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Phil Collins detained in Rio over visa blunder

The Latin American leg of Phil Collins’s Not Dead Yet tour has got off to a bumpy start, after the singer was detained at Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão international airport owing to confusion over the status of his visa.

Collins – who returned to touring last June after a seven-year hiatus – was held for three hours on Tuesday by Brazilian officials because he did not have a valid work permit, according to local media.

However, that wasn’t the case, says Collins’s agent, Solo Agency’s John Giddings, who tells IQ his act did have the right visa – but that the night staff at Rio immigration “didn’t know the rules had changed”.

Everything is “all good down here” now, he adds.

Brazil introduced a new immigration law, intended, among other things, to simplify the process by which foreigners gain entry into the country, in November last year.

Collins will play the Maracanã stadium (78,838-cap.) in Rio tonight, before heading to Sao Paolo, Porto Alegre, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, wrapping up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 23 March.

 


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