Regional Agreements and Residence in Venezuela
This replaces the general rule for you
Andean Community Nationals: The Andean Statute Does Not Reach Venezuela
The Andean Migration Statute binds the Community's member countries, and its own first article says who those are: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Venezuela is not among them, so a Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorean or Peruvian arriving in Venezuela gets nothing from it and applies in one of the ordinary visa classes. This matters most at the Colombian border, which is the busiest land crossing either country has.
Nothing in the Venezuelan instruments we could read gives a South American national a residence route of their own. Venezuela is a full member of Mercosur whose membership is suspended in all the rights and obligations of a member state, and it is not a member of the Andean Community, whose own migration statute lists its members as Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The catalogue of visas names twelve classes and not one of them is defined by nationality. What the Venezuelan instruments do contain are saving clauses: the Act applies without prejudice to treaties and integration agreements, entry requirements give way to conventions the Republic has signed, and one visa - the entrepreneur's - excepts nationals of countries Venezuela has agreements with, without naming any.
At a glance
- Mercosur
- Full member, suspended in all rights and obligations
- Andean Community
- Not a member
- Residence route for Mercosur nationals under Venezuelan law
- None found
Articles 1 and 12 of the Ley de Extranjería y Migración and article 46 of Resolución Conjunta N° 364, all quoted here, make room for a treaty without creating a route under one. Neither instrument names Mercosur anywhere.
- Visa classes defined by nationality
- None
Article 1 of Resolución Conjunta N° 364 lists the twelve classes and defines each by its purpose. The one place in the resolution where nationality changes a visa's own terms is the sole paragraph of article 15, quoted here, and it names no country.
Requirements
- There is no application. No regional instrument we could read opens a residence route into Venezuela, so a South American national applies in one of the ordinary visa classes
Country-level policy
The joint resolution that defines every class of Venezuelan visa was made in December 1999 by three ministries, and it says on its face which law it was made under: the Ley de Extranjeros and the Regulation of the Ley de Extranjeros. The Ley de Extranjería y Migración of 2004 repealed the Ley de Extranjeros by name, and required the President to make a regulation of the new Act within sixty days of publication. The foreign ministry and the consulates still publish the 1999 catalogue of visas, visa by visa, with the same codes and in most places the same wording. We did not find a regulation made under the 2004 Act. That matters to a reader because it is why the two sets of rules do not line up: the 1999 text names ministries that no longer exist, lets a business visitor stay 180 days where the Act caps a non-migrant at 90 plus 90, and routes the investor through an authority that has been replaced.
What applies to you
Andean Community Nationals: The Andean Statute Does Not Reach Venezuela
The Andean Migration Statute binds the Community's member countries, and its own first article says who those are: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Venezuela is not among them, so a Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorean or Peruvian arriving in Venezuela gets nothing from it and applies in one of the ordinary visa classes. This matters most at the Colombian border, which is the busiest land crossing either country has.
- A Colombian, Ecuadorean, Peruvian or Bolivian national needs the same visa as anyone else
What the law says
«La República Bolivariana de Venezuela se encuentra suspendida en todos los derechos y obligaciones inherentes a su condición de Estado Parte del MERCOSUR, de conformidad con lo dispuesto en el segundo párrafo del artículo 5° del Protocolo de Ushuaia.»Our translation - not official
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is suspended from all the rights and obligations inherent in its status as a Member State of MERCOSUR, in accordance with the second paragraph of article 5 of the Ushuaia Protocol.
Suspended as a member state, not reclassified as an associate.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The bloc's own institutional pages, and the only authority on who its member and associated states currently are - which is not the same question as who is party to the Residence Agreement.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for treaty texts. Its document pages are stubs whose download links do not resolve, and its normative database refuses automated readers. Membership is all it establishes; whether an agreement reaches a given nationality in a given country is a matter for that country's own sources.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Los Países Miembros de la Comunidad Andina son Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú y los que se adhieran al Acuerdo de Cartagena.»Our translation - not official
The Member Countries of the Andean Community are Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and those that accede to the Cartagena Agreement.
Venezuela is not among them, so the Andean migration statute is not a route into or out of Venezuela.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Where a decision of the Andean Community takes effect. The source for the Andean Migration Statute and for who the member countries are.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for how any member state actually implements a decision: Bolivia's own practice on tourist days diverges from the statute it is bound by. Note also that a scraper's rendering of its gazette silently dropped the opening clause of an article, so quotations should be taken from the PDF's own text layer.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Lo dispuesto en esta Ley se aplicará sin perjuicio de los tratados suscritos y ratificados por la República, los acuerdos de integración y las normas de Derecho Internacional.»Our translation - not official
The provisions of this Law shall apply without prejudice to the treaties signed and ratified by the Republic, to integration agreements and to the rules of International Law.
A saving clause. It makes room for an agreement; it does not itself create a route.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The OAS legal portal republishes the constitutions and some statutes of member states. It carries the Constitution of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as Chapter 2 of the Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Revised Edition 1990, printing United Kingdom S.I. 1979 No. 916 as amended by Act 21 of 1986 and Act 15 of 1988 - the only copy of the Vincentian Constitution with a text layer that we could reach, the House of Assembly's own copy being an imageless scan.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is a republisher and must never be cited for currency: the file is the 1990 edition, while Saint Vincent's own Acts now cite the Revised Edition 2009, in which chapter numbers have moved. The PDF is a two-up optical recognition of a printed book and its text layer carries recognition errors, so every quotation taken from it must be declared as a recognition and must be left with its errors intact. It must not be cited for any instrument other than the one it reproduces.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Quedan a salvo los convenios suscritos por la República que exoneren a los extranjeros o extranjeras del cumplimiento de alguno de los requisitos para su ingreso, previstos en esta Ley.»Our translation - not official
Conventions signed by the Republic that exempt foreigners from meeting any of the entry requirements laid down in this Law are preserved.
About this source
The OAS legal portal republishes the constitutions and some statutes of member states. It carries the Constitution of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as Chapter 2 of the Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Revised Edition 1990, printing United Kingdom S.I. 1979 No. 916 as amended by Act 21 of 1986 and Act 15 of 1988 - the only copy of the Vincentian Constitution with a text layer that we could reach, the House of Assembly's own copy being an imageless scan.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is a republisher and must never be cited for currency: the file is the 1990 edition, while Saint Vincent's own Acts now cite the Revised Edition 2009, in which chapter numbers have moved. The PDF is a two-up optical recognition of a printed book and its text layer carries recognition errors, so every quotation taken from it must be declared as a recognition and must be left with its errors intact. It must not be cited for any instrument other than the one it reproduces.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Artículo 46º- El otorgamiento de los visados a que hace referencia la presente Resolución Conjunta, podría ser establecida dentro del principio de la reciprocidad y las disposiciones contenidas en ella sólo estarán limitadas por lo que establezcan los Tratados Internacionales vigentes o que celebrare la República.»Our translation - not official
The grant of the visas referred to in this Joint Resolution may be established within the principle of reciprocity, and the provisions it contains shall be limited only by what is laid down in the International Treaties in force or that the Republic may conclude.
The resolution's own reciprocity clause, and the only general one. It names no country and no treaty.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A commercial legal aggregator holding text-layer PDFs of Venezuelan instruments, each headed with the Gaceta Oficial number and date it reproduces. It is used here for one document that no government host would give us: the joint resolution of December 1999 that defines every class of Venezuelan visa, complete, articles 1 to 49.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Its archive is frozen in the early 2000s and it tracks no amendments, so it must never be cited as evidence that a text is current: its Código Orgánico Tributario is the 2001 Code repealed in 2020 and its income tax law is the 2001 one, both superseded several times over. It introduces its own errors as well - its 1998 traffic regulation prints the wrong gazette date and renders 'tres (3) años' as 'tres (93) años' - so a figure taken from here needs a second reading before it is published. It must not be cited where a government source exists; the one record resting on it says in its own data that the source is an aggregator.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«UNICO: Se exceptúan los nacionales de aquellos países con los cuales Venezuela haya suscrito Acuerdos.»Our translation - not official
SOLE PARAGRAPH: nationals of countries with which Venezuela has signed Agreements are excepted.
This is the only place in the whole resolution where an agreement changes a visa's own terms. It sits on the entrepreneur/industrialist visa alone, and names no country.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
A commercial legal aggregator holding text-layer PDFs of Venezuelan instruments, each headed with the Gaceta Oficial number and date it reproduces. It is used here for one document that no government host would give us: the joint resolution of December 1999 that defines every class of Venezuelan visa, complete, articles 1 to 49.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Its archive is frozen in the early 2000s and it tracks no amendments, so it must never be cited as evidence that a text is current: its Código Orgánico Tributario is the 2001 Code repealed in 2020 and its income tax law is the 2001 one, both superseded several times over. It introduces its own errors as well - its 1998 traffic regulation prints the wrong gazette date and renders 'tres (3) años' as 'tres (93) años' - so a figure taken from here needs a second reading before it is published. It must not be cited where a government source exists; the one record resting on it says in its own data that the source is an aggregator.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
Practical notes
We looked for a Venezuelan instrument implementing the Mercosur Residence Agreement and did not find one: not in the catalogue of visas, not on the foreign ministry's consular pages, not on the migration service's pages, and not in the Act. Nothing we read says Venezuela is a party to that agreement, and nothing we read says it is not.
The suspension is of a member state's rights and obligations. It is not a statement about any domestic Venezuelan rule, and we found no domestic Venezuelan rule for Mercosur nationals that it could have removed.
Brazil's federal police publish the position from the other side, treating Venezuelans under a route for nationals of a neighbouring country where the Mercosur residence agreement is not in force.
- reportsPaíses del MERCOSUR
MERCOSUR (Secretaría)
About this source
The bloc's own institutional pages, and the only authority on who its member and associated states currently are - which is not the same question as who is party to the Residence Agreement.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for treaty texts. Its document pages are stubs whose download links do not resolve, and its normative database refuses automated readers. Membership is all it establishes; whether an agreement reaches a given nationality in a given country is a matter for that country's own sources.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- issuesDecisión 878 - Estatuto Migratorio Andino, Gaceta Oficial del Acuerdo de Cartagena N° 4239
Secretaría General de la Comunidad Andina
About this source
Where a decision of the Andean Community takes effect. The source for the Andean Migration Statute and for who the member countries are.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for how any member state actually implements a decision: Bolivia's own practice on tourist days diverges from the statute it is bound by. Note also that a scraper's rendering of its gazette silently dropped the opening clause of an article, so quotations should be taken from the PDF's own text layer.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- reportsLey de Extranjería y Migración, Gaceta Oficial N° 37.944 de 24 de mayo de 2004
Organization of American States - Department of International Law
About this source
The OAS legal portal republishes the constitutions and some statutes of member states. It carries the Constitution of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as Chapter 2 of the Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Revised Edition 1990, printing United Kingdom S.I. 1979 No. 916 as amended by Act 21 of 1986 and Act 15 of 1988 - the only copy of the Vincentian Constitution with a text layer that we could reach, the House of Assembly's own copy being an imageless scan.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It is a republisher and must never be cited for currency: the file is the 1990 edition, while Saint Vincent's own Acts now cite the Revised Edition 2009, in which chapter numbers have moved. The PDF is a two-up optical recognition of a printed book and its text layer carries recognition errors, so every quotation taken from it must be declared as a recognition and must be left with its errors intact. It must not be cited for any instrument other than the one it reproduces.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- reportsNormas del Procedimiento para la Expedición de Visado, Resolución Conjunta N° 364 / 165 / 0530, Gaceta Oficial N° 5.427 Extraordinario de 5 de enero de 2000
Justia Venezuela
About this source
A commercial legal aggregator holding text-layer PDFs of Venezuelan instruments, each headed with the Gaceta Oficial number and date it reproduces. It is used here for one document that no government host would give us: the joint resolution of December 1999 that defines every class of Venezuelan visa, complete, articles 1 to 49.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: Its archive is frozen in the early 2000s and it tracks no amendments, so it must never be cited as evidence that a text is current: its Código Orgánico Tributario is the 2001 Code repealed in 2020 and its income tax law is the 2001 one, both superseded several times over. It introduces its own errors as well - its 1998 traffic regulation prints the wrong gazette date and renders 'tres (3) años' as 'tres (93) años' - so a figure taken from here needs a second reading before it is published. It must not be cited where a government source exists; the one record resting on it says in its own data that the source is an aggregator.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- administersTrámites y Servicios Consulares - Visa
Ministerio del Poder Popular para Relaciones Exteriores
About this source
The foreign ministry, which runs the consular network that issues every Venezuelan visa. Its services pages list the thirteen visa classes it issues and give, for each, a description, the documents required and the validity and permitted stay. It is the only current statement of what a Venezuelan consulate will actually ask for, and it is a required counterweight to the 1999 resolution: between them they show where the practice has moved.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the instrument, and it must never be quoted as one. Its pages paraphrase the 1999 joint resolution and in several places depart from it: the business visa is given ninety days where the resolution gives one hundred and eighty, and is called the tourist visa while doing so; the entrepreneur visa's terms are introduced as the rentista's; the family visa accepts a marriage celebrated in Venezuela, which the resolution does not; and it lists one visa class, the Transeúnte Familiar Migrante Permanente, that is in no article of the resolution. It publishes no fee - every page says the consular tariff must be asked of the particular mission - and no list of visa-exempt nationalities. The embassy and consulate sites under embajada.gob.ve and consulado.gob.ve are run from the same platform and must not be cited at all for visa descriptions: several of them still carry Lorem ipsum placeholder text where the description should be.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source