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About a year ago, the Colombian government began working on the migration project, which ended in the Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelan migrants. Who was behind its design? Interview with Juan Francisco Espinosa, Director of Migration Colombia.
Although Colombia has been receiving Venezuelan migration for nearly two decades, it was since 2015 that there was a vertiginous increase in the arrival of migrants to the country. From hosting about 350,000 between 2015 and 2016, it became the recipient of at least 36% of a diaspora that today reaches 5’180,615 Venezuelans in the world, the product of one of the worst humanitarian crises on the continent.
A pressure for a country without experience in receiving migrants and that did not have legal, social or economic tools to face the largest migratory wave in its history. How did the country take the bold step of establishing a Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelan migrants?
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, it was since 2018 when the issue was mentioned for the first time in the document Conpes 3950; Then the need to build a migration law based on figures similar to the existing temporary protection models in other countries was identified.
In 2019, President Iván Duque asked the Organization of American States to consider granting temporary protection status to Venezuelans; but it was the work of officials like Alejandra Botero, Presidential Advisor for Management and Compliance; Claudia Blum, Minister of Foreign Relations; Lucas Gómez, manager of Frontera and Juan Francisco Espinosa, Director of Migration Colombia, They gave shape to one of the projects that places Colombia at the forefront of human mobility at the regional and global level.
The Director General of Migration Colombia, Juan Francisco Espinosa Palacios, explains how the process was and clarifies points of the Temporary Protection Statute.
¿How did the idea of the Temporary Protection Statute for Migrants come about?
This Statute was born about a year ago, as part of the commitment that Migración Colombia has in the search for new mechanisms or tools for migratory flexibility, which would allow the integration of the Venezuelan migrant population into the productive life of the country, from its regularization.
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A challenge that, since my arrival in Migración Colombia, more than a year ago, became, practically, an obsession, because contrary to what many thought, the challenge was not to regularize the migrants, the real challenge was to To be able to offer shelter to those Venezuelan migrants who flee from their country of origin because of the crisis, to make them part of the productive life of the country and to continue guaranteeing order and security within the national territory.
It was a year of hard work on all fronts, of constant evaluations and a permanent search for mechanisms and strategies that would allow us to face the Venezuelan migratory crisis, a crisis that becomes more acute every year.
What organizations and people participated in its development? *
We could say that this project began in the hands of Migración Colombia and the Presidency of the Republic and that throughout this year great actors such as the Foreign Ministry, the Border Management and the Department for Management and Compliance, from the Presidency of the Republic.
However, I must also say that this Statute is the result of the efforts of the entire Colombian people, who throughout more than 5 years of migratory crisis have shaken hands with the Venezuelan people.
Did you have the advice of other countries or governments?
No. This Statute was worked on at the National Government level. However, we analyze the case of Turkey and the United States, as references.
When does the announcement come into effect?
This Statute will be implemented through a Presidential Decree. In that order of ideas, after the announcement made by the President of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez, the draft Decree is published in the transparency window of the Presidency of the Republic for a period of 15 days, so that citizens participate and give your opinion.
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How do you expect the implementation to be? *
After that time, and after taking into account the observations of the citizens, the final Decree will come out. After 90 days after the publication of the Decree through which the Temporary Statute of Protection for Venezuelans is adopted, it will be implemented in two phases:
Phase 1: Unique Registry of Venezuelan Migrants that is part of the Identification Project that is popularly known as Biométrico.
Phase 2: Issuance of the Temporary Protection Permit.
How does the Unique Registry of Migrants (RUMV) work?
This aims to collect and update the biographical and biometric information of Venezuelan citizens who are in Colombia, in order to formulate and design public policies on immigration, and identify applicants for the Temporary Protection Permit. This registration will be carried out virtually (mobile devices) with photography (biometric).
It is important to note that this registry does not have sanctioning purposes, and the inclusion of the information in the Registry does not modify the migratory status, nor does it grant benefits, nor does it amount to the recognition of refugee status, nor does it grant asylum.
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Now, after making the Unique Registry of Venezuelan Migrants, the migrant who wants to benefit from the Temporary Protection Statute must request the Personal Protection Permit.
The Personal Protection Permit is a mechanism for migratory regularization and identification document, which authorizes Venezuelan migrants to remain in Colombia under conditions of special immigration regularity for its term of validity.
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This permit allows, regardless of the redundancy, the migrant to exercise during said period any activity or legal occupation in the country, including those that are developed by virtue of a relationship or employment contract, without prejudice to compliance with the requirements established in the ordinance Colombian legal entity for the exercise of regulated activities.
It will also allow the foreigner to prove their stay in Colombia for the purposes of accumulating the time required to apply for a Type R Visa.
Like the Unique Registry of Venezuelan Migrants (RUMV), the issuance of the Temporary Protection Permit will be in charge of Migración Colombia, who will define, through an administrative act, its implementation and cost.
How to explain to Colombians that this is positive for them too? *
We have always said that there is nothing more dangerous for a country than not knowing who is within its territory and doing what. It will facilitate the prosecution processes, since there will be full identification of foreigners. This redounds to the security of the migrant’s country.
Additionally, if we speak in economic terms, with the Statute we will be able to reduce the cost of attention for the Venezuelan migratory crisis, which annually is close to $ 1,500 million dollars.
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Venezuelan migration is already in Colombia, we have lived with it for five years and it is time to implement substantive measures that allow us to serve this population, without neglecting our main effort, which is the Colombian people.
Do you think this serves to reduce the levels of xenophobia that exist in the country?
There are many myths around what will happen with the implementation of the Temporary Statute of Protection for Venezuelan Migrants, but the truth is that what is sought with this measure is not to privilege Venezuelan citizens, but to grant a regular immigration status that allows them foreigners have the rights that the Constitution grants them, regardless of their nationality.
The idea is that through the statute, migrants will be able to link or integrate into society and in that sense, they will not have prerogatives greater than those of a Colombian citizen.
On the other hand, it becomes more costly for the country for a group of unidentified people with irregular status to be living in our territory, taking into account that the lack of opportunities would make them prone to crime, the labor market would deteriorate and there would be no trust in general in any type of link with these citizens. On the contrary, what we want is that a real integration allows them to generate economic value through consumption, labor formalization, entrepreneurship and this in turn with greater tax contributions.
Can this cause a migratory tide?
We have always stated that Venezuelan migration is not given out of pleasure, but out of necessity. Venezuelan migration is a reality that does not depend on the implementation or not of this statute, nor is it stopped by the requirement or not of a visa.
Venezuelan migration is the result of a failed state, of the implementation of a series of expulsion policies by a regime that usurped power and exiled its people and democracy.
As long as the situation in Venezuela continues as it is today, we will continue to see thousands of Venezuelans trying to go out in search of opportunities, in search of a future that their country denies them.
Is the Colombian government ready if there is a migratory tide?
Within this draft Statute there are a series of clear conditions so that migrants can benefit from it. Among them, one of the most important is to show that they were within the national territory by January 31, 2021.
It is important to note that one of the purposes of the implementation of the Statute is precisely to discourage irregular migration, therefore, despite the fact that this project grants two years from the entry into force of the decree, to those who enter through the positions of control, to access the benefits, it must be clarified that these income will be controlled since they must have entered through an immigration control post stamped passport, in addition to complying with the documentary requirements and not being involved in the grounds of inadmissibility contemplated in the regulation .
