The good news are in!
Citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan will no longer need tourist or business visas to go to Brazil starting on June 17th, 2019.
These countries require visas from Brazilians looking to enter their territories and thus Brazil did too, as part of a reciprocity policy. However, starting in 2018, that reciprocity policy began to change as an effort by the Brazilian government to encourage tourist and business travel by citizens of these four countries. In January of 2018, the Brazilian government instituted an online process to get a visa. The called it the Electronic-Visa (or E-visa), which made the visa process for tourists and business travelers easier and cheaper. This move by the government also pointed towards a possible complete future extinction of visa requirements for citizens of these four countries.
And so it is that starting tomorrow, June 12th, 2019, the E-Visa will be phased out and as of June 17th, 2019, American, Japanese, Australian and Canadian citizens will only need a valid passport to travel to Brazil for business or tourism.
Visitors will be granted a stay of up to 90 days, which can be extended once for the same period, as long as they do not exceed 180 days within a 12-month period, counted from the date of the first entry. If the regular stay is exceeded, the visitor will be considered an illegal alien subject to the applicable measures by the Brazilian government.
Specially relevant to the work BPS does, citizens of these countries from now on, as long as they are being paid by companies in their countries of origin, are legally allowed to carry out filmmaking activities in Brazil without a visa. This is huge news for us here at BPS!
BPS can still be your partner in getting the ANCINE permit, but we are very happy that it is now easier for our foreign clients from these four countries to come and shoot projects in Brazil.
If you are from these or any other country and is looking to shoot in Brazil, you can take a look at this page and contact us for any additional help.