Some5,000 Cubans are in “immigration limbo” in Uruguay, since they do not have refugee status and cannot renounce the refugee application to process permanent residence that would allow family reunification.
Cuban organizations in the South American nation raised the alert, according to a report in the Spanish newspaperThe country.
At the end of 2023, Uruguay accumulated 24,193 refugee applications pending resolution, the local newspaper reportedThe Observer, quoted by the Spanish media.
The waiting time for the interview with the applicant can reach two years, a situation that has caused the system to collapse, according to data from the Refugee Commission.
In 2023 alone, the report indicates, 9,129 people requested refuge in Uruguay, of which 7,293 were Cubans.
While the immigrants wait for a solution, the country grants them a provisional document for two years that authorizes them to work, access health and education services, however, it does not allow them to request family reunification.
In this context, many choose to renounce that request for refuge and seek to process permanent residence, he explained.The country.
“A very high number of refugee applications are being rejected (…) because many people come for economic reasons, especially from Cuba, they request refuge for political reasons (as required by law) and it is not appropriate to grant it,” said the minister. Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Omar Paganini, on channel 12.
The government wants to resolve this delicate situation “very quickly,” Paganini added. “We are working to find a solution for those who do not qualify for shelter, but are living among us and should go through a residency process. The legal conditions today are not clear and remain in a limbo situation.”
Cubans who are in Uruguay, like any foreigner, can apply for and obtain this type of residence if they meet the requirements.
They must present documentation with the corresponding consular visa. Immigrants from Cuba need a visa to enter Uruguay.
Cuban refugee seekers used to travel to a Uruguayan consulate in Brazil, even if they had been living in Uruguay for one or more years, they obtained the visa and continued with the residency process.
But this possibility of obtaining a Uruguayan visa in the neighboring country began to become complicated as of January 2023.
At that time, Uruguay began to require a stamp or stamp of entry and exit from Brazil in the Cuban passport.
This transit stamp is not usually stamped by the Brazilian authorities at the immigration posts on the dry border, explained Madelyn del Río, a member of the Manos Cubanas collective, an organization that brings together Cubans in Uruguay.
In December 2023, the path was narrowed even more, when the consulates were informed that people residing in Uruguay, who were seeking refuge, could not apply for a visa.
Nearly 62,000 people born abroad live in the South American nation, of which 12,000 are Cuban, although the organizations that bring together those born in the Caribbean country estimate that this number has doubled in recent times, according toThe country.
According to the latest population census carried out by the National Institute of Statistics in Uruguay, at the end of 2023 Cubans represented 20 percent of the migrant population in that country.
Cuba is experiencing one of the biggest migration crises in its history, and those who make their way in Uruguay today worry about their future and about the people who are yet to arrive, such as families.
For this reason, last January, Cubans residing in the South American nation demonstrated in front of the Executive Tower of Montevideo,to demand that the government pave the way for regularization.
"No more visa to start the residency process," demanded those affected who raised signs in front of the Presidency headquarters.
Before, they made claims to the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, so that the authorities eliminate the obstacles to accessing a residence in that country.
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