Length of Stay

First of all the 180 day rule you're talking about only applies if you are entering Brazil as a TOURIST. A VITUR Tourist Visa or the Visa Waiver Program entry (you would be the latter if travel is on a UK passport) DOES NOT PERMIT WORK OR STUDY in Brazil. So you need to apply for a VITEM-IV Student Visa which is renewable for each semester as long as your remain in the course.

You would need to check with the educational institution to find out whether their course qualifies you to apply for a VITEM-IV and they must confirm your enrollment and start date in writing for the visa application.

Yes, your desire NOT to overstay makes perfect sense, since while the overstay is no big deal here in Brazil it could be used as the perfect justification for other countries to deny you a visa in the future. Imagine getting a job offer in Dubai that would make Bill Gates sit up and take notice, and finding out that you couldn't get a Work Visa there because of your overstay in Brazil!!! That sucks, doesn't it?

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

Hi James,

Thank you for your reply.
The institution is in the process of sending all the required documents, to the Consulate here, in London.

If I traveled in October, this would use up some of my allowed days in Brazil correct? However, when I start my course in January, all of that becomes null and void, as I will be staying under a student visa - and my allowance will get reset at the allotted time?

As they are different visa categories, the stays have nothing to do with each other as far as the count goes. In theory you could exhaust all of your 180 days as a tourist and return to Brazil immediately on a VITEM-IV Student Visa.

The only problem you will face is that you're going to actually return to the UK because the Consulado-Geral do Brasil has to place the visa in your passport, you can't collect it here in Brazil or through a third party.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team