Consulate General of Brazil

It was not as bad as expected. A lot of the reviewers Mike stuff i confirmed. For the forst appointment nonpoint to come early as they call your name and before 9am you have to wait outside of the building like a dog. They gave us tape forn the photo. The visa was ready 40 min after the interview. They accept itineraries on the phone. Parking was free at building. From on the usps money order you need to put your name. Yes there were babies but was nit that bad. The interviewers were friendly and quick. We used their format photo not 2×2. We used our ohones to browse the internet freely. You have to sign in the lobby before you get inside the elevator.

Just got my visa this past weekend. The process was fast and simple. I made sure I had all my documents and I had no problems. Had my visa within 40 minutes of arriving. There was a couple who did not know they needed a visa and only find out when they were at the airport and were turned away. So they had none of the needed documents. The lady was so nice to them. Told them what they needed to get so they could make a 9pm flight.

I am a Brazilian and went to the Consulate to have my daughter’s passport renewed. The experience I had was awful. I dealt with 2 different clerks (Margarene and Odila) and they were both equally disrespectful and condescending. They make sure you know you need them, and they will try hard to find a problem with your paperwork, just to make your life difficult. They came across as uneducated people with power, which makes me really sad. Brazilian Consulates in foreign countries are there to help us Brazilians, not to disrespect us and make things harder.
On top of that, the consulate is really disorganized. They have a system of numbers, so when you arrive, you grab a number at the machine by the door and wait for your turn. The sign actually says «take a number and have a seat».However, they don’t call you by those numbers. You actually need to sign up a sheet and they will call you by your name. But there is no sign saying that. So if nobody who is already there waiting tells you to sign up, you will be there holding your ticket just waisting your time.
Once you sign up, your wait will be an average of three hours!!! Yes, three hours, and it is not because they are full (only 9 people ahed of me), they are just slow and don’t care if you sit there your whole morning.
Neither of the two clerks I dealt with spoke a word of English. Not that I needed them to speak English, but I believe if you are working at a Consulate in the US, you should hire people that speak the country’s language.
In conclusion, this Consulate has a long way to go to improve their customer treatment. I will be soon writing a letter to Itamaraty in Brasilia to report my bad experience at the Consulate.

Don’t let the rumors scare you, this place isn’t as dreadful as it’s cracked up to be. For starters, make sure you come prepared. That will alleviate most of the problems people encounter.
What you will need:
1) Receipt from the online application
2) Passport photo with white background
3) USPS Money order
4) Proof of itinerary
5) Passport
NOTE: You MUST have an appointment to be seen, no walk-​ins are available. Have a seat until your name is called, do not walk up to the counter. Sometimes they run ahead/​behind schedule, but the clerk does a good job of repeating names. If you did not already glue/​tape you picture to your receipt, make sure you do so once you get to the counter. The clerk was very kind despite the bad rep she’s gotten. On several occasions, she allowed people to go get the appropriate money orders when they did not have USPS money orders. When they returned, she allowed them to come directly back to the counter.
To my surprise, I received my visa the same day. I’m not sure if that’s the normal protocol, but I was happy not have to wait for several weeks. Perhaps during busier seasons the wait is longer, but as of June 4, 2015, you will receive it back the same day. (That may differ with an agency).
Hope this helps! You are allowed to use cell phones, but do not have a phone conversation in the waiting area. Also, expect to hear crying babies! It’s not as bad as the DPS, but it’s a close-​second considering the hour wait for the visa.

So here’s the deal. This place is fine so long as you are prepared. Here are some tips I just learned from my experience.
First of all the staff is there to process paperwork, not to be your friend or help you figure your stuff out. They’re only open for half a day, so they just churn and burn. These tips should help you get through successfully.
Get there early! I showed up an hour early and they ended up calling my name 30min before my appointment just because some other people didn’t show.
Your pic must have a white background! I saw someone get shot down because his background was not white.
They will have signs that say your pic needs to be glued to the form. They will accept scotch tape. So don’t panic if you can’t find a glue stick.
They want you to have an itinerary showing when and where you are traveling. I was flying standby, so I didn’t have one. They told me that if I was flying standby that I needed a notarized letter from AA saying that I was traveling via standby and it needed to be on company letterhead. They also told me that it needed to be an original. No emails, faxes, or copies. This put me into a panic. I knew I couldn’t get that. This is when a guy pulled me aside and gave me a piece of advice that saved my ass. Here it is…
They will accept any itinerary showing travel to Brazil. Even if your ticket hasn’t been purchased! I busted out my iPad went to
and reserved a round trip flight, but instead of paying for the flight I just put it on a 24hr hold (for free!). That allowed me to print/​email the itinerary and bingo! I got my Visa.
Something else to mention, they say no cell phones in the waiting area. What they mean is no «talking» on cell phones. In fact, they will accept itineraries that are presented on mobile devices.
Lastly, as always, you’ll catch more flies with honey. Be polite, respectful, and flash a smile. This won’t get them to slip anything by, but they will be a little friendlier and may give you some time to get your stuff together instead of just dismissing you altogether.
Hope this helps. I know if I had this information ahead of time I would have had a lot less stress.

These are the rudest people I have met in a long time, and I have lived in Houston for 38 years! I sure hope the people aren’t this rude in Rio.