Jair Bolsonaro applies for 6-month US visitor visa

The application was first started by Financial Times, citing Felipe Alexander, Bolsonaro’s immigration lawyer.Contact person Associated Presslaw firm AG Immigration confirmed the report.

Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on Dec. 30, two days before the inauguration of his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The ceremony went smoothly, but a week later, thousands of Bolsonaro’s diehard supporters stormed the capital, vandalizing government high-rises and demanding the overthrow of Lula’s election.

It is being investigated whether Bolsonaro played any role in fomenting that uprising. It’s just one of several investigations into the former president, creating legal complications for his eventual return and potentially disqualifying him from future elections — or worse.

For the first time in his more than 30-year political career as a lawmaker and then president, he no longer enjoys the special legal protection required to have any trials in the Supreme Court.

It is widely believed — though not confirmed — that Bolsonaro entered the United States on an A-1 visa, which is reserved for sitting heads of state. If so, he would have 30 days after the end of his presidency to leave the country or adjust his status with the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, his political future and the possibility of a return to Brazil have been a matter of rumor and speculation.

Mario Sérgio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors, said Bolsonaro’s calculations appeared to be to distance himself from radicals, whose devastation in the capital could He was implicated in the short term with the aim of re-leading the opposition one day.

“He’s giving it some time, staying out of the country at a time when he might start to face legal consequences for the attitude of his supporters,” Lima said. “I don’t think the fact that he’s gone is enough. The process will continue, but Maybe he thinks he can at least avoid some kind of retaliatory punishment.” Bolsonaro has been living at his home outside Orlando, Florida, and videos show him posing for photos with supporters in gated communities and wandering inside supermarkets.

Following riots in the Brazilian capital this month, 46 Democratic lawmakers wrote to President Joe Biden demanding that Bolsonaro’s visa be revoked.

“The United States must not offer sanctuary to him or any dictator who incites this violence against a democratic system,” they wrote.

Bolsonaro’s son, the senator, told reporters at an event this weekend that he was not sure when his father would return to Brazil. “It could be tomorrow, it could be six months from now, he may never come back. I don’t know. He’s relaxed,” Senator Flávio Bolsonaro said.

Brazil’s foreign ministry referred the AP to U.S. authorities when asked if Bolsonaro had made any requests for documents or help with the visa process. USCIS referred the AP to the State Department, which has repeatedly declined to comment on questions about Bolsonaro’s visa status in the United States.