Tourist Visa Stays in Brazil - 180 days per year maximum

Hi Tom,

If you have been in Brazil for less than 90 days total within the year then you can simply extend your tourist visa for a further 90 days at the Regional Superintendency of the Federal Police (Departamento de Estrangeiros). This will allow you sufficient time to get married. Once you've got your marriage certificate go back immediately and apply for your permanent visa. You will get a protocol and a computer printout called a SINCRE, with those two documents you can obtain a work permit (Carteira de Trabalho) from the Regional Superintendency of the Ministry of Labor.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

yes and if its not legalized and notarized your copy is useless lol

On March 13 2013. I received my protocol number on a slip of paper with my picture on it is another Date June 13, 2013 which according to the police is the date by which I should receive further documents for processing. The PF said that I have a wait of approximately one year I am waiting for the computer print out so that I can apply for temporary work documents They did not do it then, when I did all the paperwork they said I will receive it separately but that I should hear from them in short order. In June I will go back to the PF if I have not heard from them. I always make copies of all official documents My wife thinks that is strange that I do that they have the copies,  but this is Brazil so I always make a backup copy of everything to be safe. My Tourist visa would have run out on March 14th so the process left but one day before my extension ran out. I only got 170 days since I went 10 days before the first 90 days expired they only added 90 from the date that I extended it. But at any rate I am now in the process for Permanency and what ever head aches that will entail. There is often very much conflicting information as you have stated ask 10 people get 10 different answers. I hope that one day Brazil adopts a true immigration service that handles nothing but visa's Passports and such seems the PF are overloaded,  and the processes are convoluted and confusing with too many hands in the soup so to speak

Hello John,

Please see the following posting and print off the jurisprudence in Portuguese. Take it to the Federal Police and ask to speak to a POLICE OFFICER and not some lame ass civilian who doesn't know his/her ass from his/her elbow.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=242172

If you've applied for a Permanent Visa com base em cônjuge brasileira, this automatically gives you the right to work in Brazil. The Federal Police MUST provide you with a copy of the SINCRE, they cannot deny you one. Show them the court decision and ask again for your SINCRE. If they still refuse contact a lawyer immediately and take action in the Regional Federal Court (Tribunal Federal Regional) nearest you. You can probably seek damages for "abuse of authority". It appears that this is a new tactic that they are trying to pull off in order to convince people they're above the courts (which they obviously are not) in not furnishing applicants with a SINCRE on the spot. You're not the first member who has told me they've had problems obtaining a SINCRE. This is an illegal practice.


Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

This post confuses me about one thing.  I am a Canadian and I have a tourist visa for Brazil.

It states the following:
No of Entries: Multiple
Duration of Stay: 90 days
Maximum:180 days per year

On this visa, there is nothing about having to extend in order to get 180 days per year.  I took this as meaning I can enter into Brazil as many times as I want in a year, but for each entry I have to leave within 90 days.  I am not allowed to enter if I have exceeded 180 days in total in a year period.  I have to leave before I exceed 180 days in total in a year period.

I thought the only purpose to extend is if you are staying for more than 90 consecutive days.
To me these are two valid scenarios...
Ie:) I have been here 80 days and want to stay 110 days and then leave, so I will go to PF and extend my stay.
Ie:) I have just been in Brazil for 60 days....  I plan to go back to Toronto for a month and then come back to Brazil and stay for 80 days.  This brings my total number of days to 140 in the rolling year, which is less than 180 so there is no problem.  I don't need to do any kind of official extension.

Please correct me if I am wrong, or if I am interpreting the visa wrong. 

My plan for staying in Brazil for another month or so depends on my interpretation being valid.  Once I reach 88 days of stay, I plan to leave Brazil for a 3 or 4 days and go to Argentina.  Then I will come back and get issued a new entry stamp and there shouldn't be a problem as I am within my 180 day limit as written on my visa AND I have never exceeded a single stay of more than 90 days.

-Dan

Hi Dan,

Correct, you can enter Brazil as many times as you want in a 'rolling' year as long as that stay does not exceed 90 days. You can continue to do so until you've used up all 180 days in that rolling one year time block. Once used up then you must remain out of the country 180 days from your date of departure to get back to zero, 270 days to be allowed 90 days and a full year to earn back the full 180.

Technically your scenarios are correct, but you're thinking like a Canadian again (slap on the wrist) and things don't work the way we Canucks are accustomed to here in Brazil. You may cross the border at a land crossing that doesn't even stamp your visa or one that some rookie or worse yet a civilian will try and do a calculation manually then you're sunk. Believe me, it's far better to spend the time a pay the extra few reais to get your visa extended to a fixed date rater than leave the country to avoid doing so. Not necessary, costly and risky to leave in order to avoid having to go through the formality to extend, just go apply for Pete's sake!!!

The process is very un-bureaucratic, for the Federal Police this is a miracle. You should do it at least a week or two before your visa expires. If you don't speak a lot of Portuguese you might want to take somebody with you who does, but they are all pretty good at treating foreigners well and they'll get the idea if you show them your entry stamp anyway.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Know that If you extend a week or two early they will extend from 90 days from the date you extended not from the date the first 90 days runs out. I found this out when I extended 10 days before the expiration of my first 90 days they extended the 90 days from the date of the extension and not when the end of the 90 days would have been. That the way it is in Brazil. Also be aware that they do not have to grant an extension it is entirely up to the PF so be polite and nice to them and show respect

I have some concerns with extending basically from what I have been reading on the Internet.

1) I am under the impression you can only ever extend once (for the lifetime of your visa, or once per year, I am not sure).  So, if I extend now for 12 days, I won't be able to do a longer extension in the future on another time.  Let's say in November, I want to extend as well.

2) If I extend for 90 days, I could loose all 90 days even though I only want 2 weeks. 

3) You mentioned the PF can put an exit date on the extension.  If I leave before, do I lose the number of days up to the extension

4) I heard that I could be in Brazil for over 180 days if I use an extension for an extra 90 days.  Is this true?  If so, should I save my extension until I have 180 days banked and then try to extend another 90 days?

I would be leaving the country by plane and returning by plane, so it's not a concern that they won't stamp my passport.  I am now considering going the PF route, if I can get all this information clarified.

Thanks so much for the helpful info.  By the way, I am about 6 days away from the end of my 90 day stay.

Hi Dan,

To answer your questions in order:

1. Wrong - you can extend your visa stay as many times as you wish to, provided of course that you are entitled to the days you are requesting.

2.  You don't need to extend for any specified period of time, you can request an extension of any period up to 90 days, again provided you are entitled to those days.

3. The date of your stay duration is the maximum stay permitted and has nothing whatever to do with the actual exit date. Your stays are calculated on the basis of the entry and exit stamp dates (including the day of entry and departure as full days) and not on the date of the proposed extension.

4.  The MAXIMUM stay permitted on a tourist visa (with extension) in any "rolling" one year period is 180 days, so no you would not be able to extend beyond that under any circumstances less than being hospitalized and unable to leave; and you can rest assured that is something the Federal Police would check out under a microscope.  Once you've used the 180 days you must be outside the country for 180 days just to get back to zero before you start earning days. After 270 days you could come back for 90 days, but not extend the visit. To qualify for a full 180 days you'd need to have been out of Brazil for one year. Anything between 180 and 270 you could have an UNEXTENDED visit of the number of days you had earned. Between 270 and a year you could come back for 90 days and obtain an extension for the balance of days that you had already earned. You can't "build/earn" days while in Brazil.

I really can't understand why you're complicating things unnecessarily, you seem to be catastrophizing.... take a deep breath and calm down. Stay as long as you need, a couple of weeks before your initial 90 days is up apply for an extension of the number of days you need (plus a few more just in case) and let it go at that.

The whole idea of coming to Brazil is to relax and enjoy yourself. Don't spoil your experience here by getting all twisted in knots over something that I can assure you will never happen.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

I may sound like in a bit of a panic about this, but were making sure we do it properly.  Now that we have much more information than we had yesterday, I am not anticipating any problems.

We talked to the FP in Belo Horizonte today and they advised that we can get the extension the same day as we apply.  They also said, that if I get an extension with x days (let's say 5)  left in my 90 day limit that I will lose those days.  Weird, so based on this advise, we'll probably go on day 88 or 89 in order to maximize our days.  I will take their word for it. 


I'm also open to leaving the country and coming back.  We could use a short trip to Argentina anyway

FYI, I'll probably have more questions for you about other Visa topics in the future.  I appreciate the help.

Thanks JohnC.  We talked to the FP  today in Belo Horizonte and they confirmed what you said about losing days if you apply with X days left in your 90 day period.  On the plus side, we were informed that we can get the extension the same day.  We just have to give an explanation as to the reason we need to extend.  Something along the lines of "I love being in Brazil?"

Any advice?

Don't Forget to pay the fee in advance and have the proper forms to do that at the Bank of Brazil it was R$ 67,00 when I did it

Hi Dan,

Well that shows you exactly how little the Federal Police really know. You DON'T lose those days when you apply for your visa extension(prorrogação de estada) since they just are covered by the period of the extension. How could you lose them? In that case you'd not be allowed to remain in the country during those lost days. Does that really make any sense to you when you think about it?

While in most cases, yes you will get the extension the same day as you apply I would not recommend waiting until the last moment to apply for the prorrogação. If anything goes wrong with the application or you've forgotten some document or information which will cause a delay you could risk running out of time even though you are in the process of applying - DON'T DO IT.

I got my very first prorrogação in Belo Horizonte and I can tell you they're just great, they will help you in every way. If at all possible take somebody with you that speaks Portuguese, it helps. When I got mine I dealt directly with an Federal Police Agent (now retired) who had been to Canada and treated me like his long lost brother. I've also dealt with others there, including the Delegado de Imigrações and was always treated exceptionally well. I'm sure you will be too, so don't sweat it.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

We're filling out the form for the extension.

Should we use a local brazilian address where I am staying or should I use my home address?  They don't clarify on the form.

Also, is it mandatory I bring a copy of a return plane ticket with me?  Some people on the Internet say this, but we are not sure.  The PF didn't say anything about this, and it's Saturday and they are closed.  We're planning to go Monday morning, and we agree it doesn't make sense to buy a return ticket unless we know if the extension is granted and for how long. 

Thoughts?

Hi dan001,

Yes, you will need the address of where you are staying in Brazil.

If you already have a return ticket take that with you, but I'm sure the PF understand that you will be purchasing another ticket once you obtain the extension.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Good afternoon,

I entered the country on February 12th 2013 with a french passport and a waiver for 90days. My fiance (who is Brazilian) and I are getting married on April 25th at the cartorio. After I obtained my mariage certificate what am I supposed to do in order to avoid leaving the country on May 11th after my 90 days have exprired?
Should i go to the Police Federale and strat the process for a permanent visa?

Thank you for your help.

Johanna

Johanna,

Yes.... check their site. www.dpf.gov.br

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

I just want to update everybody with my experience with the Tourist Visa extension. 

It was granted today at the PF in Belo Horizonte.  We arrives 7:50 after being told it opened at 8am, however there were quite a few people in line already, and we discovered it actually opens at 7:30.

Finally, got called (in line) at about 9:20AM.  The guy was a little stiff at first, but in the end he gave me the extension.

Some notes to others:
1) Ensure you have your passport and entry paper
2) Original flight itinerary including the original return flight if it was cancelled - I didn't have this, but was lucky to have saved a copy on my iPhone which I showed him, lucky he didn't need a copy, but next time I would bring a photo copy
3) Bring a credit card to show them - he never asked for a photo copy, but I have heard they sometimes want one - I assume they need to know that you can pay for things here
4) Able to explain how you are paying to stay here and ensure you give a good explanation why you need to stay longer and explain your valid reasons for returning to your home country afterwards - if you have a job to return to, or something lines up it provides evidence of your intention not to stay beyond your extension
5) Bring someone who speaks portuguese.  This guy couldn't speak English.


You don't lose any of the unused days in the extension as already confirmed in this thread.

Hope my personal experience is helpful....

-Dan

Hi dan001,

Right on all counts! Thanks for your update, it will certainly help all of our members who want to apply for a visa extension.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hello,

I have a question for you, similar to a previous poster's question, regarding dual passports. My girlfriend will be accompanying me to Rio on a year-long fellowship(for which I will have the appropriate visa), and she has dual American and Mexican citizenship. I am wondering if she could apply for the American tourist visa, stay there for six months, and then fly to Mexico, visit her relatives, and then fly back to Rio to re-enter on her Mexican passport (which does not require a visa) for another six months.
Is this possible/have you heard of anyone doing this? Or will they run her name and see that she has already been in the country for six months?

Thanks!

Hi afunnyblue,

While visa stays are normally linked to passport numbers the Federal Police can check a foreigner by name at any time. If your girlfriend enters the country on her US passport with a tourist visa and stays the full 180 days, leaves Brazil for Mexico and then returns to Brazil using her Mexican passport she MIGHT get in. However, having said that would she be prepared for the eventual outcome should at some point police conduct a name check and discover that she had been in Brazil and then returned while she was no longer entitled? I'm not certain about the legal ramifications but I would think this no longer falls into the category of an administrative infraction as does a visa overstay, but rather would possibly be considered some kind of fraud which would have serious legal consequences and involve deportation. I really don't think it's worth running the risk just to try and put one over on the Feds.

Another thing, her Mexican passport would only allow three months in any six month period. Not six months consecutive as you mistakenly believe.

Playing fast and loose with immigrations, while it may not have great consequences here in Brazil, still results in adverse notions on one's passport that may have extremely serious consequences should one try to enter some other country. Have you both thought of that possibility?

Best for all concerned to do everything correctly and not run the risk of ending up in a world of trouble needlessly.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi dwest -- very interested to know what happened!  How many days did you get when you arrived in Feb?

Hi amyamy,

While you may not be planning on coming back to Brazil anytime soon and as such say it doesn't much matter what happens after that; are you planning not to travel ANYWHERE following leaving Brazil?

While overstaying one's visa is not a big deal here in Brazil (considered administrative infraction here) it REALLY is a big deal in many other countries. In many countries it is a deportable offense and generally you will wind up in custody until they put you on a plane out of the country. Also if you are in the situation of applying for a visa for another country, and you must submit your passport along with the application, that big ugly stamp from Brazil will be all that most other countries need to justify refusing the visa. What happens a year from now if you get a juicy job offer in Dubai and lose out on it because you got turned down for a visa?

Also while in Brazil and overstaying your visa you become a defenseless target for anyone who wants to extort you for everything you've got. You will need to constantly look over your shoulder for the Feds, keep your mouth shut tightly about your situation for fear that somebody will find out and try and blackmail you with threats of turning you in to the Federal Police (common scam here) or even worse.

If you should get ID'd at any time by police the game is over, and here you are required to carry ID with you at all times and to produce it whenever a police officer demands to see it. No is NOT taken for an answer in such situations - jail is not a pretty optional alternative. If you've got an expired visa once again it's off to the Feds.

You can't travel within Brazil without producing identification (i.e. your passport) and while they will probably really only concentrate on the ID pages for national travel there's always the chance that somebody will thumb through it to the visa page. If it's expired they're obligated to notify the Feds.

Have you thought about any of these situations at all?

I know that young people these days think that rules are just made to be broken; or that if you can sidestep the rules to get what you want "all's fair in love and war" immigrations regulations are not something you want to take lightly and play fast and loose with - some places have pretty nasty jails, not the sort of tourist attractions that I think you'd really want to see.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hello,

I come from Finland and stayed in Brasil 90 days of my turist visa and left the country in time. Now I really would like to get back to Brazil and I was wondering how long do I need to be out of the country before I can return? (and spend the next 90 days in there)

Finland is a Schengen Area country, so you are allowed 3 months in any 6 month period (no extensions permitted). So essentially you have three months in Brazil, three months away, three months in and another 3 months away from the date of your first entry into the country.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi, I have brazil visa multiple entry but valid for 90 days, and no expiry of visa date? what is the meaning of it? I am singaporean

Hi hs2013,

Unless otherwise indicated on the visa, ALL VISAS ARE VALID FOR 10 YEARS FROM THE DATE OF ISSUE.

Multiple Entry means that you can come and go as often as you please provided that any individual visit does not exceed 90 days (unless extended by the Policia Federal) and that you have not been in Brazil for more than 180 days in any 'rolling' one year time block.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hello, I am currently staying in Brazil with my girlfriend training bjj.  We are both British and therefore received a 90 day stay upon arrival.  The 90 days expires in just over 3 weeks but we would like to extend our stay for a further 90 days, we wondered how to extend it. Do we go to the Federal Police to extend? Will it possible to stay for 180 consecutive days?  Or would it be better to leave Brazil around the time of when the 90 days expires and return a few days later? If we did this would we be simply issued a new set of 90 days (for the maximum of 180 in a year).

Sorry, you will not be able to extend your stay. For Visa Waiver Program (VWP) or Schengen Area countries 180 consecutive days is not permitted. Only 3 months in any six month period, which is calculated from the date of first entry to Brazil.

You will have to be out of Brazil for at least 3 months in order to be allowed to re-enter.

The only tourists that can extend their stay in order to have 180 consecutive days are citizens of countries that require a visa to enter Brazil.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

are the uk not exempt from this restriction? I got this impression before I arrived in February or has this changed recently?

UK citizens are exempt only from the requirement of a visa. That allows them to enter the country as a tourist for a stay of three months in any six month period. ALL VISA WAIVER PROGRAM COUNTRIES ARE THE SAME.

Sorry, I know it's not the news you want to hear, but I'm just telling you like it is.

If you want confirmation all you need to do is phone the Federal Police.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

hi my dear. i want to ask you. what the documents for working visa. or pemanent visa. its because im only tourist here in brazil. and then. i have no visa. for tourist.so i want to remove pemanent visa or working visa.thank you for your info...gidbless

Hi Marcelie,

You can get a Permanent Visa only under the following circumstances:

Married to a Brazilian citizen or foreign national with Permanent Visa;

Family reunion (i.e. parent or other immediate family member who is Brazilian);

Having a Brazilian child (either biological or legally adopted) who is in your custody and/or financially dependent upon you;

Stable union (heterosexual or same-sex union) that has existed for at least one year prior to application;

Retired person able to bring the equivalent income of US$2000 per month into Brazil;

Investor who invests a minimum of R$150.000,00 (US$75,000.00) and has approved business plan;

Refugee.

To obtain a Work Visa (VITEM-V) you first need to have a signed work contract which is confirmed and approved.

For documents necessary you can check the following link.

http://houston.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/vitem_v_(work_visa).xml

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Can I stay in Brazill permanently by recycling schengen and us passports every 90 days by taking a land trip to Paraguay?

Hello daxbr,

It is quite likely that you would be caught doing this by the Federal Police since the entry/exit points are quite limited and you would probably become recognized as a frequently seen individual. The action you describe would be considered a processual fraud and one probably subject to immediate deportation if caught. I certainly wouldn't recommend you try.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Thank you for good advice. Another one: since there is no land border py/br checkpoint, is py non citizen resident cedula valid if stopped, lets say... In Rio?

Hi daxbr,

I really don't know. It would serve as ID probably, but that would have nothing whatsoever to do with a visa or migratory status in Brazil. Here if you get asked for ID by police (obligatory to carry on your person) you must produce your travel documents if you are a foreigner. If there's anything at all out of order or they have any doubts they trot you off to the Federal Police right away.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

hello dear. thank you so much for your addvice.

Marcelie,

I'm sending you a private message to explain something to you that I don't want to put in the open forum. Check your mailbox for the message.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team