Most commonly associated with everything from beaches and samba dancing to the Carnival festival season that attracts over 50 million domestic and international tourists every year, the South American nation of Brazil has held onto its spot as the most-visited country on the continent for the last two years.

In 2025, Brazil also set a new record with the 9.2 million international visitors who arrived to its shores.

While citizens of most South American nations generally do not require a visa to come to Brazil for short touristic visits, North Americans from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. currently need to pay $80 USD for an electronic visa to enter the country. The requirement was reintroduced after a five-year period during which the Brazilian government scrapped visas for Americans when these countries did not reciprocate with visa-free entry for Brazilians.

These countries will no longer need a visa to enter Brazil

While applying for an e-visa to the country is a simple process of filling out one’s passport information and visit dates, citizens of eight nations will no longer need to do this (or pay the additional fee) after Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced new visa-free exemptions that took effect earlier this year.

Citizens of China, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and the Bahamas are now able to enter Brazil for stays of fewer than 30 days with only their passport in a pilot program that also allows them to renew it to a total 90 days within a single year from within the country.

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The move comes as Brazil aims to keep up the momentum of strong tourism numbers as some local official and tourist industry insiders made a push to argue that visas and their fees serve as a deterrent for some who are thinking of coming to the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will treat the program as a pilot that it will make permanent if tourism numbers increase by at least 25% after its implementation.

Brazil is preparing for a tourism surge ahead of several major sporting and cultural events.

Image source: Shutterstock

Ahead of sporting events and tourism surge, airlines up flights to Brazil

The move also comes as Brazil prepares to host several international sporting events like the Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix in 2026 and Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2027. China is the only one of these countries to offer reciprocal visa-free access to Brazilians.

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Local Chilean-Brazilian airline LATAM is also anticipating a tourism surge by expanding frequencies on flights to Brazil from multiple European cities, including six weekly flights from Amsterdam on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Spanish flag carrier Iberia is also looking to significantly expand its network to Brazil in 2026 with new flights both to major cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Pãolo and new destinations like Recife and Fortaleza.

American Airlines, meanwhile, is looking to put some of its new Airbus A321XLR planes on its Brazilian routes as it continues to see strong demand in this market. The carrier runs an extensive network of flights to Brazilian cities from Miami, New York and Dallas-Fort Worth.

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