At
Walt Disney World in Florida, President Obama announces a
new
initiative to ease the granting of visa to people from Brazil
and
China, Jan. 19.
Estadao, Brazil
More Shop-Happy Brazilians
Will Visit the United States
"Facilitating
the granting of visas for entry into the United States will benefit large
numbers of Brazilians who want to travel there, but it will also tend to
aggravate a macroeconomic problem. Brazilian spending abroad already weighs heavily
on the country’s balance sheet, and it will weigh even more with a rise in
international travel."
President Barack Obama couldn’t
have chosen a more appropriate place than Walt Disney World to announce measures
to ease the granting of visas to Brazilians wishing to travel to the United
States. The Magic Kingdom, where Obama made his speech announcing the changes
[watch below], is the main American destination for Brazilian tourists. Florida
receives at least half of all Brazilians who travel there.
Obama left no doubt that the
U.S. wants more and more foreigners to visit, especially from emerging
countries - because they leave money in the country. “I want America to be the
top tourist destination in the world,” he stated. “The more folks who visit
America, the more Americans we get back to work. It’s that simple.”
Up to now, obtaining a U.S. visa
has been an arduous task for Brazilians. It’s an expensive, time consuming and
uncertain process. Interviews at the U.S. Consulate in São Paulo, which are required
under the rules currently in place, take up to two months to schedule from the
date the request is made. On the day of the interview, the applicant still
faces kilometer-long lines - and the visa may still not be granted. Because of
all this, applicants have had to pay between $140 to $350 - and with no right
to reimbursement.
Even so, 1.5 million
Brazilians visited the United States last year. A while back, U.S. officials said
the goal was to grant 1.8 million visas in 2013 - more than double the number
granted as recently as 2010. In order to encourage even more Brazilian to come,
the country will reduce its requirements. Individuals interested in renewing an
expired visa or those with visas about to expire will be exempt from the consular
interview. In addition, children and the elderly will no longer have to undergo
interviews. Only those seeking a visa for the first time will have to comply
with this requirement.
There remain details missing
from the measures - the age for exemption from the interview, the effective date
of the new measures, etc. But it is clear that, with them, the U.S. government
wants to increase the number of foreigners that visit the country and spend
money there on goods and services. In this, Brazilians have been the champions.
According to some statistics, Brazilians who travel to the U.S. leave an
average of $5,600 there - almost R$10,000. They are the tourists who spend the
most in the country.
“Brazilians, when they travel,
drive local infrastructure,” according to Luis Moura, vice president of U.S.
Travel, an American tour agency.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Chic shops in the posh Upper
East Side of Manhattan in New York and discount stores in New Jersey already
have employees fluent in Portuguese, because Brazilian buyers are a priority in
foreign departments of such establishments, reports Estadao
correspondent in New York, Gustavo Chacra.
There has been an
intensification of Brazilians traveling abroad to shop. More and more Brazilians
buy wedding dresses or baby products in other countries, especially the United
States. They also buy goods for personal use while abroad, such as shoes and
clothing as well as traditional electronics and foreign items. People
increasingly buy things abroad, because they cost much less than on the
domestic market. Excessive taxation on imported products and the appreciation
of the real in relation to the dollar explain Brazil's high prices.
But this also happens with
certain Brazilian products like shoes, which suggests the existence of distortions
in the nation's economy.
Facilitating the granting of
visas for entry into the United States will benefit large numbers of Brazilians
who want to travel to the country, but it will also tend to aggravate a
macroeconomic problem. Brazilian spending abroad already weighs heavily on the
country’s balance sheet, and it will weigh even more with a rise in
international travel.
