Flavio Bolsonaro and his family have fled Brazil and will be granted visas by the State Department to enter the United States.
Bolsonaro, who has stopped short of conceding this weekend’s election to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was reportedly set to arrive in the U.S. on Tuesday evening despite an investigation into him in Brazil. He is understood to be joined by his wife and two daughters.
“The State Department will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States,” a Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner.
The former right-wing candidate is a de facto ally of President Donald Trump, though he was never endorsed by the White House. When Trump was asked for comment on the Brazilian election on Monday, the president told reporters the results seemed “rigged.”
Bolsonaro was favored to win the presidential election after beating Lula in the first round earlier this month. It was the first time in modern Brazilian history that a candidate went from second place to victor in the runoff.
He demanded the results be annulled due to a last-minute decision by the high court to honor a request from Lula to extend voting due to public transportation failures. That bid seems to have failed, and his own party has now publicly conceded the election.
On Monday, authorities demanded Bolsonaro hand over both his Brazilian passport and his Italian passport amid an investigation launched against him on accusations of money laundering.
It is unclear how Bolsonaro managed to exit the country given the travel sanctions issued as part of the investigation.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, Flavio’s brother, said in an interview leading up to the election that he should “leave the country” if Lula won. Other allies have refused to weigh in following the election loss.
“My cellphone is being bombarded with insistent and inconvenient messages and calls,” Paulo Figueiredo, a close ally of the Bolsonaro family, said Tuesday. “At this moment, after months of intense work unjustly frustrated, I am not in the mood to speak with the press. I kindly ask that you not insist. If I have any position on any matter, I will reach out.”
The entire affair strongly echoes the trajectory of Flavio’s father, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is imprisoned for attempting a coup.
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Jair Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat to Lula in 2022 and traveled to the U.S. to avoid the presidential handover process. With Joe Biden in the White House at the time, Trump was not empowered to help his ally — though they shared the stage at CPAC in March 2023.
After spending approximately three months in Florida, he returned to his home country, was placed under house arrest in 2025, and was convicted. He was sentenced to over 27 years in prison.