Like I said before, I think this is going on only at the Houston consulate - they replied to my email about same day visa and said they are piloting a <30 mins tourist visa program. Very nice! I'm flying in to Houston early morning on the 28th and hoping to fly back with visa in hand. Thanks #1crush for the confidence.
That's pretty dang cool. Houston may have taken a while to start processing the visas but that story makes it sound like it more than made up for it. I'm filing it as coolest consulate in my head. Big congrats on your success!
I'd still take Chicago where you can mail in your visa and have it back in two weeks. I'd prefer that than needing to be at the consulate in person.
I'm going sometime this week to the NYC embassy for the visa...I have no idea what to expect, how the lines will be, etc. Will report back on how it went.
Mailed mine to Atlanta on the 3rd, by USPS priority mail ($5.60 vs $20 for express), just got it back today, also by priority mail. Completely painless, and it only cost $11.20 in postage. I highly recommend this method. If you can find them, there are small priority mail envelopes for use as a return that fit nicely inside the full-page-sized ones, yet still are large enough to hold a passport comfortably.
I wish San Francisco allowed you to mail in applications, especially since their jursidiction is across so many states. You have to pay a visa agency to walk it in for you if you don't know anyone who lives in the area and you live far away. Oh well. At least their turn around time was quick (3 days for the both times that I went).
I used CIBT, but I've used Travisa in the past. I switched to CIBT because they handled Russian visas better for me so it's just habit. Travisa is good though. By the way I got my visa today and the sticker was not even fully pressed against my passport pages. It was peeling off on three spots and had a big piece of clear tape holding it in! I smoothed out the edges but I've never had a visa come back looking so amateur.
I included a copy of my FIFA ticket confirmation email and a copy of my flight information, but the flight information is not actually on the list of required items per their website. It only states that you need to include your FIFA ticketing info, your passport, and the application with picture. And Leica, I do live in their jurisdiction, but apparently other people outside of it have had success mailing into them. Again, at worst, you'll get your passport mailed back to you, and you've wasted some postage.
Look closer, if it's the same as mine, that clear tape has a holographic seal image in it and is some sort of security tape. But yeah, mine wasn't adhered particularly well either. . . .
http://chicago.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/ My visa just arrived today! Had sent them the form and the email from FIFA about the one game I got in the 2nd round lottery (going to 4 others as guest on someone else's application). No flight itinerary nor anticipated address.
@Leica Success!!! Got my visa, last 90 days as soon as I arrive to brazil. Easy, the agent just needed my fifa ticket, passport and protocol form. That is it, notarize license and flight tickets were even necessary. Waited for about 45 mins but it was well worth it. Very nice lady that assisted me, even allowed me to email her the fifa ticket because the printed form didn't have my name or passport number, (just my guest strange...) Got my visa same day
LA Consulate update: My buddy finally booked his flights and since my visa turn around time was 3 weeks he decided to go today to turn his paperwork in. Before he left I decided to check the status of my visa online and to my surprise it said it was READY FOR PICKUP. My 'receipt' said that I should only go on or after the date of April 24th (dropped it off on the 1st) to pick it up but figured what the hell, he's driving anyway so it's worth a shot. After turning in all required paperwork my buddy was given a 3 day turn around time! I was shocked to see the wait time had dropped from 24 days to just 3! But that's great because I still have 2 other friends waiting to go and request their visas as well. After he was helped I mentioned to the clerk that my visa status online said that it was ready and if it was ok if I picked it up then and there. He asked for my slip and began to look through a box full of passports. He finally found mine towards the bottom and that was that. I was given my visa ahead of time without a problem! Someone else posted the link to check your visa's status a few pages back but here it is again: https://scedv.serpro.gov.br/frscedv/consultarVisto.do?lang=eng
I just checked his visa status and it says ready to pick up already! lol. I guess its a one day turn around now haha.
Thanks for reposting that. In addition, the bottom of this page explains what those red dots mean: http://houston.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/status_of_a_visa_application.xml Looks like the SF Consulate processed our visas in just a couple of days. They told us to pick them up this coming Thursday, but they are already ready for pickup.
Were you checking the ' check visa' page to monitor the progress? I'm out of the jurisdiction in Atlanta but mailed it in anyway. Just wondering how long it took from the time they received it. I'm still only getting the first red light that says received. my return envelope hasn't been mailed out yet so I'm hoping that's a good sign.
Probably is a good sign. Do you know how long they've had it? Mine was in their office for only two business days. By the first time I even checked on the status, it was already complete. The very next day I saw that the return envelope was on its way back. Best luck!