Venezuelans begin getting work permits extended

The Immigration Division has begun granting six-month extensions on expired registration cards for Venezuelans' work permits.

Several Venezuelans told Newsday on Friday the calls began in the middle of this week.

They were told to go to the Immigration building at Henry Street, Port of Spain.

The first to arrive handed over their cards, waited outside and received their cards back half an hour later.

"It is the same card that they gave us in 2019, but they put a label on them indicating the expiration date," said one of the Venezuelans.

The new date is in mid-November, completing the six-month extension from May, when the official letters were signed.

The recipient said, "This worries us because in reality we will only have three months from today until November. We do not understand why if they are signed from May they deliver them three months later."

While appreciating the TT government's initiative to grant them work permits, Venezuelans said many lost their jobs when their cards expired.

This is the second extension of work permits for the 16,523 Venezuelans who registered in May-June 2019.

In June 2020, the government announced a first extension until December of that year owing to the covid19 pandemic. In January 2021 a second extension was announced for six more months, which is now being made official.

Venezuelans had to deliver new documents requested by the Immigration Division in March for re-registration. Authorities reported at the time 13,000 registrants had participated.

National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said during the repatriation of 700 Venezuelans on June 17 that the authorities will wait until the end of this year to re-evaluate the issue of the registered Venezuelans.