Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil for the United States after losing Sunday’s presidential election, according to multiple reports on Tuesday, October 28, 2026, that cite sources familiar with his movements. His departure came after he refused to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order to surrender his passports, an order linked to a money-laundering investigation in which he denies wrongdoing.
The reports, based on Reuters reporting carried by several outlets, said the US State Department would grant entry visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family. A senior State Department official was quoted as saying the department would issue the visas and allow the family entry into the United States. The exact location of Flávio Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters was not immediately clear in the early reports, although one source close to the family said he had landed in Florida, without giving a precise place.
Key Takeaways
- Flávio Bolsonaro has reportedly left Brazil for the United States after losing the presidential runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
- His departure followed a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports, which he did not comply with, and police later said his passports had been cancelled.
- The United States is reported to be granting visas to Bolsonaro and his family, while key details about his route and whereabouts remain unconfirmed.
From election defeat to a court deadline
Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, lost Sunday’s presidential runoff to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He has not formally conceded defeat. The result was a shock to many observers, because he had been favoured to win the contest before polling day, and it set off a fast-moving sequence of legal and political developments in the days that followed.
On Monday, a Supreme Court justice gave him 24 hours to hand in his passports as part of a money-laundering probe. Flávio Bolsonaro said publicly on Monday afternoon, in a video on social media, that he had been banned from leaving the country and ordered to surrender his travel documents. He denies wrongdoing in the investigation. When the deadline lapsed, reports said his documents had been cancelled.
A police source said there was no formal record of Flávio Bolsonaro leaving the country, even as late-night reports said he had left for the United States. Argentina’s security ministry and migration authorities also denied local media reports that he had entered Argentina, adding another layer of uncertainty to the public record of his movements.
His departure threatens to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas.
Passports cancelled, route unclear
The question of how Flávio Bolsonaro travelled has become central to the story. If his Brazilian and diplomatic passports were formally invalidated, as a police source told AFP, it was unclear how he could seek entry to the United States on those documents. An Italian parliamentary document reviewed by AFP indicated that Bolsonaro has held Italian citizenship since 2023, a detail that has been noted in reporting on his possible travel options, though it does not by itself explain his route.
The US Embassy in Brazil did not immediately respond to requests for comment in the early reporting, and Bolsonaro’s lawyer also did not respond. It was not immediately clear where he was heading, what time he would arrive, or whether he would seek asylum. Those gaps matter, because they separate what has been reported by sources from what has been officially confirmed by governments on either side.
His campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, expressed surprise at reports that the defeated candidate had left Brazil. Marinho told reporters in Brasília on Tuesday that he had received a text message from Bolsonaro that morning saying he would let some time pass and then talk, and that this was the only communication he had received. That account underlines how little even close political allies appeared to know about the departure as the news broke.
Why Washington’s role matters
The departure threatens to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas. President Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaros to put them back in power, and Reuters reported ahead of Sunday’s election on a US State Department campaign to restore them to office. The reported decision to grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will therefore be read in Brasília not only as a consular decision, but as a political signal.
The Trump administration has previously alleged that Flávio Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, was a victim of judicial persecution in Brazil. US President Donald Trump has called the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro a witch hunt. The elder Bolsonaro was convicted last year by Brazil’s Supreme Court of plotting a coup to overturn the 2022 election and received a 27-year sentence, and he remains under house arrest because of health problems. The administration has also taken action against Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw that prosecution, including visa restrictions and sanctions that were later lifted.
That history is part of why the reported US visas have drawn so much attention. Supporters of the Bolsonaro family may see the move as protection against what they describe as political persecution, while critics may see it as interference in Brazil’s domestic legal process. What is not in doubt is that the case sits at the intersection of a criminal investigation, a contested election result and a strained diplomatic relationship.
- Flávio Bolsonaro lost the October 25 runoff to Lula and has not formally conceded.
- A Supreme Court order gave him 24 hours to surrender his passports; the deadline lapsed and police said the passports were cancelled.
- Reports say the US State Department will issue visas to him and his family, while his precise whereabouts remain unconfirmed.
- His loss also strips him of parliamentary immunity, raising the stakes of the corruption and money-laundering investigation.
The investigation behind the order
Brazilian police are probing Flávio Bolsonaro for corruption over the financing of a biopic about his father, according to reporting on the case, and the passport order is linked to a money-laundering investigation. He has denied wrongdoing. The order itself followed a comment by his US-based brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who told a US podcast two days before the election that if his brother did not win, he was in favour of him leaving the country. Flávio Bolsonaro said the passport order was based on that comment.
His electoral loss also strips him of parliamentary immunity, which changes his legal exposure going forward. That is one reason the timing of his departure, so soon after the runoff, has attracted intense scrutiny. Whether he remains in the United States, seeks asylum, or returns to face the investigation is not yet known, and no official statement from Bolsonaro himself had clarified his plans in the early reporting.
For context, the runoff itself followed a closely fought campaign. Brazil’s presidential runoff was described before polling day as a tight race, and Lula’s victory gave him a fourth term. In the days after the vote, Trump called the Brazil election rigged, a claim that added to the diplomatic tension now surrounding Flávio Bolsonaro’s reported departure.
What to Watch Next
What to watch next is whether the United States confirms the visas and the family’s location, whether Brazilian authorities give a fuller account of how Flávio Bolsonaro left the country despite the passport order and the absence of a formal departure record, and whether Bolsonaro himself speaks publicly about his plans. The investigation, his immunity, and the diplomatic fallout between Brasília and Washington will all turn on those answers, and none of them had been fully settled in the early reporting on Tuesday.