canadians, Australians and Japanese was suspended. The measurement was given free of charge. No reciprocity. Brazilians continue to need a visa to travel to these countries,” he recalled.

In May 2023, President Lula was in Japan and reached an agreement to exempt Brazilians entering that country and Japanese arriving in Brazil from visas. The exemption measure came into force in September last year.

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