Brazilians stop spending US$ 1.6 billion in the US due to visa delay

The deadlines to obtain a tourist visa in Brazil to visit the United States can exceed a year, and, in times of faltering economy, North Americans have lost a lot of money with this. In 2023, potential Brazilian tourists should stop spending US$ 1.6 billion (R$ 8.5 billion) in the US, according to a recent survey by the US Travel Association, which represents companies in the sector.

The problem started with the pandemic, when the issuance of visas was suspended for 20 months, and was never resolved. Today, anyone looking for a US Consulate in São Paulo to obtain a tourist visa, in addition to spending around R$ 850 (US$ 160), will need to wait 482 days to be interviewed, almost a year in four months.

With the highest demand, the capital of São Paulo has the worst waiting time, but in other cities the period is also long. In Porto Alegre, where you expect less, you have to wait 324 days.

Waiting time for tourist visa interview

Sao Paulo 482 days
Brasilia 431 days
Rio de Janeiro 423 days
Recife 337 days
Porto Alegre 324 days

_{Source: US Department of State}

“Outrageous wait times send a message to travelers that the US is closed for business,” US Travel Association President Geoff Freeman said in a statement. “Excessive visa delays are in practice a travel ban. Nobody is going to wait a year or two.”

According to the organization’s study, 69% of potential international travelers from Brazil do not have a US visa. In addition, 61% of them say they are likely to choose a country to visit other than the US if the visa wait period exceeds one year, as is currently the case.

Even with the delay, in September, the most up-to-date data from the US government, Brazil was the country for which more tourist visas were issued. There were 58,056 in that month alone, ahead of much more populous countries, such as India (44,036 visas).

Over there, the deadlines become even more severe, and the wait to get a tourist visa now reaches 961 days in New Delhi and 999 days in Mumbai, almost three years. Potential Indian travelers will miss out on spending $1.2 billion in the US next year, according to the same survey. That number jumps to US$ 2.4 billion among Mexican tourists — in Mexico City, the wait today is 675 days.

In all, 6.6 million potential tourists of all nationalities will spend US$ 11.6 billion in the US next year, according to the entity. It is clear that it is a small fraction of what the industry moves —in 2019, before the pandemic, tourists spent US$ 233.5 billion in the country, according to government data—, but that does not help in times of faltering economy, with the prospect of recession next year. After all, tourists don’t just spend on airfare and accommodation, but also on local shops and bars and restaurants.

And the US government recognizes that. A spokesperson for the State Department, which reports to the Consular Affairs office, told the Sheet that timely visa processing is critical to the US economy.

The Commerce Department this year launched a national tourism strategy that includes facilitating travel to the country and aims to attract 90 million foreign visitors by 2027, who may spend $279 billion in the country annually.

To this end, the State Department claims that the number of hires at consulates doubled in 2022 compared to 2021 – an option adopted, says the government, is to expand the hiring of family members of diplomats to work in these more bureaucratic departments in consulates abroad .

The government also says that the analysis of visas is going faster than expected and that the expectation is that pre-pandemic levels will be reached this year. Although data from Brazil does not show this, the government claims that the world average wait for a tourist visa interview is approximately two months.

For the tourism sector, it is still not enough. The US Travel Association asks the Biden government to reduce the waiting time for visa review for Brazil, India and Mexico to 21 days, and that this limit be valid for 80% of countries by September 2023.

It is not the first time that the country has faced this type of problem. At the beginning of the last decade, the wait to get a visa also increased significantly in a short time and the country lost about 30% of the total number of international travelers between 2000 and 2010, according to data from the White House.

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama issued an executive order determining that visa analysis capacity in Brazil and China be increased by 40%. In addition, it determined that 80% of non-immigrant visas should be analyzed within three weeks.