BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – Colombia said Monday it will register hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants and refugees currently in the country without papers, in an effort to give them legal residence permits and facilitate their access to healthcare and legal employment.
President Ivan Duque said that through a new temporary protection statute, Venezuelan migrants illegally residing in the country will be eligible for 10-year residence permits, while migrants currently on temporary residence can extend their stay.
The new measure could benefit up to one million Venezuelan citizens currently living in Colombia without proper papers, as well as hundreds of thousands who need to renew their temporary visas.
President Duque announced the protection measure in a stately government palace in Bogota while standing with Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“As we take this historic and transcendental step for Latin America, we hope other countries will follow our lead,” Duque said to a room full of ambassadors and diplomats who were invited to witness the announcement.
Grandi said the new policy would improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor people, calling it an “extraordinary gesture” of humanity, pragmatism and commitment to human rights.
The Colombian government estimates that 1.8 million Venezuelans currently live in the country and 55% of them do not have proper residence papers. Most have arrived since 2015 to escape hyperinflation, food shortages and an increasingly authoritarian government.
Duque said registering these undocumented immigrants and refugees would benefit Colombian security agencies and also make the provision of social services, including vaccines against coronavirus, more efficient.
The government said Venezuelans who legally arrive in Colombia within the next two years may also apply for temporary protection.
The new policy comes after Donald Trump signed an executive order in the final days of his presidency that stopped the deportations of tens of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States.
Colombia’s new temporary protection statute will be introduced as migrants leaving Venezuela find it more difficult to settle in other South American countries due to the closure of land borders and a growing anti-immigrant sentiment.
In Ecuador, hundreds of Venezuelans are currently trapped on the country’s southern border, following Peru’s decision to send tanks and troops into the area to stop illegal border crossings.
Other popular destinations for Venezuelan migrants are Panama and Chile, which have imposed visa requirements that make it more difficult for Venezuelans to move to those countries.
According to the United Nations, there are 4.7 million Venezuelan migrants and other refugees in other Latin American countries after fleeing the economic collapse and political divide in their home countries. Colombia has more than a third of them.
Duque said that while Colombia’s decision will provide some relief, he did not expect it to stop the Venezuelan exodus.
“If we want to end this crisis, countries need to think about how to end the dictatorship in Venezuela,” he said. “We need to think about how to set up a transitional government and organize free elections.”