At the tail end of my trip in Colombia, my next destination was going to be Venezuela. However, Venezuela is known to be a dangerous country and flying to Caracas is out of the question. There is only one way to safely enter Venezuela and that is through Brazil from Boa Vista. For me to enter Venezuela, I will need to get a Brazilian tourist VISA. That’s where problems started to arise. First of all, I had already booked and paid for a tour to Venezuela coming in a week’s time. To get a VISA to Brazil requires a 14-21 day processing time in Bogota and many other embassies and consulates. This poses a problem for me or anyone who needs to go to Brazil as soon as possible.
After doing some thorough research, I found out that the fastest way to get a Brazilian Tourist VISA is by going to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.
To get there, you can either take a bus or fly from Buenos Aires. Puerto Iguazu is the city you will stay at if you want to see the famous Iguazu Falls from the Argentine side (which you can go and see while you’re waiting for them to process your Brazilian VISA).
As soon as you arrive at Puerto Iguazu, go ahead and drop your stuff at your accommodation then quickly make your way to the Brazilian Consulate.
Make sure you reach the Brazilian Consulate before 11:00 AM if you want them to finish processing your Brazilian VISA by the following morning.
Here are all the key items you need to submit to get approved for the Brazilian tourist visa:
- 2×2 professionally taken photo
- A copy of your bank statement (credit card statements are not accepted)
- A flight ticket out of Brazil – I used an online service called flyonward.com and got a temporary flight ticket to submit to the Brazilian consulate
- A fully completed and printed form from this website
- 1600 Argentine Pesos for Canadians, 2,400 Argentine Pesos for Americans and less than 1600 Argentine Pesos for other nationalities
- 6 month left before your passport expires
You also need to mention to them how you plan on entering Brazil. In my case, I told them I was taking a taxi across and going to the airport to fly to Sao Paulo.
The next morning I returned at 10am and there was a problem with my VISA processing. I gave them my credit card statement instead which was not accepted. Immediately, I ran to the city centre and got a copy of my bank account statement. I then ran back just in time for them to process my VISA. By 12pm, I had my VISA ready to go and I was able to enter Brazil without a problem.
Other important info:
There are two hostels you can stay at that is right beside the Brazilian consulate:
- Peter Pan
- Mango Chill
I stayed at Peter Pan because I wanted to be able to reach the consulate easily. However, looking in hindsight, Mango Chill looked like the better option of the two.
The house behind the red walls is the Brazilian Consulate
The bus terminal that can take you across Brazil is also a 3-5 minute walk away from both hostels making them prime locations.
So there you go! Now you can get a Brazilian tourist VISA in 24 hours through the method above. Brazil is a huge country and is a necessary place to go through if you want to safely enter Venezuela or if you want to overland to Guyana or French Guiana.
Subscribe to Travel and Live Free’s email list to get the latest blog post and updates!
Like me at Facebook to get the latest updates on my journey around the world. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch the latest video of my travels
3 thoughts on “How to Get a Brazilian Tourist VISA in 24 Hours from Iguazu Argentina”
Wow sounds like you needed to spend a lot of time, expense and travelling to get that quick Brazil visa reminds me of when I needed to get a Pakistan visa in Beijing. Lots of taxi rides and phone calls. Good luck and have fun.
It depends, if you’re traveling through South America and already in Argentina seeing Iguazu Falls, then it’s pretty convenient.
Pingback: How to Safely Enter Venezuela from the Brazil-Venezuela Border (2017)