Nearly 21,000 Cubans are waiting for refugee status in Uruguay

MÉRIDA, Mexico – A total of 20,950 Cuban asylum seekers are awaiting the resolution of their cases in Uruguay.

It is, by far, the nationality that most demands to enter this status, informed the local newspaper The Country Nicolas AlbertoniUndersecretary of Foreign Affairs of the eastern country.

As the migration crisis on the island has worsened, cases have been accumulating in Uruguay. In 2016 there were only 305; which increased exponentially in subsequent years to 1,968 in 2017, 6,183 in 2018, 12,371 in 2019, 9,109 in 2020, 10,313 in 2021, 12,105 in 2022 and 18,605 in 2023.

Approval figures are low compared to applicationsAs of June of this year, there were 27,162 applications being processed, and there were only 1,326 Cuban refugees in Uruguay.

However, the official hopes that the new measures approved by his government, especially the “residency based on roots” measure, will alleviate this situation.

Residences based on roots for Cubans in Uruguay

In May, the Government of Uruguay created the Residency Program for Rooted Livingwhich will allow thousands of Cubans who are in a “migratory limbo” to regularize their status.

The Ministry of the Interior of Uruguay announced that the program will guarantee foreign migrants who have requested asylum, entered the country legally, and stayed for more than 180 days, the right to obtain residency for reasons of work, family, training or study.

According to an official statement, this process will be developed by the National Directorate of Migration, implemented in close coordination with the Refugee Commission (CORE) and will allow asylum seekers to voluntarily opt for a regular stay.

The program will provide certain facilities and exemptions from documentation, “taking into account humanitarian considerations and the situation of people who do not have a consular visa to enter the country.”

Migrant beneficiaries will have the freedom to choose whether to continue with the process of their asylum application or to take advantage of these residences based on roots.

Those who wish to do so and meet the requirements will have a period of one year to opt for this option.

“This has to do above all with people who ask for asylum because they do not have a visa and are not eligible for asylum. So we are basically talking about people of Cuban origin or from other countries who require a visa,” said the South American country’s foreign minister, Omar Paganini, according to the agency. EFE.

“They enter as refugees but they are not refugees and that is where this regulatory limbo is generated, which is what allows us to resolve the decree,” he said, adding that the majority of these are Cubans.

He also specified that in order to process residency based on roots, people must be working, living or have family in Uruguay.

With the Residence by Roots program created by the Government of Uruguay, some 20,000 migrants of various nationalities will be able to apply for residency.

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