Perú and Migration from Venezuela: From Early Adjustment to Policy Misalignment

Abstract

Perú has become the second largest recipient of Venezuelan migrants worldwide with more than 1.5 million arriving by December 2022. The country’s policies towards Venezuelan migrants changed sharply over the seven years of Venezuela’s forced migration crisis. In a first policy phase (2015–2018), Perú was openly accommodating to Venezuelans, providing a special work permit, and welcoming their socio-economic inclusion. The policy swerved sharply towards restriction and exclusion beginning with President Martin Vizcarra. Under Phase II (2018–March 2020), Perú restricted legal migration, erecting criteria that it knew were difficult to comply with. Perú’s restrictive policies are found in this chapter to be both ineffective in reducing forced migration flows and counterproductive by inducing the greater marginalisation of Venezuelan migrants that only accelerated during the third phase brought on by the COVID-19 health crisis. Perú’s restrictive policies, the chapter concludes, were increasingly misaligned with the dynamics of forced migration and ultimately undermined Perú’s own socio-economic and political development as a result.