jnewman

I am from the U.S. and will be travelling to Iguaza Falls from B.A. and plan on visiting the Brazilian side. I know you are suppose to have a Visa to enter Brazil but I have heard mixed opinions on if one is needed. I would rather not spend the close to $200 US to get a Visa that I will only be using for one day. Also I have heard mixed info on if a Yellow Fever vaccine is needed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

rhkkmk

i was recently told about the bus from argentina side to brazil side---from one town to another...just don't get off at the border crossing stop and just keep going...

assume same thing for yellow fever..

we have had the shot to go anyways..

tatersalad

My understanding is that you can "get away" without a visa, but always stand the chance of getting into trouble for being illegal in the country.

Another tidbit about Iguazu that I ran across a couple of days ago is that the area is now included in a Yellow Fever area by the Brazilian government and the US CDC is posting it also. I contacted a clinic in my area that has a travel department and they also confirmed that there has been at least one case of Yellow Fever diagnosed in the Iguazu area of Argentina.

The shot requires conciliation with a doctor because it is a live vaccine and the recipient must meet certain health requirement before it can be administered.

I don't know if the vaccine is required by law.

jnewman

Thank you for the information. I am presently looking into getting a vaccine for yellow fever. Will decide when I get to Puerto Iguaza if I want to take the chance to enter into Brazil.

drdawggy

I have been to Brazil three times without a visa and denied entry once because I was visaless...

The Brazilian border is a crap shoot....some days they decide to enforce the law, other days they are glad to have day visitors who will spend money on the local economy so they look the other way...or simply close the immigration station....

Diamantina

We visited both the Argentine and Brazilian sides of Iguazu Falls last summer. This was my second trip to the falls, my first being 27 years ago.
This time, we took the local bus from Puerto Iguazu in Argentina to Brazil. The bus left us off at a bus stop that was a short distance beyond the border crossing (where we then transferred to another local bus that took us to the entrance of Iguacu National Park in Brazil).
As we crossed the border, our bus stopped and we all got off and showed our documents to immigration. The bus waited until all of us had passed through immigration.
We all had to show our documents again when we re-entered Argentina.
My husband and I (both U.S. citizens) had Brazilian visas and yellow fever vaccinations. We got our visas here in San Francisco. They cost $130 each and are good for five years. The Brazilian real has fallen with respect to the US dollar recently, so travel in Brazil is now a lot cheaper than it was even a few months ago, so if you do decide to get a Brazilian visa to visit Iguacu, you might actually have a chance to use it again within the next five years.

crellston

We (English) did this trip twice in November. The first time the bus driver asked if we were just there for the day. When we replied yes, he said there was no need to get a visa so we didn't bother. There were other nationalities on the bus who did the same. We had no problems getting back in to Arg as we just got off one bus at the border and back on another. The next day we went back into Foz to do some shopping (much better there!) and decided we wanted a stamp in our passport so did it all officially (being English this cost us nothing). We have Yellow fever vacc. certs from traveling in Africa so I wasn't aware whether this was necessary or not.
As Drdawggy says it is a crap shoot, but other we met in Iguazu had done the same without incident.

Incidentally, contrary to popular opinion, I actually preferred the Brazilian side - much more of a panoramic view.

WillTravel

Crellston, according to this link, English people (or more accurately UK passport holders) do not require a visa for Brazil:
http://www.brazil.org.uk/tourism/visasvaccinations.html

So the fact you had no problem is to be expected. But for people who are traveling with a Canadian or American passport, we may have a different result without a Brazilian visa.

tatersalad

What I would personally be worried about if I were in Brazil without a visa as a US citizen is that if I were to get robbed or into an accident or become ill and need any kind of assistance from the authorities. It could cost a lot more than the $150 that we each paid for our visas ($130 visa fee + $20 processing fee). For us we needed the visa anyway because our arrival is into Rio de Janeiro.

We are getting the Yellow Fever vaccine for Iguazu.

crellston

WillTravel - I do appreciate that UK citizens do not need a visa for Brazil. My point was that all the people on the bus (and that included Americans and Australians, both of whom officially need visas) got in and out of Brazil without incident and without even being asked what nationality we were (no one even went through Brazilian immigration!).

Apparently Argentina is planning to introduce a similar fee to Brazil for US citizens in reciproction for teh fee imposed on Argentines visiting the US. Maybe it is time for US travellers to start cavassing your new Secretary of State for a change in policy, or travel anywhere could get expensive if more countries follow suit.