Peru to make stricter entry requirements for Venezuelans

Peru’s immigration officials have announced tougher restrictions on Venezuelan migrants finding refuge from their country’s deepening economic crisis, the government announced Friday.

Instead of showing a Venezuelan national identification, migrants will need to show a passport beginning next Saturday, according to Interior Minister Mauro Medina.

“It’s normal for a country to want to identify the Venezuelan citizens entering the country, for our security and theirs,” Medina said.

Nearly 400,000 Venezuelans are believed to be in Peru, which recently included a single-day record of 5,100 entries when a surge of Venezuelan migrants came from bordering Ecuador, according to Peru’s own official numbers. Some organizations think the daily number of migrants now entering Peru could be even higher.

According to the AFP, Peru is the latest in a line of fellow Latin American countries tightening rules on Venezuelans coming into their countries. Colombia, where some 800,000 Venezuelans have migrated to, put a similar requirement in effect earlier this year. The neighboring country has announced it will help with increased aid, however, to Venezuelan migrants in need of basic necessities.

Ecuador recently declared a state of emergency in response to escalating rates of Venezuelans fleeing their home country.

Peru’s increased security for Venezuelans comes soon after a group of five Venezuelan migrants were arrested in Lima for planning to rob a bank.

Peru has allowed Venezuelans who do not have prior criminal records to receive one-year work visas rather easily via the Temporary Permission of Permanence (PTP) that came via a decision from former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.