The Brazilian government has announced that nationals of Asian countries arriving at Brazilian airports are required to apply for visas if they want to remain in the country or continue their journey elsewhere. Passengers who refuse to apply for a visa while in Brazil will be required to return to their country of origin.
This measure will enter into force on August 24, 2024, and follows a surge in asylum applications filed by these nationalities, VisaGuide.World reports.
By introducing visas for Asian nationals, the government aims to reduce the number of asylum applications and prevent asylum seekers from migrating to the United States and Canada, which is often the main reason why they come to Brazil in the first place.
Evidence suggests that those migrants, for the most part, are making use of the known – and extremely dangerous – route that goes from Sao Paulo to the western state of Acre, so they can access Peru and go toward Central America and then, finally, reach the US from its southern border.
Over 70% of Asylum Seekers at Brazilian Airports Were Asian Nationals
According to evidence provided to the Associated Press, these migrants often buy flights with layovers in Sao Paulo’s international airport and stay in Brazil to continue their journey towards North America.
The same document reveals that more than 70 percent of applicants for refugee at the airport are filed by Indian, Nepalese or Vietnamese nationals. The remaining 30 percent come from Somalis, Camroonians, Ghanaians and Ethiopians.
We have seen growth both in the number of migrants coming here and in the number of nations they come from. Bangladesh and Indonesia also send a lot of people here. They come either with no documents or with fake documents from other nations. That is a concern for us, they could be running from the police. And there are also the ‘coyote’ networks, taking unaccompanied children and trafficking drugs.
It is estimated that Brazil’s federal police received 9,082 refugee requests between January and July of 2024 – a record number in over a decade and double the number of requests recorded in the entire year of 2023.
Recently, Spain introduced transit visas for African nationals – a measure that is similar to the one imposed by the Brazilian government. This EU country now requires Central Africans and Mauritianians to obtain a transit visa in order to pass through the country.