Brazilian ex-president Bolsonaro seeks visa to stay in U.S. amid legal issues at home

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month visitor visa to stay in the US, indicating that he has no immediate intention to return home, where legal issues await.

The application was first reported by The Financial Times, citing Bolsonaro’s immigration lawyer, Felipe Alexandre. Contacted by The Associated Press, the firm’s attorney, the Immigration AG, confirmed the report.

Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on December 30, two days before the inauguration of his leftist rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The ceremony went on without incident, but a week later, thousands of die-hard Bolsonaro supporters stormed the capital and trashed the top government buildings demanding Lula’s election be annulled.

Bolsonaro is being investigated for whether he played a role in disrupting the uprising. It’s just one of the few probes targeting the former president and that shows legal head when he finally comes home, and which can remove his right to run in the future – or worse.

For the first time in his political career of more than three decades as a member of parliament and then as president, he no longer enjoys the special legal protections that require any trial in the Supreme Court.

It has been widely assumed – although not confirmed – that Bolsonaro entered the US on an A-1 visa reserved for heads of state. If so, he will have 30 days from the end of the president’s term to leave the US or adjust his status with the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, the shape of his political future and his potential return to Brazil have been the subject of rumors and speculation.

Bolsonaro’s calculus seems to be far from radical that damage to the capital could cost him in the short term, with the goal of returning in a few days to lead the opposition, said Mario Sergio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors.

“They gave him some time, staying away from the country while he could suffer legal consequences for the attitude of his supporters,” said Lima. “I don’t think the fact that he stayed away enough. The process will continue, but maybe he thinks it’s best to avoid some sort of revenge punishment.”

US lawmakers are calling for their expulsion

Bolsonaro has been staying at a home outside Orlando, Florida, and videos show him taking photos with supporters in a gated community and walking around a supermarket.

After the rampage in the Brazilian capital this month, a group of 46 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden demanding that Bolsonaro’s visa be revoked.

“The United States should not give shelter to them, or to authoritarians who have inspired violence against democratic institutions,” he wrote.

Bolsonaro’s son, a senator, told reporters at an event this weekend that he was not sure when his father would return to Brazil.

“It could be tomorrow, it could be in six months, he won’t come back. I don’t know. He’s relaxed,” said Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.

Asked whether Bolsonaro had filed a request for documentation or assistance with the visa process, Brazil’s foreign minister referred AP to US authorities.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services referred AP to the State Department, which has repeatedly declined to comment on questions about Bolsonaro’s U.S. visa status.