The United States plans to grant Flávio Bolsonaro a visa after the Brazilian politician left the country following his decisive defeat to incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s election, a senior State Department official said.
The official told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that visas would be issued to Bolsonaro and his family, allowing them to enter the United States.
The announcement came only hours after Bolsonaro departed Brazil. He had reportedly followed the advice of his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas and had publicly urged him to leave the country if he lost the election.
A spokesperson for Bolsonaro did not respond to a request for comment. His campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, also declined to comment.
Bolsonaro has emphasized his ties to President Donald Trump and visited the White House in May. The family’s links to Trump’s administration extend further: Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June for illegally lobbying the Trump administration. He received a four-year prison sentence, and an arrest warrant was recently issued.
Trump stopped short of giving Flávio Bolsonaro the strong endorsement he has offered other right-of-center candidates in Latin America during the runoff against Lula. However, on Monday he claimed, without presenting evidence, that Brazil’s election had been “rigged.”
Bolsonaro left Brazil as a noon Tuesday deadline to surrender both his regular and diplomatic passports expired. It was not immediately clear whether he had complied with the order.
Flávio Bolsonaro is set to receive a U.S. visa after leaving Brazil
Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The two candidates are pictured during a televised debate last week
Bolsonaro was served with the passport surrender order on Monday, one day after his unexpected election defeat.
The conservative candidate said he received the order outside the home of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula. Following that defeat, Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida before returning three months later.
The sealed order from Brazil’s Supreme Court, reviewed by The Associated Press, was issued on Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede and has made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
He has continued to question the legitimacy of the election results.
Bolsonaro initially sought to have the election results annulled after disorder at several polling stations led authorities to extend voting for two hours.
On Monday, he asked Brazil’s electoral court to examine alleged fraud and invalidate the candidacies of Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. The court has never taken such action before.
“I never thought about leaving the country,” Bolsonaro said in a video shared on social media. “I will hand over my passports and defend myself from this aberration. It is a clear attempt to intimidate me. But I will not be silenced.”
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To overturn the result, Bolsonaro would need to produce evidence of fraud capable of explaining Lula’s 4.4 million-vote lead and persuade Brazil’s eight-member electoral court before the results are certified on December 18.
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, won more than 64 million votes, while Bolsonaro received fewer than 60 million. The difference was close to 4 percent.
In a video posted Monday, Bolsonaro said he had no intention of leaving Brazil. Instead, he said he was working to rally congressional allies against the election result. His eight-year Senate term ends on January 31, 2027, when he will also lose special jurisdiction before Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Brazil’s Supreme Court is investigating Bolsonaro in two cases involving alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. In one case, prosecutors accuse him of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions from government pensions paid to elderly citizens. In the other, he is accused of receiving millions of dollars from a disgraced banker.
He has denied any wrongdoing in both cases, and has claimed Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is heading one of the investigations, is a Lula ally.
Prosecutors suspect the funds from the banker were used to pay his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro’s, expenses and to promote Flávio Bolsonaro’s political agenda with the Trump administration, documents show.
Mauricio Marcon, a lawmaker of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, also questioned de Moraes’ objectivity on Tuesday.
‘Seven minutes after the election, Alexandre de Moraes ordered his passports to be seized,’ Marcon said. Bolsonaro ‘will represent us in a free country. He will continue to be our leader.’
Supporters of the Brazilian presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, Flavio Bolsonaro
Brazilians had earlier taken to social media to ask where Bolsonaro was
Brazilians had earlier taken to social media to ask where Bolsonaro was. Reporters gathered outside his home in the capital, Brasilia, but he did not appear.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Security of Argentina denied reports the Brazilian senator had entered the country. Brazilian media outlets reported that many Bolsonaro allies had been unable to reach him.
Paulo Figueiredo, a close ally of Bolsonaro’s who lives in the United States, was asked about the senator’s whereabouts and did not answer directly.
‘At this moment – following months of intense work that were unfairly thwarted – I have no desire to speak with the press. I kindly ask that you do not persist. Should I have a statement to make on any matter, I will reach out,’ Figueiredo said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the US State Department for comment.