The Tourist Visa Question

While I've written a lot about residency and work visas in both Brazil and the U.S., one of the simplest types of visas is the one causing rumblings in both Brasília and Washington. Tourist visas are causing bureaucratic hurdles for Brazilians and Americans alike, and costing both countries millions of dollars in potential tourism revenues.

Getting a U.S. tourist visa for Brazilians is expensive, time-consuming, and an even bigger pain if you don't live in one of the four Brazilian cities with a U.S. consulate (Rio, São Paulo, Brasília, and Recife). For families, it can cost thousands of dollars, and for those who have to travel to another Brazilian city, even more for flights and hotels. Consulates are facing increased demand as more and more Brazilians can afford to go abroad, and it can take months to even get an appointment.

Despite the hurdles, more Brazilians than ever are coming to the U.S. According to this blog post from The Hill, the numbers are telling:

In 2011, 820,000 visas were issued in Brazil, an increase of more than 42 percent over the previous year.
In October, more than 90,000 visas were cleared in Brazil, 67 percent more than October of last year, State Department officials said.

Brazilians are spending big bucks in the U.S. They're doing loads of shopping, and spending tons of money at outlet malls. In 2010, Brazilians spent $5.9 billion in the U.S., spending an average of $4,236 per person. The majority of money was spent on shopping, restaurants, theme parks, historical sites, and to a lesser extent, city tours and museums. But it's not just in the U.S.: from January to October this year, Brazilians spent $17.7 billion abroad.

There had been some talk about eliminating tourist visas for Brazilians altogether, based on a decreased visa  rejection rate, but it looks highly unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. But several interest groups have come down hard on the U.S. government to speed visa processes for Brazilians and Chinese tourists. The National Retail Federation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Travel Association are urging Congress to pass several bills that would speed up visa processing times and increase the number of consular employees.

Interest groups started a campaign called Ready for Takeoff to argue for changed visa rules, proposing solutions like video conferencing for tourist visas interviews and reducing visa interview wait times to 10 days or less. Richard Dow, the president of the U.S. Travel Association, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called "The Lost Decade of Tourism," warning that the U.S. is losing billions of dollars because of visa delays and bureaucracy. He also says the U.S. is losing business to Europe, where Brazilians can go without a visa.

But there are already plans in place to increase the number of tourist visas given in Brazil, whether or not the bills pass. The U.S. will double the number of consular employees in Brazil by next year, and hopes to increase the number of tourist visas given to Brazilians to nearly 2 million in 2013.

Brazil also may reassess its tourist visa policy. Because of a reciprocity rule, Brazil obliges Americans and Canadians to get tourist visas to enter Brazil, as well as visitors from other countries that require Brazilians to get tourist visas. While other issues like high costs, fears of violence, and insufficient infrastracture play a part in hampering tourism, visa requirements do as well. As a result of all of these factors, the Brazilian government is also exploring ways to increase tourism. As El Pais reporter Juan Arias points out in an op-ed called "Brazil's strengths lies in its deficiences," he says:

"Just consider the fact that Brazil with all its beauty, its 8,000 kilometers of virgin beaches, and its huge cultural wealth only receives 4 million tourists a year, when tourism could be one of its greatest sources of revenue."

According to Embratur, 5.16 million foreign tourists visited Brazil last year, a nearly 8 percent increase from 2009. But in theory, it should be much bigger. For example, the same year, 22 million foreign tourists visited Mexico and 4 million visited the Dominican Republic.

In fact, Brazil's Congress is considering a bill that would eliminate tourist visas from January 2013 to December 2016, in an effort to encourage more tourists to visit for the Confederations Cup, the World Cup, and the Olympics. The bill's author, Federal Deputy Carlos Eduardo Cadoca, defended the initiative, arguing reciprocity doesn't make sense and that tourism revenues will benefit the country.

In an ideal world, neither the U.S. nor Brazil would require tourist visas from one another, which would undoubtedly increase tourism and be less of a headache. But for now, any real attempts to reduce bureaucracy, wait times, and costs for travelers will be welcome.

Comments

[Marcio Bernardo]

I habe missed feelings about this...

I understand your point it is revenues and tourism helps many small to medium companies, but it the "price" of attracking tourism is to transform a part of Brazil into "Cacun"! I rather stay at 4mm per year thank you very much. I have a feeling that many of our "local secret places" and local culture would be lost catering for international tourist... For me Jericoacoara, Morro de Sao Paulo and to some extent Ilha Grande all had great loss due to large increase in tourism

I hope that costs of internal flights would decrease and a large part of that 17.7 bilion dollars would be spend in Brazil (this is the best solution for me)

[Adam Gonnerman]

Does Brazil still require U.S. citizens to get messy, inky fingerprints when they arrive in the country because the U.S. takes fingerprint scans of Brazilians and other foreign nationals when they arrive? Reciprocity needs to die a swift death.

[Rio Gringa]

@Marcio, I see your point and agree Brazilians could do a lot more domestic traveling. But Brazilians really do love to shop abroad, a slightly different roteiro than say, Ilha Grande.

@Adam, yes, I believe for some temporary and permanent visa holders. (Not tourist though, as far as I recall)

[Adam]

A few reasons why so few people visit:

- Threat of Violence, both perceived and real.
- Its quite an expensive destination, in comparison with neighboring countries
- Lack of trains between cities
- Distance from main markets

[RFS]

Oh, the tragedy of ink fingerprints! Why are Americans so hated, oh why!

[Marcio Bernardo]

kkkk RFS you read the whole post and that is your understanding of it?!!!

Talk about bias... you are so hell bend on "proving that she is out to get poor Brazil that it is funny"

She only stated FACTS here...

[Rio Gringa]

In fairness to RFS, I think he was responding to Adam's comment about fingerprints, not the post. : )

[RFS]

My comment wasn't directed at her post, Marcio, even though I disagree with her take. This is an ill-timed move. Tourism is an unstable sector, and in times such as those, where the global economy remains shaky and currency fluctuations are unpredictable, any attempt to cater to foreign tourists is bound to fail, IMO.

[Corey]

All good points, but I think it's a couple things that turn Americans away. I think the lack of familiarity is one. When vacationing, most Americans don't like doing things they're not used to. Look at how many don't even have a passport. When most travel, they either stay stateside, or visit Cancun, or a tourist destination as such where they know the private resorts will have full staffs that speak fluent English and are waiting and willing to get you whatever you need. I've been living in Brasil for a couple years now, and it's rare to come across people that speak English, even in the more touristy areas. Also, the high cost of travel and lodging causes most Americans to rethink their vacation destinations. Most Americans only have a week or two of vacation, so a lot of them prefer something closer than the 12 hour trip (flight+layovers) and paying at least a thousand dollars out of the major cities, and even more if they don't live in NYC/DC/ATL/MIA, etc. I've been able to convince some of my family and friends to come visit, but when they see the price of the trip before factoring in the hotel and local itinerary

[Antonio Pastor]

It's good that the U.S. and Brazil are making moves to ease the Visa requirements for entry in each other's territory. Increase in tourist receivables in each economy would boost growth and expansion potentials for both states. More cooperation; relaxation of Visa costs, time procedures and bureaucracy; and loosening of entry rules will make perfect examples for other countries to follow suit.
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