Slightly off topic...importing to Brazil

[jamphi24]

Hi
Sorry for the off topic post but most people on here seem knowledgable so thought id ask.

I am looking to send a couple of laptops and some clothes (all new) to family in Brazil from UK. Would anyone know what the import duty is?

Also out of interest is it possible to then sell those things in Brazil or does that require different import duty and paperwork?

Thanks
J

 

[DGM42]

I looked at importing several products into Brasil a while ago and spoke with the embassy etc, with the import tax at 50% it just wasn't viable as a business so I gave up.
I do the same as Rob and have not been stopped yet.
The things to bring over are clothes, trainers etc as they are a third of the price in the UK as the shops sell them in Brasil.
If you then sell it as it was for personal use there should be no problem, that is what most other people do, I suppose not entirely 100% legal

 

[debzor]

You can legally avoid the duty if you import up to 3 months before, and 6 months after, the grant of a permanent visa.

This covers personal and business items, so what you mention would work here, but I guess not on a long term basis.

I had to pay 60% import tax on items sent by airmail 2-3 years ago! If I did not pay 60% of what they perceived the value to be, (ie not necessarily invoice or declared value),they would take back the items and destroy them.

 

[JMBroad]

Hi
Sorry for the off topic post but most people on here seem knowledgable so thought id ask.

I am looking to send a couple of laptops and some clothes (all new) to family in Brazil from UK. Would anyone know what the import duty is?

Also out of interest is it possible to then sell those things in Brazil or does that require different import duty and paperwork?

Thanks
J

I'm selling my new mac if you want it - no import duty there!

 

[otis.beeps]

How can you predict the date of 3 months before a permanent visa is granted? Thanks!

 

[JMBroad]

Because the people here in the office have gone through the procedure a million times - fastest I've ever seen done was last month - start to finish 15 days, longest is over a year and a half but the average is 3 months

 

[jubeyd]

Hi sorry to question the answer previously given on importing duty free, as i was going through the process and had a minor panic when i read the post, even though i had read the rules a few times,

This is from the Brazilian consulate website

"Holders of a Brazilian ‘Resident Visa’ are exempt from paying import duty on their personal and household goods as well as professional equipment, provided that their belongings arrive in Brazil no earlier than 3 months and no later than 6 months from the traveller’s arrival in the country (SEE Receita Federal do Brasil). "

So effectively it was written inside out before,

Regards

 

[debzor]

Hi sorry to question the answer previously given on importing duty free, as i was going through the process and had a minor panic when i read the post, even though i had read the rules a few times,

This is from the Brazilian consulate website

"Holders of a Brazilian ‘Resident Visa’ are exempt from paying import duty on their personal and household goods as well as professional equipment, provided that their belongings arrive in Brazil no earlier than 3 months and no later than 6 months from the traveller’s arrival in the country (SEE Receita Federal do Brasil). "

So effectively it was written inside out before,

Regards

Both say the same thing to me!!

 

[jubeyd]

i must be tired, as yours reads to me as if the items have to arrive in brazil 3 months before you have your visa or after you have had it for six months, if it is inside that bracket you will pay import tax, hence otis.beeps question of "How can you predict the date of 3 months before a permanent visa is granted?". but i will hold my hands up if i am wrong i was only trying to clarify if that was the case and meant no offence. i will re-read it all tomorrow morning.

 

[debzor]

i must be tired, as yours reads to me as if the items have to arrive in brazil 3 months before you have your visa or after you have had it for six months, if it is inside that bracket you will pay import tax, hence otis.beeps question of "How can you predict the date of 3 months before a permanent visa is granted?". but i will hold my hands up if i am wrong i was only trying to clarify if that was the case and meant no offence. i will re-read it all tomorrow morning.

Maybe my bad English! By 'up to 3 months before the visa is issued', I mean the time period immediately before the issuance... Sorry about that.

 

[JMBroad]

i must be tired, as yours reads to me as if the items have to arrive in brazil 3 months before you have your visa or after you have had it for six months, if it is inside that bracket you will pay import tax, hence otis.beeps question of "How can you predict the date of 3 months before a permanent visa is granted?". but i will hold my hands up if i am wrong i was only trying to clarify if that was the case and meant no offence. i will re-read it all tomorrow morning.

This website provides a lot of pertinent information for visas, work permits, etc - and yes it is in Portuguese as well as English and Spanish.

Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego. Foreign Work

This is also the same website where you can find out about your visa process. You click on the link entitled: "Process Search" about half way down the page and you enter your name and select "Nome do Estrangeiro" (second choice) and click on "pesquisar" - it will show you when your visa process started and what stage it is currently in.

The basic stages of approval of a visa are:
1) Cadastrado (Registered)
2) Encaminhado a Análise (Sent for Analysis)
3) Proposta de Deferimento (Proposal for acceptance)
4) Deferido (Accepted)
5) Aguardando Publicação (Awaiting publication)
6) Publicado (Published)

Once it has been published, allegedly the person has to wait about 5 days before they can pick it up but the last two people who I assisted with this had to wait between 10 and 20 days after it was published before they could go to their embassy and pick up the actual document. The date of publication is when you have 180 days to pick up the paper at your selected embassy outside of Brazil, travel to Brazil and effectively activate the visa.

As such I would imagine that once the visa approval has been published, as you have 180 days to come to Brazil and activate it - that would be when you send your stuff over. If you send it straight over but only come to Brazil to activate the visa at the end of the 180 days - that's when the "earlier than accepted" would work I suppose.

 

[debzor]

Once your permanent visa has been issued, you have 90 days to collect it from the Consulate, a further 90 days to arrive in Brazil, then within 30 days you must report to the Federal Police.

Never leave it 90 days to collect your visa - a Belgian lady I know did this, and the Consulate had 'lost' her visa, having advised her on a previous visit it was ready for collection...

 

[JMBroad]

Quoting a recent exchange regarding a visa when we mentioned that the person only had 90 days to collect the visa from the embassy:

"A autorização do Sr. XXXX XXXX foi enviada à Embaixada do Brasil em XXXX no dia XX de XXXX. Informo, por oportuno, que as autorizações de visto são válidas e podem ser retiradas em até 180 dias após o envio da autorização, e não em 90 dias.

Cordialmente,

DIM/MRE"

Aka investors have 180 days to collect their visas, not 90 days?

 

[debzor]

Quoting a recent exchange regarding a visa when we mentioned that the person only had 90 days to collect the visa from the embassy:

"A autorização do Sr. XXXX XXXX foi enviada à Embaixada do Brasil em XXXX no dia XX de XXXX. Informo, por oportuno, que as autorizações de visto são válidas e podem ser retiradas em até 180 dias após o envio da autorização, e não em 90 dias.

Cordialmente,

DIM/MRE"

Aka investors have 180 days to collect their visas, not 90 days?

Not too sure why the discrepancy. Clearly your example was given 180 days, and mine only 90 days. But it is a good idea for applicants to get this right!!

In my previous experience, only 90 days has been allowed - maybe this has now been extended. Was your case recent, mine was last month?

 

[JMBroad]

Same... 25th of June...

To be safe - go with the 90 days just in case...

 

[debzor]

Same... 25th of June...

To be safe - go with the 90 days just in case...

To be honest, who in their right mind would want to wait 90 or 180 days for their visa, and risk there being a problem at the deadline. Especially given Brazilian bureaucracy!

In the Belgian example, there was only one guy out of the whole Consulate who could give out the visa, and he was seriously ill in hospital. The applicant had to wait until Brazil flew out a replacement...

 

[JMBroad]

Quite

Funnily enough - this one I mentioned was for Belgium as well.

 

[otis.beeps]

I still don't see how it can be predicted, period. I wish I could. We are encountering so many difficulties even applying for a permanent visa in the US that if I thought I could really get a permanent visa that easily from inside of Brasil, I would pack my belongings up and be on the next plane as soon as my house sold here, if it ever does.

 

[debzor]

I still don't see how it can be predicted, period. I wish I could. We are encountering so many difficulties even applying for a permanent visa in the US that if I thought I could really get a permanent visa that easily from inside of Brasil, I would pack my belongings up and be on the next plane as soon as my house sold here, if it ever does.

That's pretty much what I did!

You apply for a tourist, (if from the US or Canada),or retirement visa from outside Brazil, but the process for an investor visa is done from within Brazil. However you must return to your own country to go to the Brazilian Consulate to collect the visa.

That would be a good time to ship your goods, as you have 90 days to collect it!

 

[JMBroad]

I still don't see how it can be predicted, period. I wish I could. We are encountering so many difficulties even applying for a permanent visa in the US that if I thought I could really get a permanent visa that easily from inside of Brasil, I would pack my belongings up and be on the next plane as soon as my house sold here, if it ever does.

You can predict it once it has been published.

Let me try and explain - they publish the acceptance of your visa. You now have (lets go with Debs numbers to be safe) 90 days to pick it up and 90 days to activate it.

So you go to the embassy of your choice, pick up your visa and then you can predict it with a precision of the exact day and hour you will actually get your visa. How? Because we can assume that you have booked a flight to Brazil and arranged to go to the Policia Federal and activate it. Once it's been published you control the date so that's how you can predict it. Unfortunately you can't predict when it will be published.