The United States will grant Flávio Bolsonaro a visa after he left Brazil following his decisive defeat by incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s election, a senior State Department official said.
The official told Our News Outlet 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, reportedly following advice from his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro. Living in Texas, Eduardo had publicly urged Flávio to leave the country if he lost the election.
A spokesperson for Bolsonaro did not respond to a request for comment, while his campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, also declined to comment.
Bolsonaro has highlighted 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 of illegally lobbying the Trump administration. He received a four-year prison sentence, and authorities recently issued a warrant for his arrest.
Trump did not give Flávio Bolsonaro the unequivocal backing he has offered some 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 his regular and diplomatic passports expired. It was not immediately clear whether he had complied with the order.
Flávio Bolsonaro will receive a U.S. visa after leaving Brazil
Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s 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, just one day after his unexpected 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 fled to Florida before returning three months later.
The sealed Supreme Court order, reviewed by The Associated Press, was issued Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede and has made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
He has also continued to question the election results.
Bolsonaro initially sought to have the results annulled after chaos at several polling stations led authorities to extend voting by two hours.
On Monday, he asked the electoral court to investigate alleged fraud and invalidate the candidacies of Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin—an unprecedented request for the court.
“I never thought about leaving the country,” Bolsonaro said in a video posted to 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 reverse the outcome, Bolsonaro would need to produce evidence of fraud capable of explaining Lula’s 4.4 million-vote advantage and persuade Brazil’s eight-member electoral court before certification of the results on December 18.
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, secured more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro—a margin of nearly 4 percent.
In a video posted Monday, Bolsonaro said he had no intention of leaving Brazil and was instead working to rally congressional allies against the election results. His eight-year Senate term ends on January 31, 2027, when he will also lose his special jurisdiction before Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court 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 pension payments to elderly people. 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.
Our News Outlet has reached out to the US State Department for comment.
