According President Jair Bolsonaro US President Donald Trump signaled than could facilitating the entry of Brazilians into the United States as a counterpart to the Brazilian government’s decision to exempt citizens from four countries, including the US, a tourist visa and business entry visa. The signaling would have occurred during a bilateral meeting held last Tuesday (19) in Washington, the first official visit of Bolsonaro abroad.
“President Trump signaled the possibility for some groups of Brazilians [to] start opening the visa waiver,” the president said during a live broadcast on his Facebook page, directly from Santiago, Chile, where he meets agenda from this Friday (22). The Brazilian president has not detailed how this exemption will be.
According to the US president, however, the idea is to make Brazil’s inclusion possible in the Global Entry program, an initiative of the US government that allows frequent travelers from certain countries to enter the country without passing through the immigration queues. Citizens from 11 nations are currently eligible to participate in the program: Argentina, India, Colombia, United Kingdom, Germany, Panama, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan and Mexico.
In spite of facilitating entry, Global Entry does not even exempt travelers from visas. Some basic conditions are required, such as interviewing and proof of non-existence of a criminal record.
Bolsonaro justified the Brazilian government’s decision to exempt temporary travelers from the US, Japan, Canada and Australia from visas by saying that the measure will generate foreign exchange for the country through the promotion of tourism.
“There has been a criticism by the press that we would not raise this issue with a visa of around R $ 60 million a year. But, of course, as the flow of people will be very great here, given the exemption of seen, for tourism and business, they will leave billions in here, which far exceed those R $ 60 million that, by chance, we will be losing there in the visa exemption, “he said.
