Brazil - Visa questions
 

My husband and I are going to be heading to Brazil in late November. We just made the decision to go, have booked our flights, etc. and are looking at tourist visa requirements.

From what I am reading online, it can be a headache to deal directly with the consulate (we are near San Francisco) - can take weeks or up to a month just to get an appointment and then if everything is not in perfect order, one must start over.

We are happy to go ahead with a visa service, but there are so many online and I don't want to send off our passports to some odd agency that doesn't perform, or worse yet loses our paperwork/passports.

Anyone have experience, advice or referrals for the best way to complete this process in the most timely manner?

By far the best I've used: https://www.visahq.com/

BTW, I've mentioned Travisa in the past and that was wrong, it's VisaHQ that was so good. Not saying Travisa isn't, if I've used them I don't recall.

Start with this thought:
It is not a fraction as bad or difficult a process as some whiners and malcontents would have you believe.
I have always found it a very straightforward, easy and on time process.

At San Francisco consulate, you make an appointment when you fill out the online form. You go in person with your documents and receive the visa by mail within 5 business days.
DONE.

Start by filling out this online form.
The online form: https://formulario-mre.serpro.gov.br...WebInicial.jsf
Do THIS ASAP, in order to get your appointment in a timely manner.

Document details here: http://sistemas.mre.gov.br/kitweb/da...le/tourist.pdf
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And in fact, a visa service will probably take longer than doing it yourself.
IMO with a visa service, you pay for nothing, unless you live quite far and cannot send documents by mail to your particular consulate.

DO NOT pay any attention to any other site which gives instructions or lists documents.
Here are most of the pages of interest on the official site (note that they all include the word "itamaraty"):
http://saofrancisco.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/visas.xml
http://saofrancisco.itamaraty.gov.br...structions.xml

If you need any further help, please post with your questions, problems or doubts.
I'd also be happy to play online tour guide when you get to that point.

Samba - Thanks. I have obtained visas before for other countries, and I think what you are saying is true. I have gone directly to the consulate I needed in SF and been able to get my visa in the past. The problem with Brazil is that right now they are not even making appointments until October.

We have put out enough money for this trip (it's an Amazon River cruise) that I don't want to take a chance that the visa might not be ready in time.

So - we are going to use an expediter this time around. I would rather pay the fee of less than $250 for two of us, than lose our airfare and cruise ticket costs.

As a veteran of many visa experiences, what Samba says above is sometimes true and sometimes far from true. It depends, on which consulate and the professionalism of any of them at any given time. One can never be sure what the experience will be until the time comes. That's exactly why expediters have a clientele and why I've quit trying to organize them myself, especially when I need several for 1 trip. I think you're doing the right thing, scdreamer.

"we are going to use an expediter this time around. I would rather pay the fee of less than $250 for two of us, than lose our airfare and cruise ticket costs."

Please be very clear in your understanding. The Brazilian Consulate itself DOES NOT EXPEDITE ANY VISAS, not for individuals nor for visa agencies.
IF your visa agency has been able somehow to book a block of appointments ahead of time with no names attached (which some Br. Consulates allow and some don't), maybe they can get your visa more quickly then you could if booking your own appointment. If not, they are in line for appointments just like anyone else.

Your cruise is in November. If you take an October appointment to appear in person with your documents at the Consualate, you would have your visa 5 days later, in good time for the cruise.
But it's your money. Do what makes you comfortable.

Agree with SambaChula. Do it yourself and save some money and worry. I got my visa within a week of when I filled out the application on-line, and two days after my Consulate appointment here in Atlanta.

Well, I think you are probably right, but I've already sent the info to an expediter. He has amazing reviews on yelp - all five stars - so I am pretty sure it will be okay.

I think, in retrospect, I could have done it myself - basically I DID have to do all of it myself, but he will go to the consulate, which is a couple hours from where I live.

We are going to be traveling later this month, just returning home about the time the consulate was making appointments, so that's another consideration.

I've gone through the visa process before with other countries, and I have to say this Brazilian process is rather cumbersome. I'm not a genius on the computer, so scanning/downloading/uploading photos and signatures to the required online applications was a bit of a challenge.

Hopefully everything is in order.

Now - on to yellow fever vaccines and questions about malaria meds.

For general info (maybe not for this OP):

The San Francisco Brazilian Consulate gives this advice on making appointments:
"We encourage you to select the first date available and keep checking this page regularly to see if a spot opens up (when an applicant cancels his/her appointment, it becomes available online again)."

Other considerations:
All the consulates are a bit different, so what happens in Atlanta or Boston may not be what happens in San Francisco.

SF seems to get jammed up a bit with high volume just before Carnaval, so one reads complaints online.

Currently (beginning of Sept. 2016) some Consular employees may be on partial strike, but these are yearly salary negotiating tactics and usually don't last long. SF states they should not really effect processing of tourist visas. If this effects tourists visas, it effects visa agencies equally as individuals.

"We are going to be traveling later this month, just returning home about the time the consulate was making appointments"

You stated the trip was in late November and there were appointments for October. It is currently the beginning of September. ???????
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Also, for the information of anyone applying in future, "printed itinerary" literally means that you go to a travel agent and choose a random departure and return date, get it printed, and use it for the application. You have X days to pay. So any actual reservation will be cancelled, but you have an "itinerary" in hand to use for the visa. The itinerary is not checked, ever. (Seems this was a last minute decision for the OP though)
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And to the OP.....l
If you think this process is "rather cumbersome", I can assure you that it doesn't hold a candle to what Brazilians have to go through to get a tourist visa for the US, so maybe consider yourself fortunate, instead of complaining.

Samba - When I said we were going to be traveling, I didn't mean the Brazil trip. We have another trip planned from mid-Sept to the second week in October.

Our Brazil trip IS in late November.

I was making an observation regarding the visa application process - not necessarily complaining.

I'm not sure why you are attacking me. You seem to have some sort of chip on your shoulder.

Scdreamer, I wouldn't take any of that very lengthy bluster personally. It all seems to me just an argument looking for an excuse.

IMO any US passport holder should be grateful that they received a Brazilian visa, particularly considering the treatment your/our government hands out to Brazilians.

Sounds a bit spoiled and entitled to me to even use the word "cumbersome" when comparing to these, (just a few of many more similar examples) here:

Example:
Elderly Brazilian mother of naturalized US citizen refused visa after paying relatively large fee relative to her pension, collecting years of financials, and traveling 1000+ grueling miles for personal interview

Example:
Young Brazilian medical doctor son of Green card holder, who visited and returned in a timely manner several times, paid fee, traveled to interview, refused a new visa when his expired, now cannot see his mother

Example: Brazilian brother of naturalized citizen has visited and returned on time, but cannot travel with his daughter who was refused a visa

Example :
This recent story of an 18 year old given a graduation trip to US/Canada and a French course, who mid-trip ended up hauled off a connecting flight and held incommunicado for 15 days in an ICE prison until finally her parents had to pay for flights up to get her.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidia...pmid=facefolha

I have read that there is an ongoing strike of Brazil Consulate workers over pay. Is anyone aware of how this is impacting Visa processing. It seems normally it is complete in 5 days.

The Consulate person here in Atlanta told me about that strike, but my passport with visa arrived via US mail two days after my interview. So at least a couple of weeks ago, it was having no impact here in Atlanta.

This once again seems to be a case of differences among the various Brazilian Consulates.

The Boston Globe had an article saying that there was a 30% slowdown/strike among a certain class of government workers at the Boston Brazilian Consulate, but those hired in the US were governed by US law and were not striking.

Someone posted on another forum quoting some Canadian visa agency site that no visas were getting processed at Brazilian Consulates in Canada.

You can go in person to ask, I suppose. They don't usually answer the phone, and e-mail takes awhile and the answer usually isn't very specific to the question.

Strikes are a "normal" annual tactic in Brazil to get a pay raise, and they usually don't last too long.

Hard to tell what to do though here in the US if you need a visa fairly soon.