Brazil asks Mexico to resolve bureaucratic impasse that delays travel

Brazilian officials expressed concern on Thursday over a bureaucratic impasse that has thwarted the plans of hundreds of Brazilians trying to travel to Mexico.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that hundreds of Brazilians are unable to process an electronic authorization required to enter Mexico and that it is following the issue “with concern”.

The Itamaraty added in a statement that it requested urgent measures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism of Mexico and the National Institute of Migration (INM) to resolve the problem with the website that processes the authorization.

Mexico ended a visa waiver program for Brazilians in December 2021, but Brazilians traveling by air can enter Mexico if they submit an electronic authorization form 30 days prior to travel.

About 200 people had problems submitting the form last week, according to news portal GZH.

The Mexican consulate in Sao Paulo, whose Facebook page has been inundated with complaints, said in an email to Reuters that it does not participate in the electronic authorization process, noting that the service is provided by the National Institute of Migration.

“The INM’s electronic authorization system continues to have problems. So far, there is no estimate of when it will return to normality,” the consulate said, adding that anyone needing authorization should try again or schedule an appointment with the consulate to apply for a visa.

“I’m one step away from losing almost 10,000.00 and a dream turned into a nightmare,” wrote one person on Facebook.

On the INM website, most requests received a message saying that the authorization “could not be processed”.

Mexico’s INM and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Tourism did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice, Gabriel Araujo and Kylie Madry)