Brazil charges US travelers $81 for the e-Visa as reciprocity rules continue

Brazil ended six years of visa-free entry for U.S., Canadian and Australian travelers on April 10, 2025 and the rule is still in force heading into the second half of 2026.

What changed and when

Before April 10, 2025, U.S., Canadian and Australian passport holders could enter Brazil for tourism or business without a visa. Since that date, they need a visitor visa, almost always the e-Visa, before boarding a flight. The Brazilian government has framed the shift as reciprocity: countries that demand visas from Brazilians get the same treatment back.

Despite chatter about a broader Jan. 1, 2026 expansion that would pull in EU travelers, there's no notice from Brazil's foreign ministry, the U.S. State Department or EU embassies confirming any such change has taken effect. Most EU nationals, including French citizens, still enter visa-free for short tourist stays under existing bilateral agreements. Anyone planning to live or work in Brazil long term, EU passport or not, still needs the appropriate residence or work visa, the same as before.

Who gets caught and what it costs

The e-Visa runs roughly $80 to $81 per person, paid online by card during the application on Brazil's official portal, run by VFS Global. Applicants need a passport valid for the whole trip, a digital passport-style photo, a scan of the bio page and basic trip details.

Validity is generous: up to 10 years for U.S. citizens and up to 5 years for Canadians and Australians, multiple entry, with stays capped around 90 days per year for visitor purposes. Holders of a still-valid physical visa in the right category don't need to reapply.

The group most exposed is repeat short-stay travelers from the three affected countries, including digital nomads who used to chain together visa-free trips. They need an e-Visa in hand before the next flight and the 90-day annual ceiling means slow travelers have to track their cumulative days, not just per-trip stays. Anyone planning to base themselves in Brazil should look at proper temporary residence routes rather than stretching visitor status, as covered in our Brazil country guide.

Related moves

China lets Brazilian ordinary passport holders visit visa-free for up to 30 days, but Brazil still requires visas from Chinese visitors. In the other direction, Brazilians traveling to the Schengen Area will need ETIAS pre-screening once the system starts, which the EU expects in the last quarter of 2026.

Correction, Sept. 23, 2026: An earlier version of this article's summary said the e-Visa rule began Jan. 1, 2026, and covered French citizens; it began April 10, 2025, for U.S., Canadian and Australian citizens, and French citizens still entered visa-free. The article also said e-Visa applicants needed a passport valid six months past entry, that Brazil and China had a reciprocal visa waiver and that Brazilians already faced ETIAS checks. When this article was published, the passport only had to cover the trip, Brazil still required visas from Chinese visitors and ETIAS wasn't yet operating.