Return ticket required if I have a student visa?

Hi miklosg,

Yes, they can refuse you entry to Brazil if you don't have a return ticket, or more correctly an OUTBOUND TICKET.

Legally you are NOT required to have a return ticket to your point of origin, just a ticket out of Brazil to a country where you hold a visa of some kind or may enter without a visa under the Visa Waiver Program.

So you have two options, you can purchase a return ticket to your point of origin that permits you to make changes without extremely high additional fees or you could buy a "throw-away ticket" to some nearby country that corresponds with the exit date of your visa.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Thank you! Could I say buy a ticket to Buenos Aires (for which I can enter without a Visa as I am EU citizen?) or would that not be sufficient as its not a route home?

Buenos Aires would be just fine and since you already have a Brazilian visa, it doesn't have to be an air ticket it can be a bus ticket. It doesn't have to be a route home, just out of Brazil. I presume it would be your plan to continue on in the course in Brazil and actually you intend to apply for a visa extension. If that's the case then the bus ticket would be your best bet, since you don't lose it when it's not used, you just take it back to the ticket office and exchange it for a new date. You could use it over and over again for the Policia Federal.

Cheers

Thank you very much for yet another super fast and very insightful response. I really appreciate it