The White House confirmed on Tuesday that Washington will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and has authorized their entry into the United States, according to ABC correspondent David Alandete, who received a statement from an official spokesperson.
"The State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and has authorized their entry into the United States," the spokesperson stated. A senior official from the State Department also confirmed this to CNN, although he spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the privacy regulations applicable to visas.
The statement does not specify when they have entered the country, what type of visas they will receive, or how long they will be able to remain on U.S. soil.
The granting of visas to foreign political figures is just one of the many topics encompassed by the U.S. immigration landscape. Stay updated on all the news in our section on
The confirmation comes at a time of maximum judicial and political tension for the Brazilian senator.
The magistrate Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court ordered Flávio Bolsonaro on Monday to submit his ordinary and diplomatic passports within 24 hours and prohibited him from leaving Brazil, as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and currency evasion linked to lawyer Willer Tomaz and the betting sector.
A court document cited by The New York Times indicates that Tomaz is accused of laundering more than 1 billion dollars. After the deadline passed without Bolsonaro submitting the documents, the Brazilian Federal Police canceled their passports and activated a migration alert.
However, Reuters, citing three anonymous sources, reported that Bolsonaro was already on U.S. soil. The Federal Police had no record of his departure through regular immigration channels.
Versions from Brazilian and Argentine media suggest that he would have crossed by land to Puerto Iguazú to board a private Gulfstream G400 plane headed for Opa-locka, near Miami, accompanied by his wife and two daughters.
The political backdrop of Washington's decision is inseparable from the relationship between Flávio and Donald Trump: the senator visited the White House in May 2026 and met with the American president in the Oval Office during his presidential campaign. Trump had declared during the runoff that the U.S. "was watching" the presidential elections in Brazil.
Flávio Bolsonaro lost the presidential runoff on Sunday to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who received 51.79% of the votes compared to 48.21% for the Liberal Party candidate. Flávio initially refused to acknowledge the defeat and announced that he would request the annulment of the elections; his party ultimately recognized Lula's victory on Tuesday.
He is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced in September 2025 to 27 years and three months in prison and disqualified until 2030 by the Supreme Federal Court for leading an attempted coup following the loss of the 2022 elections. From prison, Jair appointed Flávio as the presidential candidate for the Liberal Party.
Brazilian media reports that Flávio Bolsonaro plans to seek political asylum from the Trump administration, although Washington has not publicly confirmed that such a formal request has been made or granted. The granting of a visa does not automatically equate to political asylum.
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