Change expands the list of people who need the face -to -face stage to obtain the entry authorization in the American country
(Folhapress) – The United States Embassy in Brazil has announced that all Brazilians who request tourism and business visa for the US will need to do in -person interview to obtain the document.
Only citizens who request renewal of visas B1, B2 or B1/B2 may be exempt who have expired a maximum of 12 months ago, and who were already 18 when the previous document was issued.
The change expands the list of people who need the face -to -face stage to obtain the entry authorization in the American country. Prior to that, children under 14 and over 79 were not required to interview with non -immigrant visas.
The requirement will be valid for candidates from all countries of which the US requires visas for entry into US territory. There are some exceptions:
Requestors of diplomatic or official visas; Candidates of Visas A-1, A-2, C-3 (except domestic employees), G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1 A NATO-6 or Tecro E-1 (generally directed to international and military agencies); Applicants of renewal of a B-1, B-2 or B-2 (Short Tourism/Short Business) visa, which has been valid or expired for less than 12 months and was at least 18 years old when the previous visa was issued.
To get exemption in the latter case, of tourism and business visas, applicants must also meet other criteria:
– Make the request in your country of nationality or residence;
– Never have had a visa request refused (unless such refusal has been withdrawn);
– Not having apparent or potential ineligibility.
The US did not detail what may consider apparent or potential ineligibility. However, they made it clear that consular employees may require the interview, depending on the case, after analyzing the information of a request.
The announcement happens a week after the US government reports that it will take into account “anti -American ideologies” when analyzing visa requests and other benefits for immigrants.
Last week’s decision was announced by the White House in a publication on platform X, which reported that the US citizenship and immigration service (USCIS) is updating the manual that brings together criteria considered when analyzing applications.
The folder said the document will be denied to people with “involvement in anti -American or terrorist organizations” without exemplifying or specifying, and with evidence of “anti -Semitic activity”.
Also this month, a survey by Folha de S.Paulo showed that Brazil had this year the largest fall in absolute numbers in the issuance of US tour and business visas under the Trump administration. The country had been a leader in this type of documents in 2024 and 2023.
In all, the US issued 358,000 visas for tourism and business to Brazilians in the first five months of the Republican government. There were 482,000 in the same period last year.
Proportionally, the difference represents a decrease of 25.7%. With this retreat, Brazil has stopped occupying first place in the global ranking of these visas, a position it occupied in the previous two years, behind India and China this year.
In 2023, the US granted 429,000 documents such to Brazilians in the same period analyzed from January to May.