In Colombia, the Movilidad Segura, a U.S.-led pilot program to facilitate the visa application process for the United States, opened. The Biden administration hopes it will reduce people crossing the Mexican border illegally. But the initiative is not for the Colombians. Similar programs are also in place in Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Since June 28, the Movilidad Segura program (Safe Mobility) has opened in Colombia with the launch of a website meant to receive online applications for migrating to the United States.
This six-month pilot program aims to help migrants come to the United States using legal pathways and reduce human trafficking and illegal crossing at the Mexican border.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, a record number of 131,000 Colombians were stopped trying to cross the U.S. border illegally between October 2022, the start of the U.S. administration fiscal year, and May 2022. The statistics already surpassed figures for the entire 2022 fiscal year.
So far, in fiscal year 2023, Colombians account for the fourth-largest nationality apprehended by the U.S. at the border.
But in fiscal year 2022, more Mexicans (823,000), Guatemalans (233,000), Cubans (225,000), Hondurans (215,000), Venezuelans (190,000), or Nicaraguans (165,000) were apprehended by U.S. patrols than Colombians (131,000).
And the Movilidad Segura program in Colombia is only open for people from Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba who can prove they were already legal residents in Colombia before June 12.
The program in Colombia only open to citizens from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti
Movilidad Segura is a United States pilot that is being supported by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
It aims to help refugees and migrants from South and Latin American countries move safely and legally to the United States and other countries. With the website, American authorities hope to guide applicants toward legal pathways to enter U.S. soil and reduce illegal border crossings.
At the beginning of 2023, the Biden administration announced that the United States, in coordination with Mexico, would accept up to 30,000 migrants a month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti at the Mexican border. But on the other hand, they would tighten restrictions on those who try to cross the border with Mexico without the necessary documentation.
The U.S. hopes to mitigate the migration crisis at the 3,100-kilometer Mexican border that has grown since 2021.
At the end of April, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced, among various measures, the opening of Regional Processing Centers in partner countries “to reduce irregular migration and facilitate safe, orderly, humane, and lawful pathways from the Americas.”
With the Movilidad Segura website, people can fill out online forms to apply for a visa in the U.S. If they meet the criteria for legal entry, they may be later invited for an in-person interview in the local processing centers. The entire process is free. The officers will also scan if applicants can be eligible for refugee settlement or other legal entry pathways in Canada and Spain.
The Movilidad Segura is an extension of a similar program for Venezuelans launched in October, with a quota of 24,000 a year, also based on a plan for Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia.
CBPOne, a mobile application that allows people to make appointments at a port of entry, was introduced last October and is now extended to other nationalities.
Nearly 2 million Venezuelans fled to Colombia
Colombia is the South American country with the most Venezuelan refugees.
Although the 2,200-kilometer border was closed for several years, 1.8 million Venezuelans migrated to Colombia between 2015 and 2021, and half crossed the border undocumented. The former Colombian president Iván Duque, a strong opponent of Nicolás Maduro’s regime, wanted to naturalize all the Venezuelans already in Colombia. In 2021, he saw 1.2 million people registering online for a 10-year protection status in Colombia, allowing them to work legally.
With the election of Gustavo Petro in 2022, the first left-wing president of Colombia recognized Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, diplomatic relations and the border were restored between the two neighbors.
Colombians are not part of the pilot program and cannot seek a visa through Movilidad Segura.
Nevertheless, the United States promised to expand the legal residency solutions for Colombian citizens who have migrated or hope to migrate to the United States with better labor mobility, educational mobility, and family reunification programs and to reduce process times for visa applicants to obtain appointments.
Online visa applications temporarily unavailable
The website launch in Colombia, delayed by a dozen days, is not entirely smooth.
The website mentioned that the online form could occasionally be unavailable for new applications since they are still “launching this program.” It can periodically stop accepting applications to resolve issues that arise. And on Thursday, a day after the launch, online applications were already temporarily closed, and people were asked to return later.
The safe mobility program also exists in two other countries at the moment.
In Guatemala, the program is open to Guatemalans and people from Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, although, on June 29, online applications were also temporarily closed.
In Costa Rica, the program is only for Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, at least for the initial two-month phase.
