Visas for Venezuelans stopped

THE interruption in the delivery of visas for Venezuelans who want to come to TT, is generating uncertainty between applicants and their refugee relatives already in this country and there is still no official statement certifying suspension of the process.

On June 17, two days after the registration of work for Venezuelans was closed, the government began to make effective at its ports and airports the visa requirement for people from the South American country.

For the past month, there have been numerous complaints that the issuance of the visa has been stopped at the Trinidad embassy in Caracas.

There was word in Caracas that on September 17, the TT embassy announced that the process of delivery of the said entry permit to Venezuelans wanting to go to TT, was suspended. This could not be officially confirmed.

"It is presumed that more visas will be delivered until January, that is what they tell us now at the embassy," said María Rodríguez, a Venezuelan who got her travel permit formally yet when she arrived at the port in Cedros she was ordered back to her homeland without explanation.

“I did all the paperwork, I obtained my visa but in Cedros, the immigration officials ordered me to return to Venezuela without giving me reasons. When I returned to Caracas, I went to the Trinidad embassy to make the request again and the workers there informed me that the process was stopped,” Rodríguez said via a telephone interview from Caracas.

She visited Trinidad to visit her husband who has asylum status. "At the embassy in Caracas they asked a lot of questions about the travel, but especially about the economic income that the Venezuelan person has." She said Venezuelans are treated well at the embassy in Caracas but that changes if there are problems with the documents.

Among the documents visa applicants must submit to the embassy are: a copy of their passport, a copy of their national ID card, a letter from their place of employment in Venezuela, a work permit, bank statements for the last four months, a copy of the flight ticket reservation, a copy of hotel reservation, two passport-sized, white background photos, for children 16 and under, they must submit a copy of their original birth certificate and the visa application forms must be filled in English and printed on a page on both sides).

Notices at the embassy in Caracas stated that the cost for a TT visa is Bs.597,022, while for people who register multiple entries it amounts to Bs.953,212.

"At the beginning they requested 300 thousand bolivars in bank deposits, and this was later raised, apparently due to the increase in the price of the United States dollar in Venezuela," she said. The deposit must be made at the Provincial Bank located on San Juan Bosco Avenue, Altamira Center Building, 1st Floor, Altamira, Caracas. The embassy of Trinidad and Tobago in Venezuela is located on the Third Avenue of Altamira, between 6th and 7th cross, Quinta Poshika, Chacao Municipality.

Prime Minister Dr Rowley, asked about the suspension of the process, said that visas are available and that Venezuelans living outside Caracas would probably have a harder time getting them.

“Venezuela is a big country. Visas are available in Caracas, so I would not be surprised if someone from another place in Venezuela has difficulty getting there," he said. Efforts to get a statement from the Maduro regime in Venezuela on the visa issue, proved futile.