Venezuelan Migrants Welcome Colombia’s New Open-Door Policy : NPR

Venezuelan migrants take a lunch break at the gooseberry farm where they work on the outskirts of Bogotá, Colombia.

John Otis for NPR

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John Otis for NPR

Venezuelan migrants take a lunch break at the gooseberry farm where they work on the outskirts of Bogotá, Colombia.

John Otis for NPR

BOGOTA, Colombia — Since fleeing Venezuela three years ago to escape a socialist dictatorship and the country’s worst-ever economic collapse, Isaias Bello has lived in legal limbo.

Isaias Bello, a 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant, earns a living picking gooseberries on a farm outside Bogotá. With the new program for undocumented Venezuelan migrants, “Colombia is providing us with a huge opportunity,” he says. “I feel very, very happy.”

John Otis for NPR

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John Otis for NPR

As an undocumented migrant in neighboring Colombia, he feared being deported while employers frequently took advantage. He recalls working 10-hour shifts at a construction site for a daily wage of about $8, far less than minimum wage of about $12 a day. In other cases, migrants worked in exchange for food.

That’s why Bello was delighted when Colombian President Iván Duque unveiled a program this month that will allow undocumented Venezuelan migrants to legally live and work in Colombia for up to 10 years.

“Colombia is providing us with a huge opportunity,” says Bello, 26, who now makes a living picking gooseberries on a farm just outside Bogotá. “I feel very, very happy.”

So do many of his fellow migrants. Of the 5.4 million Venezuelans who have left their country over the past six years, nearly 2 million have resettled in Colombia. About half of these newcomers lack legal status, having crossed into Colombia on smuggling trails because they lacked passports and other documents required for legal entry.

Duque said his new measure will help Colombian authorities vaccinate Venezuelans for the coronavirus as well as keep tabs on migrants and deport those involved in crimes. He pledged that it will become easier for migrants to gain access to health care and schooling for their children.

In addition, Colombia stands to benefit from Venezuela’s brain drain, as newly arrived doctors, teachers and engineers will now be able pursue their careers there.

This open-door policy, which is reminiscent of the way German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed an influx of refugees starting in 2015, has won praise…