Fabiano Rocha, CEO of Jumpstart, speaking to O Brasilianista · By Júlia Carmo · August 5, 2026
Entering the United States now demands more care from Brazilian travellers. Inspection of phones, social media and documents has increased, and automated cross-checking has raised the risk of a visa being cancelled — including for people who already hold one.
Screening does not end at the airport
The part that surprises travellers most is that scrutiny no longer stops at arrival.
A visa can be re-evaluated at any point during its validity, not only when it is issued.
Fabiano Rocha, CEO of Jumpstart
Since 2025 a continuous vetting system has monitored millions of visa holders across the full life of the document. That ongoing review helps explain the rise in revocations recorded by the State Department. Since March 2026, nearly every applicant must disclose the social media handles used over the previous five years, and biometric systems track entries and exits more precisely.
Working on a tourist visa leads the cancellations
The most common cause of deportation and cancellation remains carrying out activity incompatible with the visa category. And one misunderstanding comes up constantly: many people assume digital activity does not count as work under US immigration law.
Sponsorship, advertising or any financial return during the trip can be read as professional activity.
Fabiano Rocha, CEO of Jumpstart
Monetising content — even when the payment comes from a company outside the US — can be enough to trigger immediate cancellation and removal from the country.
What lowers the risk
- Never take paid work on a tourist visa, including monetised digital content during the stay.
- Do not delete social profiles or posts before applying — abrupt changes to a digital history tend to invite questions during review.
- Keep answers consistent between the DS-160 form and the interview.
- Respect the authorised stay to the day, and keep travel documentation organised.
Before any material change to an immigration situation, it is worth getting legal guidance — fixing a cancellation afterwards costs far more than planning ahead.
Read the full article (in Portuguese) at O Brasilianista, which also interviewed lawyer Luiz Philipe Ferreira de Oliveira.
