As had been speculated, the government of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva determined on Wednesday (8) the end of the visa exemption for citizens of the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia. According to a report by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, the government has already informed Brazilian embassies about the measure, which is not yet in effect.
The visa exemption for citizens of these four countries was granted by the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro in 2019, who argued that the decree would stimulate tourism in Brazil. The visa waiver applies to individuals traveling for tourism, business, transit, and artistic or sporting activities, for stays of up to 90 days.
However, Bolsonaro’s decision broke with the principle of reciprocity historically adopted by Brazilian diplomacy, as the countries involved did not offer the same benefits to Brazilian tourists.
Lula’s team, as soon as they won the elections, began to review the decree and consider the resumption of the visa requirement.
Firstly, because the current team believes that, without reciprocity, the visa exemption weakens Brazil in relation to the countries involved.
Secondly, because, according to the analysis made on the impact of the measure on Brazilian tourism, the visa exemption for these countries did not increase tourism in Brazil.
The ministry compared the year 2019, when the visa requirement was lifted, with the previous year and with 2022, when the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic had already been lifted.
In the case of the United States, the increase in the number of tourists from 2018 to 2019 was 12%, rising from 391,000 to 439,000. In 2022, 355,000 Americans visited, which is below the pre-pandemic level.
In Japan, there was a decrease of 4% between 2018 and 2019, from 59,000 to 56,000. In 2022, there were 16,800 tourists.
According to Folha de São Paulo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is already informing the representations of these four countries that their citizens will be subject to the same rules set for Brazilians. Before these new rules come into effect, the Brazilian government is giving a few weeks for the embassies to reorganize.