Those living in the South American country will be able to apply for the Temporary Permit of Permanence until July 2019

Venezuelans who have recently migrated to Peru will be able to apply for the Temporary Permit of Permanence (PTP, for its Spanish acronym), a Peruvian government program that allows migrants to work and pay taxes in order to stay legally in the country.

According to Migration Office of Peru, the PTP has already benefited more than 25,500 Venezuelans during the past year; it is expected to welcome thousands more throughout the current year and until July 2019.

The Temporary Permit of Permanence is a migratory alternative creative by the government and led by Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. It grants permission of legal temporary stay-and-work to Venezuelan immigrants; it was launched in February 2017 after being validated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Due to the amount of applicants, in July 2017, an extension in the registration time frame was authorized and it was meant to last until December. However, the rising number of applicants and new arrivals of Venezuelan immigrants, motivated the nation to extend the registration period for the PTP once again. This time, Venezuelan citizens who enter Peru before December 31st, 2018 will be able to apply for the Temporary Permit of Permanence until July 30, 2019.

According to explanations given to NTN24 by the National Superintendent of Migration in Peru, Eduardo Sevilla, the initiative is executed as a sign of solidarity with the country in crisis. Because, as Sevilla recalls it, during the 70s and 80s more than 100,000 Peruvians entered Venezuela in search of a better economic income and with the aim of starting new life projects.

Under this foundation, Peru granted 25,500 PTPs last year and it is expected to exceed the figure with the extension on the registration period for the 2018-2019 term since,as can be observed in the official website of Peru Migration, the requirements asked by government are simple:

• Having legally entered Peruvian territory

• Not having a criminal record in his/her home country or others

• Make payment of USD $13

Brain Drain

According to the Peruvian National Superintendent of Migration, of the 25,500 PTPs granted to Venezuelans during 2017, more than 1,200 were conceded to under age migrants.

Sevilla also mentions that 40% of the Venezuelan citizens registered were professionals who mostly hold postgraduate degrees and whom seek to start their own entrepreneurship or work independently; the other 60% corresponds to young people whose goal is to join a company or work for a national organization.

Latin America has slowly adapted to the exodus of Venezuelans who, in their attempt to escape the crisis, hunger, and violence in their own country, seek refuge in neighboring nations.

Colombia has been one of the countries that has granted more permanent permits to Venezuelan citizens in the region. According to a Colombian Migration report published in August 2017, 263,331 Venezuelans arrived to the neighboring country. During the same timeframe, the organization also calculated that between 100,000 and 140,000 Venezuelans would have crossed illegally.

Colombia is not the only country that has felt the Venezuelan crisis up close. Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Argentina have reported monumental increases in the numbers of asylum petitions and Venezuelans’ arrivals. This without mentioning regions of Central and North America where, according to statistics collected by the Pew research center, Venezuela ranked as the third nation with the largest number of citizens requesting asylum.

Latin American Post | Krishna Jaramillo
Copy edited by Susana Cicchetto