Extending your Visa in Rio

The Rules
Most Europeans and South Americans can just arrive in Brazil with a passport (for some South Americans an ID is enough) and a ticket leaving the country. If you are unsure about the rules for your nationality go to the Homepage of the Federal Police . On the first page click Tabela de Vistos under Estrangeiros, look in the third column, if there is an X you are granted up to 90 days on arrival which you can extend up to another 90 days. If there is an S it means that you will have to make arrangements prior to arriving in Brazil. Note that you don´t have a right to 90 days, the officer in charge decides. Make sure to check the stamp on the spot and point out to the issuer of the stamp that you intend to stay longer, if he refuses there is nothing to do, you´ll have to contact the Federal Police at the airport as soon as possible o see what they can do. In worst case you can always go say to Argentina for a weekend and hope for better luck on the next entry.

You will also be obligated to fill in an Entrance Card on arrival, the copy you will receive have to be presented on departure, if you don´t have it you will have to pay a pretty salty fine on departure (close to 200 R$), you might even be forced to return to your port of entry to obtain a new one (if it´s stolen a police report saying that will avoid the fine).

Multiple entries
Much has been said on this subject, but this is how it is! If you are from a country that doesn´t need visa before arrival, you will be given a multiple entry 5 year visa. You can at no given point stay more than 6 months during a 12 month period, this is not at all thoroughly checked, but that´s how it is. If you are from a country that need to make prior arrangements, like US, Canada and New Zeeland, you´ll have to check it up since it varies. Many people solve this by overstaying and paying a fine (right now its about 9 R$ per day and maximum a bit less then 900 R$) on leaving, it can give you future problems though.

Prolonging your visa in Rio
This should be done more or less 15 days before the visa expires. Bring passport, entrance card, credit card (or some other proof that you have sufficient means) and a ticket leaving the country on a date within the 180 day limit. You may not need all of this but it´s better to bring. Procedure:

Go the Federal Police/Immigration, at Terminal 1, Red Area, 3rd floor, Aeroporto Internacional do Rio de Janeiro/Galeão Antônio Carlos Jobim, tel 3398-3142, open 8h/17h. Note that it moved from the city center in August 2007 (hence the info in all guidebooks will be incorrect for some time). First you have to wait in line, then you get a form to fill in and information on a paper you should print out from a internet café they have closeby, you also will have to pay a fee in a bank. After this you return with the filled in form and the paid fee. All this is possible to do the same day. If you for some reason is denied, just accept the fact and leave, there is nothing to do and arguing won´t help. Getting your visa in Rio is probably slightly more complicated than in other states since there is a strong bureaucratic tradition here.

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