Ecuador intends to regularize one million immigrants

On Thursday, September 1, Ecuador started the regularization process for some 600,000 Venezuelans and 400,000 citizens of other nationalities.

“If you are a Venezuelan citizen and require to regularize your migratory status, this process is for you. We invite you from September 1 to be part of this process: register, regularize and identify yourself!” the Foreign Ministry stated on its Twitter account.

Executive Decree number 436, dated June 1, 2022, established a migratory amnesty and regularization process for Venezuelans and their family groups who entered through the country’s migratory control points and remain in an irregular situation.

This process will begin in September for Venezuelan citizens and consists of three stages, in the first of which applicants must register on a web page created for such purpose.

Ecuadorian authorities said that in November, the process would be extended to citizens of other nationalities and in February of next year to Venezuelan citizens who have entered the country irregularly.

Daniel Regalado, president of the civil association Venezuela in Ecuador, told Sputnik Agency that in the case of those who are subject to a fine, they will be able to register in February 2023.

“That indicates that they are not going to have a registration certificate until then, and they are going to be susceptible to more fines and persecution,” he noted.

According to Regalado, currently, many of the Venezuelans residing in Ecuador are returning to Venezuela, “but the vast majority are looking for a third country, such as the United States”.

Meanwhile, local organizations defending the rights of migrants were in favor of this regularization measure.

With information from Sputnik

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