After first looking over this Yelp page, the great reviews seemed fishy, but I checked the…read morereviewers' accounts to see if they were legit, and they were. It actually made me feel a little more at ease to see the couple of 1-star reviews, so thanks to everyone who was honest and detailed when sharing their experience here, whether it was good or bad; it helps people come to their decision, and I don't regret choosing these guys at all! Part of this review is my positive experience with A Briggs, and another part is probably relevant only to those traveling to Brazil.
The passport + visa came back 2 days earlier than my "must have visa by" date, which is great! Take advantage of the "require signature for delivery" option to be safe: the overnight shipping tracking is accurate enough that you won't need to wait at home for more than a few hours in the morning to sign for the envelope.
The agents on the phone and at the SF office were so nice and helpful, and they care about allaying your worries. They are trustworthy and professional - no service is gonna be flawless, and it may be hard to reach a specific office or person sometimes, but your documents are in good hands, and you can call the main customer support line if the "order status" on the website isn't detailed enough for you.
It ended up costing almost $300 extra due to the emergency fee because I procrastinated and should've sent off the papers sooner, as this time of year is so busy. But that was entirely my fault, and it was a small price to pay considering that rescheduling the flight would've been a lot pricier! A Briggs took care of everything beautifully. Still, serial procrastinators out there, please learn from my lack of foresight and mail the stuff in a couple months before your flight. If hearing about my laziness penalty saves other people money then it will have been more than worth it!
BRAZIL VISA TIPS: First, do NOT try to use Firefox to submit your visa application form. It will not give you your 'application protocol number' or the receipt to print out that you affix your photo to. Internet Explorer, despite collecting dust over the years, worked fine for this purpose! Fill out the form, print the receipt, then save that protocol # and email it to Briggs after ordering with them, along with your Briggs order # so they can book your appointment before they even receive the documents in the mail.
One yelper mentioned that the application form is in Portuguese... there is actually an English version here: https://scedv.serpro.gov.br/frscedv/manterVisto.do?lang=eng#inicio
Knowing about Briggs sooner would've saved me so many hours of daunting research, wading through conflicting information about the whole process... it was awful before. But they have detailed instructions on the site as to what you FedEx to them! Here's exactly the plan that worked for me, as an adult traveling with no kids, and it was fairly simple to gather these things:
1) a scan of your photo ID, front and back; black and white ink works just fine, and it's okay if it's on two separate pages or not
2) your SIGNED in ink passport - flip to page 3, at the bottom it'll say "signature of bearer" so make sure you've signed it there
3) your A Briggs order receipt, printed from the email (any notes you type in the order form will be printed at the bottom of this)
4) your 2x2" visa photo - for nice looking results, have a friend or family member take it at home, ~5 feet in front of you in natural lighting (outdoors is best) in front of a solid white or light-colored background. Then crop it with this tool: http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/passports/FIG_cropper.swf
A straight face or small smile is safest; google image search "Brazilian visa" to see other people's photos that got approved. Thankfully, they're not so strict about it, so just get it something close to those. Then print it at CVS if you can't at home - they cut them exactly to size and give you two copies, which is great in case you mess up
4) the printed SIGNED in ink visa application receipt that you get from the Brazilian consulate link above (ignore the 30 day expiration date; it's obsolete)
5) finally, your FedEx shipping label that was emailed to you and printed after submitting the Briggs order
Bring all these things to FedEx; triple-check that you've signed both your passport AND visa application receipt, and use one of their glue sticks to affix the photo on the application receipt if you haven't already (but don't trim it to fit inside of the rectangle - it's not meant to fit in that, that's too small; it's only intended as a guide!) The FedEx guy will give you an envelope to put these papers in, then you hand him the shipping label and that's it! The hardest part is just getting the passport and a good photo; once you mail the documents off, Briggs handles the rest. I'll definitely use them again for any other visas!
