The Brazilian Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of Foreign Relations have published an Administrative Decision expanding the current Visa Waiver Program during the Olympic and Paralympic Games to include four additional countries. This Administrative Decision clarifies the details of the Brazilian president’s recent announcement on the proposed change.

Citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan who travel to Brazil for tourism purposes will not be required to apply for a Brazilian visa for admission into the country between June 1, 2016 and September 18, 2016. Qualified individuals may be granted admission into Brazil for a period of up to 90 days, which cannot be extended. Under the decision, these visa waiver nationals will not be required to provide evidence that they have purchased tickets for either event in order to be admitted without a visa.

Because this temporary visa waiver program expansion is only for tourism purposes, citizens of these four countries traveling for business or work purposes will not be eligible for visa-free travel and must apply for the appropriate visa before traveling to Brazil.

Foster will continue to monitor the Brazilian government’s implementation of this temporary program and will make additional information available in future Immigration Updates^© and on our firm’s website at www.fosterglobal.com.