A visa is “an endorsement on a passport indicating that the holder is allowed to enter, leave, or stay for a specified period of time in a country”.
If you are a citizen of the United States, a visa IS required to travel to Brazil for this program. You should have already received your visa thanks to your faculty member! Please note you will in fact need your passport for this trip, a copy will not work! Sounds silly, but trust me people have tried! 🙂 Here are some helpful tips:
1. Make a copy of your passport and visa. Keep these copies with you at all times. If you happen to lose your passport this will help get a new one quickly at the U.S. Embassy.
2. Leave a copy back at home!
3. You don’t have to carry your passport around with you, this is usually how people lose them. They will be safe locked up in your room during your stay.
4. Know where your passport is, don’t go looking for it the day you depart! We’ve had folks miss their trips as they can’t find their passport.
5. Make sure it’s YOUR passport. We’ve had people call us from the airport stating they accidentally brought their mom or siblings passport instead of theirs, causing them to miss their flight.