We were informed by the Consular Division of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations that, as long as you carry along with your American Driver's license your International DL, there will be no problem for you to drive in Brazil.

Regards,

Brazilian Embassy / Consular Section in Washington, D.C.

www.brasilemb.org <http://www.brasilemb.org/>

Jurisdiction: U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Information on other Brazilian consular offices in the U.S.:

http://www.brasilemb.org/consulado/consular_jurisdictions.shtml <http://www.brasilemb.org/consulado/consular_jurisdictions.shtml>

VARIOUS RESPONSES FROM TRAVELERS

*****

my brasilian friends say not nto worry. a regular cop wont knoe the

diference between an american license and an international one.

my suggestion is to take with you the international license and don´t show

the american one.

another solution is to get a ecuadorian issued internationa drivers license,

it can be done, it would take a scale in quito, where you can have the

pleasure to see me, and get your int. license in the local auto club

be well and be riding

R

*****

Well.... You are handy enaugh on a computer to make your own

"international" driving license...

No body knows the diferance anyway... Make it out for the european

union of maybe australia.... Put a photo of your ugly (sorry) face o

it and have t plastified.

Mine is a sloppy color-copy of the old dutch licence... and everybody

who wants to see it believes me when I say its an internatonal

licence... hey never saw one before so......

If I were you... I would either not worrie to much or... emigrate to

an other country (want my house in holand??)

So... wil I see you again here??? (venezuela)

MAARTIN

*****

This has been the case for some time for UK citizens in Brazil, but it

is apparently unknown or ingored by the local police. NO reports of any

difficulty. It's obviously nonsense, which may be while the police ignore

it. Be sure to have an international DL, may be enough if hassled.

BUT no guarantees as you know.

keep me posted on what you hear,

hope that helps a little,

Grant

*****

You guys surely know about this, but I got them before this past trip.

There are actually two you need to get. Each is valid only in specific

countries. For the first time ever, I was asked for this license in

Peru, during a police shakedown. The cop was surprised that I had it.

I stood my ground and didn't pay their trumped up fine.

Tom

****

Is nice to hear from you again, regarding your driving license, I did check

with my people in the office, I have the same situation as I am forigner. I

had to do the process that I will explain below with my drive license.

My personnel people said that is not problem to have an American Drive

License, what we have to do is a translation from English to Portugues,

this should be do with an autorized legal translator, then this should go

to the Brazilian Police Department (DETRAN) to be officially register, then

is valid for 1 year.

The only requirment is that the drive license has to has a valid period or

1 year or more, if not there will give you authorization for the same time

that your american drive license is valid. In other words if your actual

drive license from USA expires in one month, the translation and your

authorization will be valid only for one month.

The cost to process this could be between 50 to 100 US Dollars.

What they need is a good scan copy of your drive license that is easy to

read and scan copy of the first page of your passport, that is showing your

picture and names, passport number.........

Let me know if I can help you.

Best Regards,

Marco

*****

On the license... It is true that Brazil is not one of the countries

listed on the international driver's license. There is another license

(also available at AAA) called the INTERAMERICAN drivers license (also ten

bucks!!), and Brazil IS listed on that one. I was in Brasil up to the end

of July and used my interamerican license with no problems. BTW your

regular license from the U.S. must accompany both the international and

interamerican licenses for them to be valid.

I'm back in Seattle for a few months, but will be heading back south in

January or February.

Take care!!

Chris

*****

my brasilian friends say not nto worry. a regular cop wont knoe the

diference between an american license and an international one.

my suggestion is to take with you the international license and don´t show

the american one.

another solution is to get a ecuadorian issued internationa drivers license,

it can be done, it would take a scale in quito, where you can have the

pleasure to see me, and get your int. license in the local auto club

be well and be riding

R

*****

the return I had, was that at any Brazilian port you will have to present a

Bill of Lading, where the owner of the bike appears as the Consignee . The

Employee of the Federal Treasury himself will issue a temporary permit for

the bike or will indicate a forwarding-agent to set up a contract for that

purpose.

It is true, thought, that at very busy ports (as Santos - São Paulo or

Paranaguá, Paraná; even Rio) this procedure takes longer.

For faster clearance, I would suggest São Francisco do Sul (here close by -

state of Santa Catarina), or Recife - up north, in the state of Pernambuco.

But that will all depend on the route you want to travel. A vessel will take

7 days to reach Recife and 14 to get to São Francisco.

Hope it helps, Anne

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