Traveling South America on a CIE card

I'm American. We took a CVC Tour to Fozdu Iguazo. My wife is Brazilian. We went to Paraguay for the Day , she used her drivers License , I used my CIE. Same for Argentina. This was on the bus. I'm not sure if it would be different in your vehicle. And these were only for the day.

How do they keep a record of your entry and exit if they are not stamping your passport?

stevefunk wrote:

How do they keep a record of your entry and exit if they are not stamping your passport?

They don't unless you actually present your passport and request that it be stamped. If you're a permanent resident of Brazil you don't need your passport or stamps for other Mercosul countries, just outside of the Mercosul bloc.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

James wrote:

stevefunk wrote:

How do they keep a record of your entry and exit if they are not stamping your passport?

They don't unless you actually present your passport and request that it be stamped. If you're a permanent resident of Brazil you don't need your passport or stamps for other Mercosul countries, just outside of the Mercosul bloc.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

Do you know if this would work for Americans going to Venezuela? Somewhat recently Venezuela made it a requirement for American's to get a visa. I'm assuming a passport and visa would still be required, even if I have a CIE card.

I'm really not sure, but I don't think you would need your passport since they'd be bound by the Mercosul Agreement to treat you just the same way that all Mercosul countries treat Venezuelans and their permanent residents.

That said, I really don't think I'd ever travel without my passport anyway. You'd really have to check with the Venezuelan Consulate here to be sure, but remember now you're not "just an American citizen" , you're also a permanent resident of a Mercosul country. While Venezuela hasn't yet met all of its commitments under the Agreement, I don't think they'd risk pissing off Brazil, the largest and richest member nation.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

That makes sense. Thanks

My wife is going to kill me with this news. She has been wanting to go to Venezuela for awhile (short drive from here), but I said we couldn't because I needed a visa and I didn't want to go through the process 

With my experience of living in Brazil before getting the nationality that with my RNE I could visit Paraguay passing from Foz de Iguaçu going to Cidade del este .. I was carrying my Egyptian passport but the fact no one stopped me to ask about it sometime they check but most of the time they don't (only in that city because it was like a big market for the Brazilian).. But to pass the border to visit Argentina that wasn't possible at all without a visa.
Wish means you can't visit any country if your original passport require you to get a visa no matter if that country is a member in the mercosul group or not.. You need to check if your passport need a visa to pass for the other country that you wish to visit or not!!
By the way there's Bolivia too you can visit it easily and they may not check your passport if you will pass through Mato Grosso

I went to both Paraguay and Argentina with my CIE..

As i asked in bus station ticket office. Even if the person has permanent residence visa of brazil, he needs to take visa of any south america country  to travel. What  matter to  pass from border is your nationality. Hope this helps u.

The staff at the bus station don't know what the hell they're talking about, and they aren't involved in immigrations matters at all. The MERCOSUL agreement and various national laws provide for citizens and permanent residents to enter any other MERCOSUL country with only their ID card, no visa required. You don't need a passport or a visa if you're a permanent resident of Brazil, just your CIE. The folks at the bus station have confused you with being just a foreign tourist.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

So when using your CIE is there no record of you entering or exiting Brazil??? Obviously there is no stamp in your passport (since you don't need it) but don't they at least enter your info in the immigration system to know if you have left or are still around? Wouldn't this be a huge gap in the system allowing people to pretend they are in Brazil and fulfill residency requirements for naturalization for example without being around?

I would presume that entry/exit information is maintained in the immigrations computer system, much as it is done in the USA. Your CIE is machine readable, just as is a passport. The absence of a document to stamp does not, in and of itself, mean that there is no record of entry and exit details.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

What  will  I do  to  get  the  CIE  card  in  Brazil