Interest on fines for overstaying?

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

Hi, I accidentally overstayed my visa back in October 2018 for four days and received a $400 fine. Since then I haven鈥檛 been back to Brazil. I was considering visiting this year but now I鈥檝e been reading some posts that they now add interest to the fines. Does anyone know how much that is? I would enter the country in late October 2021, so basically three years have passed. What should I expect?

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abthree Brazil Expert

6453POSTS

4 years ago

08/25/21

Padir,

According to the Receita Federal website, the usual formula that the Federal Government uses for late payments is 0.33% per day of delay, to a maximum of 20%.聽 The Federal Police have some leeway here, but if you arrive prepared to pay your fine plus 20% for each year or part of a year that you're late, you should be ready for anything.

2 members reacted to this post

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

Thanks for the quick reply. So in theory I should pay around $700? That鈥檚 not too bad.

I will send my documents to a friend of mine, she鈥檚 going to go to a PF station and will give me the updates.

abthree Brazil Expert

6453POSTS

4 years ago

08/25/21

Padir wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. So in theory I should pay around $700? That鈥檚 not too bad.

I will send my documents to a friend of mine, she鈥檚 going to go to a PF station and will give me the updates.

As I said, the PF has some leeway here.聽 If your friend can convince them that there really was something "accidental" about your overstay, they may be willing to waive the interest, with a Brazilian asking.聽

It's worth a try.聽聽

1 member reacted to this post

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

Thank, I will tell her. But it鈥檚 a small difference, basically the same fine as before when the Real was not as weak as today.

I鈥檓 theory she should have no problem paying the fine for me, no?

Texanbrazil ViP

2744POSTS

4 years ago

I would check to see if a third party may pay on your behalf. It has been a while since I was in the GRU PF, but they do ask questions to the party as to overstay and review your passport,

1 member reacted to this post

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

So in case you guys are interested. My fine was $400 Reais originally. Now they added $166,52 in interest. That鈥檚 over almost 3 years. My friend can pay it for me. So all good.

3 members reacted to this post

Texanbrazil ViP

2744POSTS

4 years ago

Thanks. This is good information

2 members reacted to this post

abthree Brazil Expert

6453POSTS

4 years ago

08/26/21

Padir,

Good to know; you're not the only one who'll be in this situation,聽 so it's good data.聽 Glad it worked out.聽 Make sure that your friend sends you an image of the receipt.聽聽

1 member reacted to this post

Airlegs123* New member

3POSTS

4 years ago

#10

My boyfriend was visiting me 4 years ago in SP when hurricane Irma destroyed the island of St. Maarten where he lived.聽 He lost everything.聽 We hired a lawyer and for 1.5 years tried to get him a humanitarian visa.聽 There was no movement with the PF or Brasilia.聽 Eventually he left and they told him he had to pay a $10,000 multa plus interest if he wanted to return to Brazil within 5 years.聽 We provided all of the paperwork about his situation, hundreds of pages documenting our legitimate attempt at a humanitarian visa.聽 They laughed and gave it all back.聽 What a waste.聽 We paid over $20,000 for lawyers.

abthree Brazil Expert

6453POSTS

4 years ago

#11

09/06/21

Airlegs123* wrote:
My boyfriend was visiting me 4 years ago in SP when hurricane Irma destroyed the island of St. Maarten where he lived.聽 He lost everything.聽 We hired a lawyer and for 1.5 years tried to get him a humanitarian visa.聽 There was no movement with the PF or Brasilia.聽 Eventually he left and they told him he had to pay a $10,000 multa plus interest if he wanted to return to Brazil within 5 years.聽 We provided all of the paperwork about his situation, hundreds of pages documenting our legitimate attempt at a humanitarian visa.聽 They laughed and gave it all back.聽 What a waste.聽 We paid over $20,000 for lawyers.

A most unfortunate experience for your friend, but not an unexpected one.聽 In the event of a natural disaster in a Dutch (or British, or French, or American) dependency in the Caribbean, the Brazilian authorities would quite naturally look to the much richer sovereign of the person involved to come to their citizen's/resident's aid.聽 Your attorneys should have realized this upfront and not kept soaking you for fees for a year and a half:聽 shame on them.

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Airlegs123* New member

3POSTS

4 years ago

#12

Yes, it was unfortunate.聽 He couldn鈥檛 return to the island聽 because the airport was damaged and the airline, Copa, didn鈥檛 resume flights for a very long time.聽 Both the French Embassy and the PF encouraged us to apply for a humanitarian visa.聽 The lawyers assured us all would be finalized within a few months but this was 2017 when the immigration laws were changing in Brazil and the new laws/information was so unclear to all.聽 We made the best of his time here, he even worked sem carteira.聽 But without being legal it didn鈥檛 make sense to stay because the process, while open, was never answered.聽 We gave up.聽 That said , he鈥檚 back on Island and I am living in the US, just finishing up business in BR now.聽 It worked out better in the end though at great expense.聽 Never trust lawyers here.聽 That鈥檚 my take away.聽 Blood suckers.

1 member reacted to this post

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

#13

Hello all, thought I鈥檇 update this thread. I entered Brazil without any problems. I proactively told the friendly migration checkpoint guy about the fine and the payment. He then went to the PF station and came back with the following information: I will always need to keep the payment slip when I enter and exit Brazil, because their system doesn鈥檛 show the payment, so I鈥檇 always be accused of having not paid. After that he quickly stamped my passport and I was on my way.

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rraypo Serial expat

776POSTS

4 years ago

#14

Padir wrote:
Hello all, thought I鈥檇 update this thread. I entered Brazil without any problems. I proactively told the friendly migration checkpoint guy about the fine and the payment. He then went to the PF station and came back with the following information: I will always need to keep the payment slip when I enter and exit Brazil, because their system doesn鈥檛 show the payment, so I鈥檇 always be accused of having not paid. After that he quickly stamped my passport and I was on my way.

_____
That's nice to hear.聽 I have always been treated well when entering or leaving Brazil.聽 Which airport did you enter?

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

#15

I entered the country via Guarulhos!

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rraypo Serial expat

776POSTS

4 years ago

#16

Padir wrote:
I entered the country via Guarulhos!

_________________
Thank you for your reply, that is usually where I come in and out of.

Padir New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

#17

Another and last update: I left Brazil today (also via Guarulhos).

The agent scanned my passport and then said that he'll be right back so I told him about the fine. He wandered off to some back office.

Then he came back and told me he updated my info in the system now so it shouldn't show up in the future.

But there can always be system problems so it's good if I have it on me on future trips. Basically the same info I got when I entered Brazil.