Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has requested a six-month tourist visa to remain in the United States as Brazilian authorities investigate his role in riots at the capital earlier this month, his attorneys confirmed this week.
Bolsonaro departed Brazil on Dec. 30 and has been in Florida since, spending time around New Year’s at Mar-a-Lago with former President Donald Trump. Supporters of Bolsonaro stormed Brazil’s Congress and Supreme Court buildings Jan. 8, a week after his successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was inaugurated.
“He’s gonna chill for the next few months and see what happens, he needs a little time to breathe,” Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyer said. Asked if Mr. Bolsonaro intends to apply for political asylum, he said “everything is on the table.” https://t.co/xIY2dca8vv
— Michelle Hackman (@MHackman) January 31, 2023
Authorities in Brazil are now investigating what role, if any, Bolsonaro had in the attack carried out by thousands of his supporters. He had spent months leading up to October’s election warning of potential fraud and failed to concede to Lula after his defeat.
It is generally suspected Bolsonaro entered the U.S. in December on his A-1 visa, which is granted to heads of state. However, if he did, he would only have 30 days following the end of his term to leave the U.S. or get another visa to remain in the country.
AG Immigration, the firm representing the former president, confirmed to the Associated Press that he had applied for a tourist visa but did not confirm that he had entered the country on the A-1.
No longer serving in an official government position, Bolsonaro has lost some of the legal protections he would have previously been afforded if he were to return to Brazil while under investigation. Most notably, any trial he were subjected to previously would have had to have taken place before the Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro’s son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, said he doesn’t know when or if his father will return home: “It could be tomorrow, it could be in six months, he might never return. I don’t know. He’s relaxing.” (RELATED: Man Arrested For Allegedly Planting Explosives In Capital Before Presidential Inauguration In Brazil)
Meanwhile, 46 Democratic senators in the U.S. sent a letter to the Biden administration demanding that Bolsonaro’s visa be revoked: “The United States must not provide shelter for him, or any authoritarian who has inspired such violence against democratic institutions,” they said.
The State Department has repeatedly refused to comment on the specifics of Bolsonaro’s immigration status.
