RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has filed a request for a six-month customer visa to remain within the U.S., indicating he could haven’t any speedy intention of returning house, the place authorized points await.
The applying was first reported by The Monetary Instances, citing Bolsonaro’s immigration lawyer, Felipe Alexandre. Contacted by The Related Press, the lawyer’s agency, AG Immigration, confirmed the report.
Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on Dec. 30, two days earlier than the inauguration of his leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The ceremony proceeded with out incident, however per week later hundreds of Bolsonaro’s die-hard supporters stormed the capital and trashed the highest authorities buildings demanding that Lula’s election be overturned.
Bolsonaro is being investigated for whether or not he had any function in inciting that rebellion. It is only one of a number of probes concentrating on the previous president and that pose a authorized headache upon his eventual homecoming, and which might strip him of his eligibility in future races — or worse.
For the primary time in his greater than three-decade political profession as a lawmaker then as president, he not enjoys the particular authorized safety that requires any trial be held on the Supreme Courtroom.
AP Picture/Eraldo Peres, File
It has been broadly assumed — although not confirmed — that Bolsonaro entered the U.S. on an A-1 visa reserved for sitting heads of state. In that case, he would have 30 days from the tip of his presidential time period to both go away the U.S. or regulate his standing with the Division of Homeland Safety.
Meantime, the form of his political future and his potential return to Brazil has been a matter of rumor and hypothesis.
Bolsonaro’s calculus seems to be to distance himself from the radicals whose destruction within the capital might implicate him within the brief time period, with the intention of some day returning to guide the opposition, mentioned Mario Sérgio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors.
“He’s giving it a while, staying away a bit from the nation at a second when he can start to undergo authorized penalties for his supporters’ attitudes,” mentioned Lima. “I don’t assume the very fact of him staying away is sufficient. The processes will proceed, however possibly he thinks he can no less than keep away from some form of revenge punishment.”
Bolsonaro has been staying in a house exterior Orlando, Florida, and video has proven him snapping pictures with supporters within the gated group and ambling round inside a grocery store.
Within the wake of the rampage within the Brazilian capital this month, a bunch of 46 Democratic lawmakers despatched a letter to President Joe Biden demanding Bolsonaro’s visa be revoked.
“The USA should not present shelter for him, or any authoritarian who has impressed such violence towards democratic establishments,” they wrote.
Bolsonaro’s son, a senator, informed reporters at an occasion this weekend that he was undecided when his father would return to Brazil.
“It may very well be tomorrow, it may very well be in six months, he would possibly by no means return. I don’t know. He’s enjoyable,” Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro mentioned.
Requested whether or not Bolsonaro has filed any request for documentation or assist with visa processses, Brazil’s international ministry referred AP to U.S. authorities. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers referred AP to the State Division, which has repeatedly declined remark to questions on Bolsonaro’s visa standing within the U.S.
