How is the new procedure for Venezuelans to migrate to Argentina?

Until now, the requirements imposed on Venezuelan migrants at the Argentine border were to present a valid pbadport attesting to their identity and a proof of absence of criminal record established by the Government of Venezuela. The problem is that as the social, political and economic conflict in this country progresses, less and less of its citizens can process their documents or apostillize them in the consulates of the countries where they arrive.

The most dramatic case is that of children under 9 because historically the Venezuelan state does not grant them identity documents until that age and, without the possibility of processing a pbadport, they arrive in Argentina only with their birth certificates prove their identity and their relationship with their loved ones. The only maneuver possible until this week was the asylum application as refugees, which involved them in a process lasting at least six months from the National Commission for Refugees (Conare).

"Basically, with this provision, what is accepted is that children under 9 years can enter Argentina to legally access the residence of Mercosur that we have already put in place more than two years ago, "said Sebastián Horton, president of the National Commission for Refugees (Conare) minutouno.com.

"We started to visualize is that It is illogical that the Argentine State recognizes a significant number of children under 9 years old as refugees because they claim to be persecuted, beyond humanitarian circumstances. We then added: "If these people can be regularized on the basis of the Mercosur criterion or because many are children of Venezuelan citizens already legally established in Argentina and who could do it. by the criterion of family reunificationthen it makes no sense to subject the child to a long process, "said Horton.

The family reunification criterion being activated, the government has sought to facilitate the clbadification of the smallest, but does not exempt adults from presenting their documents: pbadport and proof of absence of criminal record. The most that 130 thousand Venezuelan migrants who came to the country in the last two years had to go through this example at some point.

"The problem that Venezuela has is that the government does not have apostille or has a slow filing process because of the high demand", agreed Horton." What we say with this facilitation is "you came and you can start the process and you will be regular". While we corroborate this document, you will have the privacy to complete it in the way you can and By the Venezuelan Consulate here in Argentina, we will make our own efforts migrations, to try to have information, "he said.

Horton pointed out that since migrations have become more pragmatic with regards to the processing of archiving requests. "We need to know if this person has a history or not. It does not matter whether you have the public instrument or not. For me, the Venezuelan consulate informs me that this person has no antecedents and that we will solve it in the same way. But this whole process is regular, "he explained.

"Here, the message that should be conveyed to the Venezuelan community is that everyone has the opportunity to access a legal residence in Argentina and it's what gives them more rights to match them to the Argentineans"said the official, supported by the country's historic ability to welcome and support migrants from around the world who have come to the worst of adversity in their home country.