The United States will grant Flávio Bolsonaro a visa and allow him and his family to enter the country after the Brazilian senator left Brazil following his defeat by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a senior State Department official said.
The announcement came hours after Bolsonaro departed his home country, reportedly following advice from his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas and had publicly urged him to leave if he lost the election.
It was unclear where Flávio Bolsonaro was staying. Reporters gathered outside his home in Brasília after Brazilians began asking on social media about his whereabouts, while a spokesperson for Argentina’s Ministry of Security denied reports that he had entered the country.
Bolsonaro’s spokesperson and campaign manager Rogério Marinho did not comment on the visa decision or his departure.
Bolsonaro faces passport order after election defeat
His departure followed an order from Brazil’s Supreme Court requiring him to surrender his ordinary and diplomatic passports. The deadline expired at noon on Tuesday, although it was not clear whether he had complied.
Bolsonaro was served with the order on Monday, one day after his defeat. He said it was delivered outside the home where his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula.
In a video posted on social media on Monday, Flávio Bolsonaro said he had no intention of leaving Brazil and planned instead to organise opposition among congressional colleagues to the election result.
“I never thought about leaving the country,” he said. “I will hand over my passports and I will defend myself from this aberration. It is a clear attempt to intimidate me. But I will not be silenced.”
He has refused to concede and has made unsubstantiated allegations of fraud. He initially sought to have the result annulled after disruption at some polling stations led authorities to extend voting by two hours.
On Monday, he asked the electoral court to investigate alleged fraud and nullify the candidacies of Lula and vice-president Geraldo Alckmin. The electoral court has never previously taken such action.
Lula received more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4 per cent. To overturn the result, Bolsonaro would need to provide evidence affecting Lula’s 4.4 million-vote lead before certification on December 18.
Bolsonaro’s eight-year Senate term ends on January 31 2027, after which he will lose special jurisdiction at Brazil’s Supreme Court. He is also under investigation in two cases involving alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.
In one case, he is accused of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions from government pensions paid to elderly people. In another, he is accused of receiving millions of dollars from a disgraced banker. He denies wrongdoing in both cases.
His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant has since been issued for his arrest.
Flávio Bolsonaro has highlighted his relationship with US President Donald Trump and visited the White House in May. Trump did not give him a full endorsement during the election campaign but suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that the Brazilian election had been “rigged”.
