The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) quietly refreshed its Brazil country advice page in the early hours of 24 July, adding explicit warnings about credit-card cloning scams, unlicensed airport taxis and a rise in opportunistic crime on key business routes in São Paulo and Rio. The core risk level remains unchanged—“FCDO advises against all but essential travel” to sections of the western Amazon—but the update gives employers clearer guidance on how to brief travelling staff. According to the notice, the most significant change is a new subsection on “Taxi and app-based transport”, urging visitors to pre-book accredited cabs inside airport arrivals halls or use vetted ride-hailing services that provide driver and vehicle details in advance. Travellers are also told to avoid hailing cabs on the street after dark and to be wary of drivers who insist on turning off the meter. The advice follows a string of card-skimming incidents affecting British and Canadian executives during transfers between Congonhas Airport, Avenida Faria Lima and the Berrini business district this quarter. The update re-emphasises long-standing regional cautions: river routes in the upper Amazon (including the Itaquaí, Japurá and Rio Negro) remain off-limits for non-essential travel because of piracy and armed clashes linked to illegal mining. Companies running ESG or extractive-sector site visits must now provide detailed security plans as part of their duty-of-care documentation when applying for corporate travel insurance. For global mobility managers, the timing matters. Brazil’s conference calendar accelerates from August, and UK nationals already face tighter Brazilian visitor-visa rules introduced in 2025. The FCDO’s sharper language on street-level crime means pre-trip briefings and ground-transport SOPs should be revisited immediately. Practical steps include arranging hotel-approved transfers, insisting on chip-and-PIN card transactions, and reminding staff to carry only photocopies of passports when moving around major cities. In the longer term, the advisory could influence corporate site-selection. Several multinationals told Global Mobility News they are reconsidering Manaus and Belém as regional hubs, citing both the FCDO warning and rising marine-insurance premiums for Amazon River logistics.
Source: GOV.UK – Foreign Travel Advice
