Bolsonaro entered US on humanitarian authorisation, Folha reports

Flávio Bolsonaro entered the United States on a humanitarian entry authorisation allowing him and his family to stay for a year, Folha de S.Paulo reported after the defeated Brazilian presidential candidate arrived in Miami on Wednesday 28 October.

Folha said it had seen a US entry record bearing the senator’s name, classified under the code “DT”, with permission to remain until October 2027. The newspaper said the entry record was not a visa. That distinction matters because the US State Department had told the BBC on Tuesday that it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family. A senior department official gave the Associated Press the same assurance, and AP later reported that the visas had been approved. Neither the promise nor the entry record establishes whether visas were subsequently issued.

Bolsonaro’s arrival followed his election defeat by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a Brazilian Supreme Court order to surrender his Brazilian passports. Argentine immigration officials told AP that he and his family crossed into Argentina by land late on Tuesday and boarded a private plane. Flight data cited by AP showed a plane believed to be carrying him stopping in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before flying to Miami-Opa Locka airport.

A Brazilian diplomat told AP that Bolsonaro used an Italian passport to enter Argentina. That account explains how he crossed the Argentine border despite the order concerning his Brazilian passports; it does not settle which US documents he and his family may later have received.