Brazil and intentional proof

August 14, 2006 7:51 PM

How do I prove I'm leaving Brazil if I don't know how I'm leaving Brazil?

Fair enough: In order to get a travel visa to Brazil, you have to prove that you're leaving the country at some point. We're flying into Rio and, two weeks later, out of Buenos Aires. We plan on visiting Iguassu Falls at the Argentine border and then crossing somehow via bus, I guess. Do I have to buy a bus ticket now and present that to the consulate? Or is it enough that I've got a ticket to leave the continent?

posted by deadfather to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Just curious, but how are you getting from Rio to Iguazu? That is a long way, and you might get your proof just by having to buy plane tickets from Rio to Iguazu. (Rio to Iguazu and Iguazu to Buenos Aires are each 2 hours by plane. It's something like 20 bus hours??)

Getting from Puerto Iguazu to Foz do Iguassu by bus is easy, but you will not be able to buy a ticket in advance - these are low-tech local buses that you walk onto and pay a few peso to board.

You'll have a wonderful time. Please feel free to email or post here if you have any more questions about Rio, Iguazu, or Buenos Aires. Definitely take the boat tour under the falls. If you're into big things or engineering things, take a bus to visit Itaipú, the giant hydro dam on the BR-PY border. Nearby, on the PY side, there are also some neat ethnographic and historical museums.
posted by whatzit at 8:08 PM on August 14, 2006

The nice thing about fully-refundable airline tickets it that they're fully refundable.
posted by smackfu at 8:17 PM on August 14, 2006 [2 favorites]

Just tell them you haven't made your travel arrangements to Buenos Aires yet, but you have tickets to leave from there in two weeks. It worked for me when I entered pre-EU Europe in one country and left from another.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:52 PM on August 14, 2006

Have you called the Brazilian embassy for your area? It seems like, since they're the ones approving your visa, they'd be the most definitive source for answers.
posted by occhiblu at 9:54 PM on August 14, 2006

I'd buy the fully refundable tickets on the CC. Apply for visa, obtain visa, get CC refunded, go on holiday.
posted by maxpower at 12:01 AM on August 15, 2006

In case you´re still watching this - simply buy a refundable one way ticket out of the country from GOL airlines. It´s what I did.
posted by iamck at 2:18 PM on September 5, 2006

Just to follow-up, I needn't have worried. A ticket to leave the continent was enough.

I went to the Brazilian consulate in New York with my e-ticket printout--into Rio and out of Buenos Aires. They looked at my printout for two seconds, handed it back, and rubber-stamped my request. I had my visa the next day.
posted by deadfather at 7:31 PM on October 1, 2006