Betting on Legality: Latin American and Caribbean Responses to the Venezuelan Displacement Crisis

Based on a review of data from across the region, this report estimates that somewhere between 50 percent and 75 percent of all Venezuelans have obtained some form of legal status in the Latin American and Caribbean countries in which they have settled.6 In addition, all countries in Latin America and most, but not all, in the Caribbean have allowed Venezuelans access to primary and secondary educ. [...] 47 Data were obtained by the Observatorio de Movilidad, Infancia y Familia (part of the Population Program in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the Republic) through a freedom of information request to Uruguay’s National Migration Directorate within the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and shared with the report’s authors in September 2022. [...] Data for Uruguay were obtained by the Observatorio de Movilidad, Infancia y Familia (part of the Population Program in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the Republic) through a freedom of information request to Uruguay’s National Migration Directorate within the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and shared with the report’s authors in September 2022. [...] While the existing legal frameworks in most countries were overwhelmed by the sheer While the existing legal frameworks in most number of Venezuelans arriving, and most countries were overwhelmed by the sheer displaced Venezuelans could not meet the number of Venezuelans arriving, and most criteria for the existing visas, a considerable number did in certain countries. [...] In Mexico, about 40 percent of the visas appear to be through family relationships, almost one-quarter are for employment, and the rest are for study and other reasons.59 The use of visas in both Mexico and Costa Rica may also reflect the fact that many of the Venezuelans who arrived in these countries were professionals who could access employment-based and student visas and later apply for famil.