Overseas Venezuelans are facing a dilemma: they need to return to their country to get a new passport, but without the passport, they cannot go back.
After several Latin American countries raised concerns over this year’s disputed election results in Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro withdrew the country’s diplomatic personnel stationed abroad and closed consulates in Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay.
This means that Venezuelans who applied for new passports in these countries before the July vote must return home to collect them. However, a new rule that took effect on September 25 prohibits Venezuelans with expired passports from re-entering the country unless they hold another nationality.
In other words, if these people have valid legal status in another country and wish to return to Venezuela, they must also pay $60 for a permit at the nearest consulate. Without a valid Venezuelan passport, they will not be allowed to leave, but there is no guarantee that they will obtain a passport during their return.
According to Bloomberg, this is a regulatory paradox. The United Nations agencies and partners estimate that nearly 3 million Venezuelans live in countries where Venezuela has severed diplomatic ties. The majority of them do not have legal residency documents and have essentially become stateless.
According to a recent survey by the Venezuelan Diaspora Observatory published in early May, the vast majority of overseas Venezuelans (91%) have passports, but more than half of them are already expired. The survey found that only 19% of Venezuelan immigrants returned to their homeland in 2023, with others facing obstacles such as economic or documentation issues.