
Brazil waives visas for visitors from U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan - smn1234
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-brazil-visas/brazil-waives-visas-for-visitors-from-us-canada-australia-japan-idUSKCN1QZ2CB
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Scoundreller
Ah, visa reciprocity. A policy that gets created when you let people with
diplomatic passports decide who needs a visa.

We shouldn’t let people make decisions when the results can’t impact them
under international law.

~~~
rdtsc
> A policy that gets created when you let people with diplomatic passports
> decide who needs a visa.

That would be most government officials, won't it? How do you propose handling
visas then? Just not have reciprocity and have mandatory visas for every
country? Sell visas on entry (some places do that, as a form of tax)?

~~~
KorematsuFred
Whoever decides and negotiates the visa process must also be made to follow
the same visa process for say 10 years. Other government officials can
continue to have diplomatic passports.

Last year Indian government planned to giving two types of passports. A blue
passport for all the educated skilled folks and an orange passport meant for
blue color working class people. The idea was that to negotiate a separate
visa system for high skilled Indian citizens with other countries.

There was an much uproar over this idea and it was shelved. It was both
immoral and unethical to treat your citizens like this. A rich industrialist
reportedly told PM's office that all government officials be given Orange
passport if this were to pass to show solidarity with working class Indians.

~~~
rdtsc
That does sound terrible. US has the global entry and other such thing for TSA
to expedite entry. But at least they had enough common sense not to call it
"blue" or "orange" other colored passport.

> Whoever decides and negotiates the visa process must also be made to follow
> the same visa process for say 10 years.

But I like the idea in general. I wish it would happen for all the things they
make laws about - public housing, education, medical care etc.

~~~
KorematsuFred
Essentially second rate citizens. TSA precheck is available for all as long as
you have security clearance. Whether you are poor or rich does not matter.

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markdown
Passport sales made up 41% of revenue for the Government of Vanuatu in the 3rd
quarter of 2018. The most common customer is someone from China desiring visa-
free access to the EU.

Vanuatu sells citizenship for USD$155,000.

[https://twitter.com/dailypostdan/status/1108123023616311296](https://twitter.com/dailypostdan/status/1108123023616311296)

Compare China and Vanuatu passports:
[https://www.passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=vu&p2...](https://www.passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=vu&p2=cn&p3=us&fl=&s=yes)

~~~
fernandopj
Very interesting. USA' EB-5 visa is at 500k USD, in comparison.

For a chinese national, a Vanuatu passport would provide visa-free entry at
almost all of EU, Cuba, Hong Kong (!), Northern and many African countries,
Israel, Caribeean.

~~~
KorematsuFred
EB-5 visa has 15 year wait time for Chinese folks.

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dep_b
It would be nice if they would start waiving import tariffs for electronics

~~~
ridgewell
>For example, during the 1980s Brazil enforced strict controls on the import
of foreign computers in an effort to nurture its own "infant" computer
industry. This industry never matured; the technological gap between Brazil
and the rest of the world actually widened, while the protected industries
merely copied low-end foreign computers and sold them at inflated prices. In
addition, countries that put up barriers to imports will often face
retaliatory barriers to their exports, potentially hurting the same industries
that infant industry protection is intended to help. [1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_industry_argument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_industry_argument)

~~~
jecel
Please note that there are errors in this text. All imports were banned due to
the external debt crises. What was special about the computer industry is that
foreign companies were not allowed to make mini computers or smaller locally
unlike in other industries.

The lack of original designs were something that worried a lot of people at
the time, but it turned out that PC clones killed everything else world wide
so it wouldn't have mattered in the end.

While it was easy to find examples of inflated prices (the first PC clone was
launched at US$15K for a configuration for which IBM charged US$5K, for
example) there were a few cases where the local copy cost less than the
original (like the TK3000 compared to the Apple //e).

I lobbied against the "reserved market policy" at the time and still wish that
Brazil had taken Taiwan's path instead, but people remember things wrong and
don't learn what they should from it.

An Atari 2600 clone was mentioned in another comment, for example. Videogames
were not subject to the policy. Atari and Polyvox/Gradiente had a joint
venture for the 2600 and Philips made its Odyssey 2, both things which the
policy prohibited. Yet people remember the policy as being to blame for the
late and expensive games even though the situation persisted for decades after
its end in 1992.

------
gcb0
the visa requirement for those countries were a formality, never being denied.
it was just reciprocating the visa requirement of Brazilians to visit those
destinations. it was a way to press for more international access for the
citizens.

this action makes it clear that the current administration is giving up any
hopes of international influence, a great shift from the previous workers
party administration's stance, which was Brazil to be a leader of the BRICS

~~~
sizeofchar
Your second paragraph is ideological gibberish. Brazil was always miles
distant from leading BRICS, which is merely a buzzword to captivate through
vanity the minds of theirs political elites.

By playing international influence game, the workers party managed to overflow
Brazilian market with cheap and unfairly produced Chinese industrial goods,
paying for it by selling most of our mineral commodities and committing with
money-sink international projects with African dictatorships.

At the same time, the aforementioned party gave billions of dollars in
infrastructure projects throughout Latin America bolivarian states, that
without a doubt won't make returns in any way.

If that is what you call "international influence", I'm relieved we gave it
up.

~~~
roberto
> At the same time, the aforementioned party gave billions of dollars in
> infrastructure projects throughout Latin America bolivarian states, that
> without a doubt won't make returns in any way.

First and foremost, the money went to Brazilian companies that built that
infrastructure.

Second, it was a loan that has to be paid back by those governments.

Third, the loan is covered by insurance.

~~~
marcosdumay
> First and foremost, the money went to Brazilian companies that built that
> infrastructure.

In every loan that got investigated, the money seems to have gone into corrupt
politicians pockets, both inside and outside of Brazil.

~~~
sizeofchar
Not only this, but even if the money comes back anyhow (and I am casting doubt
on it, never heard of any insurances) all the international influence built
will be lost, because it was done specifically for the parties of some
countries supporting tyrants.

There was no plan for Brazilian international relevance, but a plan for
colluded political parties, to disintegrate nationalities.

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petecox
Hopefully Paraguay will follow. When I visited Argentina, I decided the red
tape of neighbouring countries visiting Iguazu Falls wasn't worth the 13 hour
bus ride.

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zone411
Going in the opposite direction to the EU.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/travel/americans-eu-
visa-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/travel/americans-eu-visa-
etias.html)

~~~
hadrien01
That's not a visa, it's more like the US ESTA: a simple online declaration

~~~
zone411
I didn't say it was. It's a new extra requirement.

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pastor_elm
I have no interest in supporting Bolsonaro’s Brazil with my USD

~~~
thraway-burnout
Brazil doesn't belong to Bolsonaro.

Also, presuming you're also not a fan of Trump, would you then advocate for
all tourism to the USA to cease?

I don't think that's a rational position.

~~~
seppin
> Also, presuming you're also not a fan of Trump, would you then advocate for
> all tourism to the USA to cease?

It has fallen off a cliff under Trump

~~~
obrisintor
source? here's one to the contrary [https://tradingeconomics.com/united-
states/tourist-arrivals](https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/tourist-
arrivals)

