How to Fill Out and Submit a Brazil Visa Application Form

The Brazil visa application form is completed online through one of two government-authorized portals. If you hold a U.S., Canadian, or Australian passport, you use the electronic visa system at brazil.vfsevisa.com and the entire process stays digital for a fee of $80.90. Citizens of other countries that require a visa fill out the form through the Sistema Consular Integrado (SCI) at formulario-mre.serpro.gov.br and then appear in person at the Brazilian consulate serving their state of residence. Either route asks for the same core information: personal details, passport data, employment, and travel plans.

Which Portal You Use

As of April 10, 2025, Brazil requires a visitor visa from all U.S. nationals, with an e-visa option available for qualified applicants.¹ The same rule applies to Canadian and Australian citizens.² Those three nationalities can use the e-visa. Applicants from other countries that require a visa apply through the SCI and a consulate.³

The standard visitor visa is officially designated VIVIS and covers tourism, business meetings, conferences, family visits, health treatment, short-term study, journalistic coverage, and similar purposes.⁴ Longer stays or specialized activities such as employment, academic research beyond 90 days, or investment fall under a different category (VITEM) with its own separate requirements, so the guidance below covers the visitor form only.

Filling Out and Submitting the e-Visa Application

The VFS-managed site at brazil.vfsevisa.com is the only website authorized to process the Brazilian electronic visa.⁵ You never need to visit a consulate or mail your passport. The steps run in order:

Create an account on the VFS portal using your email address. If you hold dual nationality, register under the passport you will actually use to enter Brazil.
Complete the online form with your personal, passport, employment, and travel information (fields listed in the next section).
Upload a passport-style photo that meets the specifications below, plus any additional documents the system requests.
Pay the fee: $80.00 for the visa plus a $0.90 VFS service charge, by Mastercard or Visa credit or debit card.⁵
Wait for the decision. Consular offices may take up to 10 business days to process the application after submission. You will get an email indicating approval, rejection, or a request for more documents.⁶⁵
Download and print the approved e-visa. It arrives as a PDF attached to the approval email. Print it and bring the printed copy to the airport, because airlines will not let you board without it.⁵

Apply well ahead of your travel date. Peak seasons stretch the 10-day processing estimate.

Filling Out and Submitting Through a Consulate

If you are not eligible for the e-visa, fill out the application form on the Sistema Consular Integrado at formulario-mre.serpro.gov.br. The SCI is maintained by Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty).³ Once the online form is complete, schedule an appointment at the Brazilian consulate that has jurisdiction over your state of residence, then appear in person with your passport and supporting documents.

In the United States, Brazil operates ten consulates: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Each covers a specific set of states. Submitting to the wrong one will get your application returned, so confirm jurisdiction on the consulate’s website before scheduling.

Visa fees on the consular path vary significantly by nationality under Decree No. 9.199/2017, which allows the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to set amounts based on reciprocity.⁷ Confirm the current amount directly with your assigned consulate before paying.

After the in-person appointment, the consulate keeps your passport during processing. When a decision is made, you either pick the passport up with the visa stamp inside or receive it by mail, depending on that consulate’s procedures.

What the Application Form Asks For

Whether you use the e-visa portal or the SCI, the form collects the same categories of information. Accuracy matters more than most applicants expect. A mismatch between what you type and what your passport says is one of the fastest routes to a denial.

Personal and Passport Details

Enter your full legal name exactly as it appears in the machine-readable zone of your passport (the two lines of text at the bottom of the photo page). The form also asks for date and place of birth, nationality, and any previous names or aliases. Provide your passport number, issuing authority, and expiration date. The passport must remain valid through the end of your planned stay and have at least two blank visa pages.²

Address and Employment

Provide your current home address and contact information in your country of residence. The employment section asks for your employer’s name, address, and phone number. If you are self-employed, retired, or a student, use the corresponding status field instead.

Travel Plans and Accommodation

Enter the dates of your planned trip and where you will stay in Brazil. For a hotel, its name and address are enough. If you will stay with friends or family, the form asks for the host’s full name and CPF (the Brazilian taxpayer identification number). This gives consular staff a verifiable itinerary and a local point of contact during your visit.

Photo and Document Specifications

The photo requirement is where careful applicants still get tripped up. For the e-visa portal, the image must be a recent color photograph with a white background, sized 3.5 x 4.5 cm (413 x 531 pixels). Your eyes, nose, mouth, and both ears must be clearly visible. Remove glasses and any head covering, avoid shadows on the face, and keep your mouth closed so teeth do not show.⁸ The file must be JPEG or JPG, no larger than 2 MB.⁹

Beyond the photo, the visitor visa’s core document list is short: a valid, signed passport and the completed online form. A standard visitor visa does not require an FBI background check or police clearance certificate. Those apply to longer-term categories like work and residency permits. Keep a bank statement or other proof of financial means accessible, though. The e-visa system may not always prompt you to upload one, but consular officers reviewing borderline cases look for evidence that you can support yourself during the visit.

Extra Requirements for Applicants Under 18

Minor applicants need additional paperwork on top of the standard application, and consulates enforce these strictly:

A copy of the child’s birth certificate.
The Authorization for Issuance of Brazilian Visa for a Minor, signed by both parents. The form is available on the VFS portal and consulate websites.⁵
Copies of both parents’ passports or photo IDs. Each parent’s name on the ID must match the name on the birth certificate. If a name has changed, include the marriage certificate or court order that documents the change.²
For sole custody, a notarized court order showing sole custody and exclusive parental rights. If a parent is deceased, a death certificate replaces that parent’s signature.
For children of Brazilian parents, a signed Declaração de Não-Cidadania confirming the child does not hold Brazilian citizenship (that is, has no Brazilian birth certificate).²

If only one parent is listed on the birth certificate, only that parent’s signature is required. Missing or incomplete parental documentation is one of the most common reasons minor applications get returned.

Common Reasons Applications Get Denied

Most rejections come from preventable mistakes rather than actual ineligibility:

Mismatched information. A name, date of birth, or passport number that does not match the passport, including a single transposed digit, can void the application.
A photo that does not meet the specifications: wrong dimensions, shadows, glasses, head covering, non-white background.
An expired or nearly expired passport, or fewer than two blank pages. A passport that expires during your stay gets rejected on its face.
Weak financial documentation. An inadequate balance on the bank statement, or a credit card statement submitted in place of one.
Incomplete minor documentation: missing signatures, unsigned authorization form, or a parent-name mismatch with the birth certificate.
Previous immigration violations. Overstays in Brazil or elsewhere show up in review and weigh against approval.

Fees are non-refundable whether the visa is approved or denied. Check every field against the physical passport before submitting.

After You Submit

For e-visa applicants, the review is electronic and the outcome arrives by email. If approved, download the PDF, print a hard copy for the airport, and keep a backup on your phone. Airlines check for the printed visa at boarding, and immigration officers check again on arrival.

For consular applicants, the timeline depends on the specific consulate and its current volume. Once the visa is issued or the request denied, the consulate returns your passport by the method it uses locally. Build extra time into your plans if you are applying during a busy stretch or if the consulate asks for supplementary documents after the appointment.

1
U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Brazil. New Visitor Visa Requirements for U.S. Citizens Traveling to Brazil
2
Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Electronic Visitor Visa (e-Visa) – U.S., Canadian and Australian Citizens
3
Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Vistos (Visas)
4
Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Types of Visa
5
Brazil Evisa. How to Apply
6
Brazil Evisa. Information
7
Government of Brazil. Decree No 9.199 – Migration Law Regulations
8
Brazil Evisa. Documents Needed
9
VFS Global. Sample Photo Brazil eVisa