Brazil Visa
 

Hey all!

Headed to Brazil June 8. Booked my airline ticket towards the end of last month, but I have yet to take care of my visa. My understanding is that you can obtain visas 2 ways

1) Brazil Consulate
Here in Los Angeles, the consulate is in Beverly Hills. I need to schedule an appointment online and have all of my materials prepared and ready (passport, pictures, applications, USPS money order, copy of DL, copy of itinerary in and out of country, etc), but ONLY via online appointment. Turnaround time is about 5 business days. Because the hours are limited M-F, and with June and July/World Cup approaching, it looks like the soonest I can book reserve an appointment is... June 5? :(

2) Visa Agency
Essentially, I pay a premium, around $50-$80 USD plus some absentee fees and an agency will help facilitate this process. My cousin who I am traveling with decided to do this route (successfully too) because he would lose out on money taking the day off from work.

Question(s):

-Is my understanding correct?
-Anyone with similar/related experience?
-Would anyone recommend an Agency route because my time is limited?
-Should I keep checking the Brazil Consulate website for appointment openings?

Any and all help is extremely appreciated.

Much love and respect,

Darwin

A couple of years ago I went with the first option and was pleased with the results. However considering your timing, I would go with the second option if I were you, the extra cost would be worth it for peace of mind.

Our ship's agency took care of our visas. They were very prompt but it does take some time. You should not delay any longer particularly now as so many people will be attending the World Cup!

We've used VisaHQ http://www.visahq.com/ for a Russian Visa and they were exceptionally punctual. I highly recommend them and will use them again when we need a Visa. They have a nice service where you can log into your account and tell the status of your Visa at any given time. We found them to be excellent.

We also used VisaHQ for our Brazilian visas and were fully satisfied with their services.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie