By Léo Rodrigues
Brazil currently occupies the seventh position among the countries with the longest waiting time to obtain a tourist visa to travel to the United States (US).
This is what a survey conducted by AG Immigration, a Washington-based firm specializing in immigration law, shows.
The ranking, produced based on data from the US State Department, also shows that the queue of applicants has reached record highs in four of the five Brazilian cities where the document can be requested.
The longest waiting time is in São Paulo.
Whoever schedules today will only get a date 615 days, almost 20 months from now.
Next in line are Porto Alegre (507 days), Brasília (493), Rio de Janeiro (478), and Recife (449).
According to AG Immigration, only the capital city of Rio de Janeiro has had long waiting lines.
The numbers for all the others represent a record.
In the world, only six countries are slower: Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Nepal, Canada, and the Arab Emirates.
Tourism and business visas account for more than 90% of all requests in Brazil.
Regarding visas for study or work, the process is generally faster.
The first steps to obtain the document are to fill out an online form and pay a US$160 fee, then schedule an interview at the embassy in Brasilia or the four consulates in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Porto Alegre.
The tourist visa is valid for ten years and can be used for different visits to the US within this period.
However, the length of stay for each trip is defined by the immigration team that receives the passenger after landing, usually less than six months.
You cannot work or study in the country with a tourist visa. Only short courses are allowed.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the issuing of visas between May 2020 and November 2021 was restricted.
Priority was given to people in emergencies, such as those going to funerals of family members or for medical treatment, as well as student visas.
The demand has been growing since the applications have been under general review again.
In a statement, the US embassy acknowledges the problem.
“The wait time to apply for a tourist visa for the first time is longer than we would like, still a function of the demand generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“We are working to increase the availability of appointments.”
“We have hired new staff, are working overtime, and have extended the period for visa renewal with exemption from an interview from 12 to 48 months.”
The embassy expects positive results by the July vacations but draws attention to the high demand.
“Brazil was the world’s second highest visa processing country in 2022.”
“We currently interview an average of over 6,000 visa applications daily, and by 2023 we project to exceed 1 million visas processed.”
“We recommend that people plan their trips in advance and that each applicant check our website to see if they are eligible for a visa renewal without an interview, which is a much faster process.”
At the same time as the increase in waiting times, the AG Immigration survey records record growth in the issuance of visas.
There were 106,000 deliveries in Brazil during March, the largest volume ever recorded by the office. In April, there were 85,000.
Despite the drop of approximately 20% compared to the previous month, this is the second-largest volume in the historical series.
According to AG Immigration, the situation reveals Brazilians’ strong desire to get to know the US and is a challenge for the embassy since the delay jeopardizes the tourist exchange.
The impact would be felt directly in destinations like Florida, which has Brazil as one of the top three countries sending travelers.
About six months ago, the US Travel Association, representing over a thousand organizations and companies in the US travel industry, launched the USVisaDelays portal to gather stories from foreign travelers and US business people about the personal cost of waiting times.
One of the stories is from Brazilian Flávia Pereira.
“We are trying to get a tourist visa. We started the process in May 2022 and only got an interview at the São Paulo consulate in March 2024 because there are four of us.”
“We want to take our two children to Disneyworld,” she said.
When launching the portal, the US Travel Association demanded, through a post on social networks, that the US government recognize the economic impacts of the situation and adopt measures to reduce waiting times.
“We cannot afford to deter travelers and drive away critical economic activity,” the text reads.
Last month, US Travel Association President Geoff Freeman expressed his concern about the visa wait times in interviews during IPW 2023, a major travel industry trade show organized annually by the entity.
“The wait times are unacceptable.”
“Nobody in their right mind is going to wait that long to come to the United States when there are so many other markets worldwide competing for these travelers,” he told US broadcaster CNN.
*Editing by Graça Adjuto
With information from Agência Brasil
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