Rio de Janeiro, July 28, 2010 - The United States Consulate General Rio De Janeiro is proud to announce the launching of a new visa program, the Business Program Plus (BPP). The goal of the program is to streamline the scheduling of visa interviews and better serve a rise in visa renewal requests from an ever-growing population of frequent business travelers from Brazil to the United States. Beginning August 2, qualifying business travelers who are resident within Rio’s five-state consular district may come to the consulate any weekday at 1 pm to submit their application to renew their business visa, without having to make an appointment.

It is important to note, however, that during the rollout phase of this program, the Consulate must limit the number of BPP applicants to 30 per day. 

Likewise, BPP applicants must apply at least one week before their intended travel in order to be eligible for participation in the BPP; no exceptions will be made. 

Target audience

Business travelers with all of the following:

• A current valid full-validity business visa or a full-validity business visa that has expired within the last 12 months. (The following are the classes of business visas that would qualify you to participate: B-1, B-1/B-2 H-1B, H-4, I, L-1, L-2) AND
  
• Brazilian citizenship or permanent residency in Brazil. AND
  
• The applicant must reside in Rio’s consular district: Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia or Sergipe.

A business visa issued for full validity means one originally issued for the following periods of time:

• B-1 and B-1/B-2 visas issued for 5 or 10 years. 
• H-1B and H-4 visas issued for 2 years**
• I visa issued for 1 year
• L-1 and L-2 visas issued for 2 years**

  **Petition-based visas can only be renewed for work with the same employer. Applicant should possess a currently valid business visa Notice of Approval or Extension (I-797) issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

How to Apply

All applicants renewing a visa through the BPP will need to:

• Pay the appropriate visa application fee at Citibank before application submission and bring the receipt to the Consulate. Click here to access the information regarding visa fees . 
  
• Fill out completely and submit the electronic visa application form DS-160; bring in the confirmation page with a photo uploaded and an additional photo. The form can be filled out on the website https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/
  
• Bring the passport containing the current, or recently expired, business visa to the Consulate, or, if the Federal Police kept the old passport when the new one was received, bring a copy of the qualifying visa. Applicants without passports having a qualifying visa, or at least a copy of that visa, will not be allowed into the Consulate.
  
• Bring a passport with at least 6 months validity before the planned travel date.
  
• Have fingerprints scanned at the time of application submission.
  
• Pay any necessary visa issuance fee(s) at the consulate cashier. This fee can be paid in dollars or reais, in cash or with a major credit card.

Applications will be accepted Monday to Friday at 1pm except on official Brazilian and U.S. holidays and days when the consular section will be closed for public business.  Please check our website for information on these dates. 

Note: Applicants may wish to bring documentation that demonstrates strong ties to a country other than the United States.