Why I’m Not in Brazil Yet (And What’s Really Going On With My Visa)

Written By Rachel Heisel

If you’ve been following Kekel for a while, you know the plan has been:
move to Brazil → launch the studio → get teens off the streets and into creative work.

So… why am I still in California?

Short answer: visas, bureaucracy, and global politics.
Long answer: keep reading. This is the behind-the-scenes of what it actually takes to move to Brazil long-term in 2025.

1. I’m not applying for a simple tourist visa

A lot of people hear “visa” and picture the quick tourist version: fill out a form, upload a passport photo, pay a fee, done.

Brazil actually did bring back an electronic tourist visa (e-visa) for U.S., Canadian, and Australian citizens as of April 10, 2025, after a few years of visa-free travel. It’s fully online, costs around US$80, and is based on “reciprocity” with the countries that still require visas for Brazilians. Envoy Global, Inc+1

That is not what I’m applying for.

To live in Brazil long-term to run a nonprofit / social project, you’re looking at things like:

Those categories involve way more scrutiny, more documents, and more Brazilian government departments than a simple tourist e-visa.

2. Why this kind of visa takes so long

Think of it as four layers:

Layer 1: U.S. paperwork before Brazil even looks at you

For long-term visas, Brazil often requires:

  • FBI background check (fingerprints, not just a name search) globeia.com+1

  • Apostille from the U.S. Department of State that certifies those documents for international use USNotaryCenter+1

  • Birth certificate, sometimes also apostilled

  • Other docs like letters from the Brazilian organization, proof of income, etc. Serviços e Informações do Brasil+1

Each of those has:

  • Processing time (weeks to months)

  • Expiry windows (e.g., background checks often must be less than 3–6 months old when your visa is reviewed)

  • Shipping time (if anything is mailed to DC or back)

If a single piece expires mid-process, you can end up redoing the whole thing.

Layer 2: The Brazilian consulate

Once you gather everything:

So you’re not just dealing with requirements on a checklist—you’re dealing with interpretation of those requirements by a specific consulate, consular officer, and sometimes evolving internal guidelines.

Layer 3: Multiple Brazilian agencies

For many long-stay visas:

  • A Brazilian ministry (like the Ministry of Justice / immigration coordination) reviews and approves the residence side. portaldeimigracao.mj.gov.br+1

  • The Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (via consulates abroad) actually issues the visa. Baker McKenzie Resource Hub

  • Once you land, the Federal Police registers your visa and issues your Brazilian ID/foreigner registration. Oliveira Lawyers+1

Each agency has its own system, standards, and backlog. They don’t always talk to each other seamlessly.

Layer 4: Translation, notaries, and documents that must be “Brazilian-proof”

Even after you’ve done the U.S. side and the consular side, Brazil often requires:

Cartórios are famously paper-heavy. An article on Brazilian notaries described them as an “empire of stamps” that has resisted digitization and still generates huge revenue from physically stamping documents. CPG Click Petróleo e Gás

So even though parts of the process are technically online, there’s still an entire analog world behind the scenesdealing with files, stamps, and signatures.

3. “Is Brazil really 30 years behind?” Let’s talk systems.

From a U.S. perspective, yes—it can feel like going back to the 1990s:

  • You submit uploads online… and someone prints them.

  • You email a document… and then are told you also need a wet signature notarized at a cartório.

  • Approval doesn’t happen with one digital button; it happens when several offices physically touch your paper.

There is even a job built for this:

Meet the despachante

A despachante is a professional “runner” / expediter who literally takes your documents from office to office, waits in lines, and gets them stamped or signed for you.

  • They’re described in Brazilian commentary as personal dispatchers or expediters used to navigate long lines and complex bureaucracy. soulbrasil.com+1

  • Law firms and companies regularly hire despachantes to deal with notary offices, government agencies, and even specialized filings. Brazil Counsel

So when I say, “There is literally a human being whose job is to chase stamps,” I’m not exaggerating. That role exists because the system still depends on physical paper moving through a maze of offices.

To people in the U.S.—where so much is now digital and integrated—this can feel like the infrastructure is “30 years behind,” even though Brazil is slowly digitizing parts of the process.

4. What this actually costs

Every case is different, but here’s what typically stacks up for someone like me:

  1. U.S. document prep

  2. Brazilian consular fees

    • Long-term visas often cost hundreds of dollars in consular fees, sometimes aligned with U.S. fees under visa reciprocity. Travel State+1

  3. Sworn translations & notaries

    • Sworn translators in Brazil charge per page.

    • Cartório fees add up every time a signature is notarized or a copy is certified. Lawyer in Brazil+1

  4. Legal / consulting help

    • Many people hire lawyers or despachantes to avoid costly mistakes and rejections. Brazil Counsel+1

  5. Travel & timing costs

    • If documents expire while waiting, you may pay for repeat background checks, repeat apostilles, and more translations. globeia.com+1

By the time you add everything (attorney fees, consular costs, apostilles, translations, and all the required filings), getting to “approved and registered” can easily run upwards to six thousand dollars and many months of calendar time to do it the right and honest way.

5. How global politics is making this even messier

Visa reciprocity: Brazil wants to be treated the way it treats others

Brazil historically follows a reciprocity policy in visas. When Brazil dropped tourist visas for U.S., Canada, and Australia in 2019, it did so unilaterally to boost tourism—even though Brazilians still needed visas to visit those countries. AP News+1

In 2025, Brazil reversed that decision and reinstated visa requirements and an e-visa system for those same citizens, explicitly citing reciprocity as the reason. Newland Chase+1

The message is:

“If you require something of Brazilians, we will require the same of you.”

That same mindset shows up in fees and validity periods—the U.S. itself uses reciprocity tables to determine visa issuance fees and conditions by country, and Brazil responds in kind. Travel State+1

Tariffs, the Reciprocity Law, and a tenser relationship

In 2025, the U.S. imposed significant new tariffs on imports from Brazil—up to a combined 50% on some products. Covington & Burling+1

Brazil responded by passing an Economic Reciprocity Law, giving its government authority to retaliate with its own trade restrictions, tariffs, and even suspension of some intellectual-property obligations against countries that hit Brazil with unilateral measures. Sanctions & Export Controls Blog+2Serviços e Informações do Brasil+2

Brazilian leaders have been explicit that they won’t “give up on sovereignty” and are prepared to use reciprocity to push back. Reuters+2AP News+2

Does a tariff directly slow down my individual visa file? Not in a neat, one-to-one way.

But it does create:

  • A more defensive, rules-heavy climate around anything involving the U.S.

  • Constant policy adjustments (like visa rules being introduced, delayed, and re-introduced) that consulates have to implement in real time. AP News+1

Every time the rules change on paper, systems and staff have to catch up, which means backlogs, confusion, and longer waits for people whose applications don’t fit into the simplest categories.

6. So… why haven’t I moved yet?

Putting it all together:

  1. The type of visa I’m applying for is complex.
    It’s not a 90-day tourist trip; it’s a long-term, purpose-driven move tied to nonprofit / social work, which involves deeper checks and more agencies.

  2. The system is still heavily paper-based.
    Even with online forms, approvals are still running through cartórios, Federal Police offices, ministries, and—sometimes—despachantes literally carrying folders around.

  3. Documents expire mid-process.
    Background checks, apostilles, and consular approvals are all on clocks that don’t sync nicely, so a delay in one place can restart the whole cycle.

  4. Global politics is turning up the “reciprocity” dial.
    Tariffs, trade tensions, and new reciprocity laws are making Brazil more insistent on matching whatever the U.S. does—on visas, on fees, and on process. That produces policy whiplash and extra caution.

  5. I’m committed to doing this legally and sustainably.
    I’m not going on a tourist visa and “figuring it out later.” I’m trying to show up in Brazil with integrity, the right visa, and a structure that honors both countries’ laws and the young people we’ll serve.

So if you’ve been wondering, “Why isn’t she in São Paulo yet?”—this is why.
It’s not lack of desire. It’s not lack of calling. It’s a very real, very slow, very expensive process that I’m still in the middle of.

7. Want to go deeper? Here are some helpful reads

If you’re a details person (or dreaming about your own move to Brazil), these are good starting points:

I’m still very much in process. Yes, there have been delays, more than I ever expected, but slowly and surely, the work is moving forward. The twists, the setbacks, the waiting… none of it has stopped the mission. If anything, it has forced me to ask the harder questions: What happens if the visa takes longer? What if it never gets approved? How does the vision move forward? And the truth is, God has used this extended season to reveal something bigger than I originally imagined. He’s been opening doors I didn’t know existed and showing me that this ministry isn’t meant to be limited to one address or one country. The very delays that have stretched me have also shaped the blueprint, global, duplicatable, scalable, and rooted in His timing, not mine. So no, I haven’t despised the process. It’s actually expanded the dream. And because of that, I’m walking forward with even greater faith for what Kekel will become.

With gratitude,
Rachel Heisel
Founder, Kekel Studios

Rachel Heisel
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