Ricardo Gutiérrez and his family did not know what the future held when, amid a shortage of food and medicine, they left their home in the Venezuelan city of Barinas four years ago.
“It was not easy at all to have to leave our country to improve our lives and then suddenly find ourselves sleeping on the ground and having to start from scratch in another place,” he says, recalling his first days in Ecuador.
Currently, the dreams of this 37-year-old bank accountant have come true since he has been able to access a temporary residence visa in Ecuador, within the framework of the extraordinary regularization plan for Venezuelans from that country. This will allow him to have a regular employment contract, including health insurance, at the driving school where he works.
“I’m very happy. This visa will allow me to provide economic and emotional stability to my wife and daughters here in Ecuador”, says Ricardo, visibly moved.
He is also hopeful that regularization will facilitate regular access to the medication he needs, since without proper documentation he has so far been unable to access the treatment he needs for his cancer.
With nearly half a million Venezuelan nationals, Ecuador is home to the third largest population of Venezuelan migrants in the world, after Colombia and Peru. But the majority of these migrants do not have adequate documentation, which is an obstacle for them to forge a prosperous future in Ecuador. Many use the Andean nation as a transit country en route to other South American nations, such as Peru and Chile.
Legal status changes everything
He regularization process of Ecuador, lasting one year, is key for Venezuelan migrants to lead productive lives, allowing access to the labor market and the social security system, in addition to facilitating access to the enjoyment of rights and basic services such as education and health care.
First of all, Venezuelans must complete the online biometric immigration registration requested by the Ministry of the Interior. After having obtained their immigration certificate, they can register through an online platform managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, apply for a temporary residence visa for two years and finally obtain an Ecuadorian identity document.
Since June 2022, more than 104,000 people have been able to complete their immigration registration, and of that number, some 55,000 Venezuelans have applied for a visa. By February 2023, almost 41,000 migrants had already received their temporary residence visa. Thousands of others continue to go through one of the instances of the regularization plan.
It is the second time that Ecuador has taken the necessary measures to be able to regularize migrants and refugees from Venezuela. The first time was in 2019 and 2020, a period in which another extraordinary regularization exercise took place from which 51,000 people benefited.
The International Organization for Migration (OIM) supports the Government of Ecuador in this initiative, offering its great experience, its capacity, its presence and the resources to strengthen the process and ensure that no person is left behind.
“Regularization is key to facilitating their socioeconomic integration and the path to full inclusion,” said José Iván Dávalos, IOM Ecuador Chief of Mission. “It brings benefits not only to the migrants but also to the communities that welcome them, to which they arrive seeking safety.”
Several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are promoting the inclusion of Venezuelans who seek to stay in these host communities. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and others are providing the necessary documentation and seeking solutions to regularize and offer protection to the Venezuelan population through different documents of their national legislation and the promotion of a joint response. in which all countries participate, through regional forums such as the Quito process.
A migrant from Venezuela performs the migratory biometric registration at the Ministry of the Interior in Quito, Ecuador.
a change for the better
A few years ago Carlos Rivero did not imagine that he could leave Venezuela to work 2,000 kilometers from his country. “The trigger for our departure was seeing my family eat only cassava three times a day,” he says from the small house where he currently lives with his wife and his two children in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
Like many of the 7.1 million people who have left Venezuela in recent years, this lawyer had high expectations in his suitcase in 2018; but without the necessary documents, he could not find a stable job. “We could barely survive on what I earned selling vegetables, unloading trucks, or working as a bricklayer. Every day the situation became more complicated”, says Carlos.
But now, Carlos is among the nearly 39,000 Venezuelans who have been granted regular status. Thanks to this status, this lawyer’s family will be able to improve their socioeconomic and financial integration, and will also have better education for their children and access to health services. He now works in a restaurant and has received seed money and entrepreneurship advice from IOM so he can grow his recycled craft bag business.
The new situation has brought a light of hope to the lives of the family. “Having the status of regularity, that has changed everything. I will be able to have a legal contract and access to all common services. It’s a radical change,” says Carlos, surrounded by the sound of a sewing machine, rolls of burlap cloth, spools of colorful threads, and a mountain of handmade bags.
This story was written by Gema Cortes, IOM Press Unit, Office of the Special Envoy for the Regional Response to the Situation in Venezuela.
Carlos is one of thousands of Venezuelans who have been granted regular status in Ecuador.
