MINORS' TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION

The Consulate General of Brazil in Boston informs that by virtue of a recent instruction by the Federal Police Department (DPF), it is no longer possible for the Consulate to issue authorizations for unaccompanied minors to leave Brazil with destination to other countries. In other words, the Consulate General is limited to issuing authorizations for travel in which the minors that are leaving Brazil are accompanied by either the father or the mother, or for travel from the United States to Brazil. The authorization for return of unnacompanied minors, or minors accompanied by a third party, to the United States must be obtained, in Brazil, through the Minors' Court (Juizado de Menores).

The minors that have traveled to Brazil and need to return to the United States, can be, in Brazil, in three distinct situations:

1) Accompanied by the father and mother, or by the legal guardian. In this case, of course, they do not need authorization from the Minors' Court (Juizado de Menores) in order to return to the United States;

2) Accompanied only by one of the parents. In this case, the parent that has remained in the United States must issue an authorization to the other parent who is accompanying the minor in Brazil, and his/her signature (or the signature of a notary public) must be legalized by the Consulate General of Brazil in Boston. Click here to obtain the form used by the Consulate General. When filling out the form, remember that all data referring to the minor’s passport must be those of the Brazilian passport, even if the minor has more than one nationality.

3) Unaccompanied (without neither of the parents or the legal guardian). In this case, both parents, or the legal guardian, must issue a power of attorney (click here to see model in Word - text in Portuguese), giving powers to someone trustworthy in Brazil, to request to the Minors' Court (Juizado de Menores)  an authorization for travel to return to the United States, unaccompanied, or accompanied by someone named in the power of attorney.

Once the authorization or power of attorney is filled out, as explained above, the document can be signed either before a Consular Officer at the Consulate General (cost is US$ 20.00 - only applicable if the signer is a Brazilian Citizen) or before a notary public (variable costs) in the United States, preferably one that is registered with the Consulate General (click here to visualize the list of notaries registered with this Consulate). In this last hypothesis, the power of attorney must be mailed afterwards, or brought to the Consulate General for its authentication by the Legalizations Office (it is recommended the reading of the informational page about this procedure. Click here to go to that page). The consular fee for the document’s legalization is US$20,00.

Payment information:

The Consulate General accepts payment in cash or money order made out to “Consulate General of Brazil”. Please note that AS OF JANUARY 11th, 2007 payments by company checks are NO LONGER ACCEPTED.

Checks and credit cards are NOT accepted

Note: in order to expedite the work at the counters and to reduce waiting time, the Consulate General in Boston will only receive exact amounts in cash, or money order, also in the exact amount. It is not possible, therefore, to give change at the counters.

Click here to access the same text in Portuguese.