Brazil to Tighten Entry Rules for Some Asian Migrants Using Country as Route to U.S. and Canada

Brazil will begin restricting the entry of some Asian migrants who use the country as a transit point to reach the United States and Canada, the justice ministry announced on Wednesday. Starting Monday, these new rules will apply to migrants from Asian countries that require visas to stay in Brazil. However, the restrictions will not affect people from Asian nations currently exempt from visas, nor will they impact U.S. citizens or many European nationals, who also do not need visas for Brazil.

A Federal Police investigation uncovered that numerous Asian migrants frequently purchase flights with stopovers at São Paulo’s international airport, intending to stay in Brazil as a starting point for their journey north. More than 70% of those requesting refuge at the airport are from India, Nepal, or Vietnam, with the rest coming from African nations like Somalia, Cameroon, Ghana, and Ethiopia.

One report by federal police investigator Marinho da Silva Rezende Júnior noted that there has been significant turmoil at the Guarulhos airport in São Paulo due to the influx of migrants since the beginning of last year. Many of these migrants reportedly use a known and dangerous route from São Paulo to Acre, a western state bordering Peru, before heading to Central America and eventually reaching the U.S. southern border.

Rêmullo Diniz, the coordinator of Gefron, Acre state’s border police group, explained that the government’s decision followed discussions with U.S. diplomats about the growing number of Asian and undocumented migrants in the region. He also noted concerns about migrants arriving with no or fake documents and the presence of networks involved in human smuggling and trafficking.

On Wednesday, Brazil’s federal prosecutor’s office issued a statement highlighting the high number of foreigners arriving on LATAM airline flights who do not leave the airport quickly due to the strain on the Brazilian migration system. The office intends to pressure airlines to provide basic supplies to migrants while they wait for their refuge applications to be processed. LATAM has not provided a response to the request for comment at this time

Federal prosecutor Guilherme Rocha Göpfert emphasized the need to quickly process these refuge requests to prevent the growing number of migrants from disrupting airport operations. According to a document, Brazil’s federal police received 9,082 refuge requests by July 15 this year, more than double the total for 2023 and the highest in over a decade. However, only a few hundred of those migrants sought documents to stay in Brazil.

The same document suggests that a well-established route for irregular migration exists in Brazil, involving people engaged in migrant smuggling and human trafficking, with many making fraudulent refugee claims. Despite Brazil’s history of welcoming refugees, especially Afghans, the misuse of the refugee system has caused frustration within the government. This frustration is compounded by the system’s current burden of handling humanitarian visas for people from Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

Brazil granted 11,248 humanitarian visas to Afghans between September 2021 and April 2024. Although President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejoined the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in January 2023, his administration has made the guidelines for humanitarian visas more restrictive.