As of March 11, 2016, the fee for a tourist visa to Brazil for holders of an Australian passport has gone up sharply.
Anyone know why, what may have happened on the diplomatic front or with currency exchange rate? Do we wait for the other Havaiiana to drop regarding visa fees for US, CDN and/or EU passport holders?
The Brazilians are big on reciprocity so you might well find that the source of the increase is Australia increasing its visa fee for Brazilians as there appears to be no corresponding increase for US and Canadian citizens, most EU citizens do not need a visa.
That is a big jump. The reciprocity fees reflect what is charged by citizens of South American countries to apply for visas to travel to other countries. So the fee is usually the same for entering Argentina, Chile, Brazil. Chile now only has a charge for Mexicans, a very small fee, and Australians. So, if it is a reflective rise in the price, we should also be seeing this rise soon in Chile as well.
Reparations for the Samarco dam disaster at Bento Rodrigues? Half owned by BHP you know.
For giggles I had a look at the corresponding Australian government website. There were no indicated price rises for tourist visas save for modest indexation mid last year. Some of the specialist visas like Investment and Offshore partner jumped by around 50% but that has no bearing on tourists and even if it did it would be a pretty slow response to something that happened eight months ago.
It shouldn't be the exchange rate. The AUD has risen dramatically against the real, like every other currency.
My best guess would be that the indirect costs have been jacked up, like the fee for visiting the doctor that most Brazilians are required to just to et the visa. Either that or the government is trying to peg back the numbers of drunks in Southern Cross singlets climbing on public monuments, vomiting and urinating coming to Brazil.
That is a sharp rise from the paltry 50 odd AUD I paid last time. The only thing I could find was that its about 130AUD for Brazilians to apply for a visa for Australia. But I have no idea how long that will last.
I think it has been US$117 for Australians entering Chile at SCL for a while. But it did previously take some sharp upturns.
On the Brazil Embassy site it is stated that Australian passport holders do not have to pay visa fees if they are entering the country for tourism and/or attendance at the Olympics between 1Jun16 and 18Sep16. Pick your time and save yourself $216.
there are similar announcements in webpages of Brazilian consulates in some other countries whose nationals need visas to enter Brazil (but USA seems unchanged).... for example, a new fee scheduled kicked in March in Canada, Japan, India etc too:
"Starting on March 11th 2016 at 5pm, a few visa fees will be updated. For Canadian citizens, the new fee for tourism visa (VITUR) and business visa (VITEM II) is CAD$120.00."
"Effective Monday, March 14, the visa fees applying to Tourist, Business and Student Visas will be as follows: Tourist Visa (VITUR): 11,200 yen"
"The Consular Section of the Embassy of Brazil informs that from March 12th, 2016, on the fees for TOURIST, BUSINESS and STUDENT will be charged according to the following table: Tourist Visa (VITUR) - INR 6.400,00"
I think the US one is $160 USD still. I was told it was strictly reciprocity; that's what the US charges Brazilian travelers.
I was unlucky enough to send off our visa application on the day that it changed. I doubled checked everything the night before and on the day they announced the the change - 9 March (despite saying change was effective 11 March , anyone who posts their application from 9 March incurred the higher visa rate). So they sent everything back to me without processing. I was so annoyed about the way they handled it - not giving any prior notice and the fact that the visa price literally quadrupled overnight, I have changed my plans, either not go at all or during visa free period (depends how much prices are going to shoot up for everything else during that period). I checked the reciprocity thing and it doesn't look like anything has changed on our end. I think the Brazilian Govt is desperate to collect more revenue. I think its going to have a negative effect on Aussies visiting.