Brazil Visa Waiver Bill For US, Canada, Australia Tourists

Published on Nov 20, 2025, 1:46 pm CSTUpdated on Nov 20, 2025, 2:11 pm CST

8 min read

Key points

Brazil reinstated e visa requirements for US, Canadian, and Australian tourists on April 10, 2025
A Brazil congressional committee has endorsed a bill to restore visa free entry for these three nationalities
The visa waiver bill must still clear both houses of Congress and be signed before taking effect at the border
Brazil is overhauling its e visa platform, aiming for sub 48 hour processing and digital visa on arrival from 2026
The US State Department still instructs US citizens to secure a Brazil visa before travel despite the pending bill

Impact

Apply Early For E Visas: Submit Brazil e visa applications several weeks before departure, even though the new target is under 48 hours.
Confirm Rules Before Departure: Check Brazil consular sites, your airline, and your own government travel page in the week before your flight for any rule changes.
Avoid Tight Connections Without Visas: Do not rely on same day connections through Brazil unless your visa is already approved and printed.
Plan 2026 Trips As Visa Required: Book 2026 travel assuming an e visa will still be needed and treat any later waiver as a bonus, not a guarantee.
Keep Existing Visas Handy: If you already have a valid Brazil visa, travel with the passport that contains it and a printed copy of any electronic approval.

A push inside Brazil's Congress to restore visa free entry for tourists from the United States, Canada, and Australia is colliding with a stricter reality on the ground, because the country has already reinstated a visa requirement for those nationalities and shifted them onto a new e visa platform. For at least the rest of 2025, and likely into 2026, travelers from these markets still need to secure a visa before boarding, even as lawmakers and immigration officials dangle faster digital approvals and a possible visa on arrival option.

The practical bottom line for the moment is that the Brazil visa waiver debate is a live political question, not a change at the border, so travelers should keep planning around the current e visa rules until a final law is approved and implemented.

What Changed For US, Canadian, And Australian Tourists

After several postponements, Brazil reinstated its visitor visa requirement for citizens of the United States, Canada, and Australia on April 10, 2025, ending a unilateral visa exemption that had been in place since 2019. The new policy forces tourists, business visitors, and many short term travelers from these countries to obtain an electronic visitor visa before travel, aligning Brazil more closely with its traditional reciprocity based approach to entry rules.

The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and consular posts specify that these nationals must apply either for an e visa through the VFS Global platform or, in some cases, for a traditional visitor visa, and that the exemption window for U.S. tourists closed on April 9, 2025. The U.S. State Department's Brazil country page now states plainly that a visa is required for all U.S. citizen travel to Brazil and that it must be approved before departure.

For U.S., Canadian, and Australian passport holders, the standard e visa usually allows stays of up to 90 days per visit, up to 180 days in a 12 month period, with validity often set for five or ten years and multiple entries, although the exact validity can vary by consulate and nationality.

The New E Visa Platform And Processing Times

Brazil's e visa system is delivered through the brazil.vfsevisa.com portal, where applicants upload documents, pay the fee, and receive their visa electronically. Official guidance from consulates and service partners has long advised travelers to allow up to 10 business days for processing, with many airlines urging applications several weeks in advance in case of photo or documentation issues.

In November 2025, Brazilian authorities announced a broader overhaul of the e visa platform branded around COP30 preparations, promising a new architecture that can handle surges in demand, a service level goal of issuing routine e visas within 48 hours, and a follow on phase that would support a digital visa on arrival system at major international airports from 2026. In practice, that means applicants may start seeing faster turnarounds, but the conservative planning buffer for 2025 and early 2026 should still be measured in weeks, not days, especially during holiday and event peaks.

Once the e visa is approved, travelers receive a PDF by email that must be printed and presented at check in and at Brazilian immigration. Airlines have been instructed to deny boarding if a required visa is missing, even when the traveler holds a return ticket.

The Visa Waiver Bill Working Through Congress

On November 6, 2025, the Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee endorsed Draft Legislative Decree 206/2023, a measure that would overturn Presidential Decree 11.515, which reimposed visa rules for U.S., Canadian, and Australian visitors, and would revive the earlier unilateral visa waiver for these three nationalities.

The bill's supporters argue that long haul tourists from North America and Australia spend heavily per trip and that restoring visa free entry would help rebuild inbound tourism, especially beyond Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Critics in the government and parts of Congress continue to stress reciprocity, noting that Brazilian nationals still need visas for the United States, Canada, and Australia.

For travelers, the procedural point is key. The committee vote is only an intermediate step. To become law, the decree must still be approved by the full Chamber, aligned with any Senate version, and then promulgated or sanctioned by the president. Even after that, border procedures, airline systems, and digital platforms would have to be updated before visa free entry is fully restored at airports, ports, and land crossings. That implementation work means any change for tourists is likely to land no earlier than sometime in 2026, and possibly later.

Current Rules By Nationality

While U.S., Canadian, and Australian visitors face the reinstated e visa requirement, most other major long haul markets remain under Brazil's wider visa policy, which grants visa free entry to many European Union countries, the United Kingdom, and parts of Latin America for short stays.

Japan is a special case. Tokyo and Brasília signed a reciprocal visa exemption agreement that entered into force on September 30, 2023, which allows holders of Japanese and Brazilian passports to visit each other's countries for up to 90 days without a visa. That reciprocity arrangement, which predates the April 2025 changes, is one of the precedents cited in the Brazilian debate about how to handle U.S., Canadian, and Australian travelers.

Travelers from other nationalities not covered by a waiver remain subject to Brazil's standard visa policy, which may involve either an e visa or a traditional consular visa depending on category and country of origin.

What If You Already Have A Long Term Brazil Visa

Many frequent travelers still hold physical Brazil visas issued before the 2019 waiver period, often valid for ten years and multiple entries. Community guidance and immigration advisers generally report that these visas remain valid until their printed expiry dates, meaning holders do not need to apply for a new e visa as long as their purpose of travel matches the original category.

However, because airline agents and border officers will default to the latest rules, travelers should check their visa's validity, carry the original passport or the passport that contains the visa, and confirm with the nearest Brazilian consulate if there is any doubt about whether an older sticker visa still qualifies for entry under the reinstated regime.

How A Future Visa On Arrival Might Work

The announced digital visa on arrival option, expected to tie into the new e visa infrastructure sometime in 2026, would aim to let eligible travelers complete the visa process at kiosks in major airports instead of entirely before departure. Authorities have signaled that this would still be a paid, documented visa rather than a pure waiver. It would likely involve biometric capture, document scans, and electronic approvals linked to passports and airline booking systems.

Until that system is actually live and airlines update their check in rules, travelers should assume that turning up at the airport without a pre approved visa remains a high risk move. A digital visa on arrival would help late bookers and those with urgent trips, but it is not yet a concrete option to rely on.

Planning Scenarios For 2025 And 2026 Trips

For trips between now and the end of 2025, U.S., Canadian, and Australian tourists should continue to treat the e visa as mandatory and apply as soon as flights and accommodation are booked. That includes cruise segments embarking or disembarking in Brazil and any itineraries that involve passing through immigration onto a domestic connection.

For 2026 travel that is already on the books, the safer play is to assume that the e visa requirement will still be in force and to begin the application process on the existing platform when the travel window approaches, usually one to three months before departure depending on personal risk tolerance. If the visa waiver bill eventually becomes law and Brazil formally restores visa free entry, travelers could then simply stop applying for new visas once official government and airline channels confirm the change.

Any traveler, regardless of nationality, should treat the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa pages, the local Brazilian consulate, and their own foreign ministry as the final word. Airlines will follow those sources when deciding whether to board passengers, and updates may be announced with little lead time.