Bolsonaro applies to EXTEND his US visa by six months as Biden faces calls to return him to Brazil

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a tourist visa so that he can remain in the US even as investigators at home probe any role he may have played in violent protests in his country's capital.

The request comes as President Joe Biden comes under increasing pressure to send the populist leader and ally of Donald Trump back to Brazil.

Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on Dec. 30, days before his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was due to be inaugurated.

But his stay in a quiet suburb near Disney World was upended on Jan. 8 this month when his supporters went on the rampage, claiming the election was stolen.

Jair Bolsonaro has been staying in Florida since flying out of Brazil. On Friday, his lawyer applied for a new visa that would allow him to stay for another six months

Democrats are heaping pressure on President Joe Biden, saying the U.S. cannot become a 'refuge' for Bolsonaro or other Brazilian officials trying to flee investigations at home

They attacked congress, the supreme court and presidential palace — triggering immediate comparisons with the way Trump supporters ransacked the U.S. Congress two years earlier, and calls for Bolsonaro to be sent home.

On Friday, he applied for a new visa that would allow him to stay in the U.S. for another six months, according to his lawyer.

'I think Florida will be his temporary home away from home,' Alexandre Felipe Alexandre, founder of AG Immigration, told the Financial Times. 

'Right now, with his situation, I think he needs a little stability.' 

Bolsonaro was president when he arrived in Florida and had been travelling on an A-1 visa used by diplomats and heads of state.  

But it expired when he left office, giving him 30 days to obtain a new visa or leave.

Supporters of Bolsonaro clashed with police on Jan. 8 in the capital Brasilia

The violent protests immediately provoked comparisons with Donald Trump, Bolsonaro's close populist ally, and the way his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol two years earlier

Bolsonaro poses for photos with his supporters outside the home he is staying in at Encore resort at Reunion on January 22, 2023 in Kissimmee, Florida

In the meantime, the Biden administration has come under pressure not to allow him to stay.

Dozens of House Democrats wrote to the White House urging officials to examine Bolsonaro's status and revoke his visa if necessary.

It also urged the administration to cooperate with investigations in Brazil over the Jan. 8 violence. 

'We must not allow Mr Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian officials to take refuge in the United States to escape justice for any crimes they may have committed when in office,' said the letter, signed by 46 lawmakers. 

The State Department has said repeatedly its policy is not to discuss specific visa cases. 

Brazilian authorities have moved aggressively against the rioters, making more than 1000 arrests in the days after the violence.

The country's supreme court also said it would investigate Bolsonaro's role in inspiring the mob.

One of its justices said Bolsonaro had questions to answer for questioning the country's electoral system and his attacks on the nation's institutions. 

At the time, the former president's lawyer said: 'President Jair Bolsonaro vehemently repudiates the acts of vandalism and depredation of public property committed by those infiltrating the demonstration.

'He has never had any relationship with or participation in these spontaneous social movements carried out by the population.'