A State Department official confirmed that visas would be issued for the senator and his family Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, defeated on Sunday by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidential runoff, left Brazil with his wife and two daughters despite a Supreme Federal Court order barring him from leaving the country, and the US State Department confirmed it will grant them visas. According to the newspaper O Globo, he arrived in Miami on Tuesday night.
A State Department official confirmed that visas would be issued for the senator and his family, without specifying the type. Mexican lawyer Simón Levy, who is close to President Donald Trump, said Washington had authorised political asylum, which the US government has not confirmed. His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro lives in Florida, having moved to the United States in 2025, and faces a final arrest warrant in Brazil after being sentenced to four years and two months in prison for coercion in the case against their father.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes had given Bolsonaro 24 hours to surrender his passports as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering through online betting companies, which also involves a lawyer friend of the senator. The deadline expired at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and the Federal Police cancelled his ordinary and diplomatic passports. His exit route has not been officially confirmed. Argentina’s National Migration Directorate, after inspecting a private plane at Iguazú airport highlighted by the press, said its paperwork was in order and that no flight plan including the Bolsonaro family had been submitted. Argentine presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier said there had been no request for asylum.
On Monday, Bolsonaro had said he would hand over his passports and defend himself against “this farce”, and that his place was “beside the Brazilian people”. That same day, Supreme Court Judge Flávio Dino ordered the Federal Police to investigate possible foreign financing of his campaign, following complaints about contributions from Rockbridge Network, a network of US conservative donors founded by Vice President JD Vance, and alleged manipulation of social media algorithms. The senator is also under investigation over his links with banker Daniel Vorcaro, jailed over the Banco Master case.
“A citizen who sneaks out of his country must owe something. Leaving Brazil is shameful,” Lula said on Tuesday at a celebration of his 81st birthday. “He could have stayed here and shown that the accusations were not true,” he added.
Bolsonaro never formally recognised his defeat, although his Liberal Party accepted the result. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, also travelled to Florida after losing the 2022 election, two days before Lula’s inauguration, and stayed there until late March 2023. Lula will begin his fourth term on January 5, 2027.