How Colombia Showcases a Promising Model for Migration Governance

By Alina Immken

Despite Venezuela’s history as a host country to many refugees from other countries, including Colombia, recent violence, crime, and food shortages have led to a surge in Venezuelan migration into Colombia. Millions of Venezuelans have crossed into neighbouring Colombia, which, unlike countries such as Ecuador and Peru, has responded with an unusually open and ambitious migration policy, granting legal residence, pathways to citizenship, and access to social services. Colombia’s approach stands out not only for its scale, but also because it has unfolded amid the country’s own struggles of continued poverty, violence, and limited international support. 

As countries all around the world harden their borders, could Colombia’s response to Venezuelan migration offer an alternative path?

Venezuelan Migration Into Colombia

While already connected  due to a shared colonial history in Gran Colombia, cross-border migration between Colombia and Venezuela has recently intensified. In the mid 20th century, Venezuela’s oil-driven economic expansion attracted Colombian labour migrants fleeing from internal armed conflict, forming a community of over half a million Colombians in Venezuela. However, under President Maduro, Venezuela’s economy soon stagnated, leading to collapsing public services and rising political and economic insecurity. In 2015, the deportation of 1,500 Colombians living in Venezuela and their persecution as accused paramilitary members instigated an average of 37,000 people per day to cross the border into Colombia forcibly. Colombia now hosts 2.82 million Venezuelan refugees, who have crossed into Colombia over the 2,200km porous border between the two countries.

Colombia's Approach to Immigration

Colombia is an attractive destination for Venezuelan migrants, not only due to its geographical proximity, cultural interconnectedness, and shared language, but also because it has promised them shelter, legal status, and extensive support. Soon after the first wave of migrants entered Colombia, the state expanded its institutional presence in border points such as La Guajira, Norte de Santander, and Arauca, coordinating with humanitarian organisations and other non-state actors to deliver food, healthcare, housing, and legal assistance. 

In 2017, they introduced the Special Permanence Permit to grant temporary residence and access to social services to Venezuelans in Colombia, regularising the status of over 700,000 migrants from Venezuela. In cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation of Migration, and the World Bank, Colombia committed itself to meeting the needs of the migrant population and established sectoral strategies and programs to strengthen antidiscrimination, integration, family welfare services, the right to health care and education, as well as the coordination of its migration governance. In 2021, focused on the permanent integration of Venezuelans, they created the ‘Temporary Statute for the Protection of Venezuelan Migrants’, which granted Venezuelans legal access to a 10-year residency and work permit, public services, and a pathway to permanent residence. President Duque accompanied the announcement of this Temporary Protection Status with a call on the international community to follow his example. 

Colombia has gathered extensive international attention from humanitarian organisations and the international community for its welcoming approach to migration governance and has severely improved its international legitimacy. Furthermore, their long-term approach to migration carries promising economic prospects: The World Bank frames migration as a source of labour expansion and increased investment and consumption, producing expected GDP growth of 0.7 to 0.9 percentage points in the long term. The regularisation of Venezuelan migrants is said to increase per capita consumption between 31 and 60 percent and income by up to 31 percent, which is evidence of their positive fiscal contribution in the long-term. Sub-director Humberto Velázquez from Colombia Migration explains the approach in the following way: “The goal is for people to come and enter the country, assisting us in generating development.”

Challenges in Colombia 

Colombia has traditionally been a country of migrant origin; therefore, the current migrant influx constitutes its first major experience as a destination country. In 2016, the country made an agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia (FARC), which had previously been responsible for kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking, and violent attacks against civilians and the Colombian state, to end the insurgency and establish peace in Colombia. However, Colombia still experiences the long-lasting effects of this violence. Its economy remains largely informal, and other armed groups still continue to coerce vulnerable migrant communities in conflict zones. Per capita income is averagely 50% lower for Venezuelans than for natives, and Venezuelans have been disproportionately affected by poverty and food insecurity. 

The Venezuelan exodus into Colombia has been among the most underfunded migrant crises in the world, although one of the biggest. In 2020, only 42% of its funding needs were met, and international institutions provided around USD 3,150 per Syrian refugee, USD 1,390 per South Sudanese refugee, and only USD 265 per Venezuelan refugee. 

Colombian president Petro has spoken on repairing severed ties with the Venezuelan government. Whilst strongly condemning the actions of President Trump in kidnapping Nicolas Maduro, Colombia’s government has still largely chosen to work with Venezuela’s new interim government under Delcy Rodriguez, which carries prospects of increased migration governance coordination and protection of migrants crossing the border. Increased cooperation between the two states, ensuring a safe passage in both directions, and more support from international institutions and agencies is essential.

Despite these challenges, Colombia has maintained its open migration policy and recognised that Venezuelans refugees are there to stay. Colombia’s response reflects a strategy of long-term integration that connects the inclusion of Venezuelan refugees with national economic development, prioritising mutual gains for both populations despite the short-term risks that typically discourage such policies in other countries. 

Sources: Eigner et. al., International Crisis Group, Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement, Mojica Acevedo et. al., Refugees International, The Crisis Group, The World Bank, UNHCR

Written by Alina Immken

Edited by Florence Cunnen, Tomás Díaz and Olivia O’Mahony