Working in Venezuela
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Bolivia on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Bolivia to Venezuela · Residency through work
Work needs two separate permissions and they are given by two different ministries. The labour ministry issues the labour authorisation, and the Act makes it the employer's job to apply for it, not yours. The interior ministry then authorises the TR-L visa once the labour ministry has agreed. The visa lasts a year with multiple entries and a year of stay, renewed for equal periods once the labour authorisation is confirmed again; the Act says the visa lasts exactly as long as the labour authorisation does. After one uninterrupted year the interior ministry may grant Resident status. Short assignments are exempt from the labour authorisation altogether where they run ninety days or less.
At a glance
- Visa validity and stay
- One year, multiple entries, one year of stay
- Who applies for the labour authorisation
- The employer in Venezuela
- Visa duration
- The same as the labour authorisation
- Exempt from labour authorisation
- Assignments of no more than 90 days
Scientists, professionals, technicians, experts and specialist staff advising, training or doing temporary work, and technical or professional people invited by public or private bodies for academic, scientific or research work.
- Registration after arrival
- 30 days
- Fine for employing an irregular foreigner
- 200 tax units
The Act states the fine in tax units. What a tax unit is worth in bolívares is fixed separately by the tax administration and we did not read that figure, so the fine cannot be stated in money here.
- Time to Resident status
- One uninterrupted year, then at the interior ministry's discretion
Requirements
- A labour authorisation from the labour ministry, applied for by the employer in Venezuela
- A certified copy of that labour authorisation, presented to the consulate
- Qualifications or evidence of your employment history
- A passport valid for at least six months, two passport photographs, a medical certificate from the health authority of your country and the consular fee
- Registration in the national register of foreigners within thirty days of arrival
- To renew: the labour authorisation issued again by the labour ministry, through the migration service's website
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
Nothing changes for a citizen of Bolivia
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Todas aquellas personas que en virtud de un contrato de trabajo deban ingresar al territorio de la República, obtendrán la autorización laboral por parte del ministerio con competencia en el área del trabajo. La tramitación para la obtención de la correspondiente autorización deberá efectuarla el extranjero o extranjera, a través de su contratante en el territorio de la República.»Our translation - not official
Everyone who must enter the territory of the Republic by virtue of a contract of employment shall obtain the labour authorisation from the ministry competent in labour matters. The foreigner must carry out the procedure for obtaining that authorisation through the party contracting with them in the territory of the Republic.
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
«Los científicos, profesionales, técnicos, expertos y personal especializado que vengan a asesorar, dar entrenamiento o ejecutar labores de carácter temporal, por un lapso no mayor de noventa (90) días.»Our translation - not official
Scientists, professionals, technicians, experts and specialist staff who come to advise, give training or carry out work of a temporary nature, for a period of no more than ninety (90) days.
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
«El visado que autorice la permanencia en el territorio de la República de los extranjeros y extranjeras, tendrá la misma duración que la autorización laboral y será renovado siempre que subsistan las mismas circunstancias que determinaron su otorgamiento.»Our translation - not official
The visa authorising a foreigner's stay in the territory of the Republic shall last as long as the labour authorisation and shall be renewed provided the same circumstances that led to its grant persist.
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
«Inscribirse en el Registro Nacional de Extranjeros y Extranjeras del ministerio con competencia en la materia, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a su ingreso»Our translation - not official
To register in the National Register of Foreigners of the competent ministry within thirty (30) days of entry.
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
«todo empleador o contratista de trabajadores extranjeros o trabajadoras extranjeras deberá comprometerse con la autoridad competente en materia de extranjería y migración, a pagar el pasaje de regreso del extranjero o extranjera y de su familia, si fuera el caso, a su país de origen o de última residencia, dentro del mes siguiente a la terminación del contrato.»Our translation - not official
Every employer or contractor of foreign workers must undertake to the authority competent in matters of foreigners and migration to pay the return fare of the foreigner and of their family, if applicable, to the country of origin or last residence, within the month following the end of the contract.
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
«Todo empleador que contrate extranjeros y extranjeras ilegales para la prestación de determinado servicio, será sancionado con doscientas unidades tributarias (200 U.T.).»Our translation - not official
Any employer who engages irregular foreigners to provide a particular service shall be fined two hundred tax units (200 U.T.).
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 36º- Visado Transeúnte Laboral (TR-L) Será de la competencia del Ministerio del Interior y Justicia, previa conformidad del Ministerio del Trabajo, la autorización del Visado de Transeúnte Laboral.»Our translation - not official
Transient Labour Visa (TR-L): authorisation of the Transient Labour visa is a matter for the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, with the prior agreement of the Ministry of Labour.
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
«Artículo 38º- El Visado Transeúnte Laboral se otorgará con una vigencia de un (1) año, múltiples entradas, y permitirá una permanencia por igual período. Podrá ser prorrogado en el país por el Ministerio del Interior y Justicia por igual término, previa ratificación de la autorización laboral por parte del Ministerio del Trabajo.»Our translation - not official
The Transient Labour visa is granted with a validity of one (1) year, multiple entries, and allows a stay of the same period. It may be extended inside the country by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice for an equal term, once the Ministry of Labour has confirmed the labour authorisation again.
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
«Artículo 40°- El extranjero que hubiere permanecido un mínimo de un año ininterrumpido en el territorio de la República con Visa de Transeúnte Inversionista (TR-I); Transeúnte Familiar Venezolano (TR-FV); Transeúnte Rentista (TR-RE); Transeúnte Empleado Doméstico (TR-ED); Transeúnte Religioso (TR-REL) o Transeúnte Laboral (TR-L) y correspondiente visado familiar, el Ministerio del Interior y Justicia, le podrá otorgar, si lo solicitare, la condición de Residente, que será renovada cada cinco (5) años.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner who has stayed a minimum of one uninterrupted year in the territory of the Republic on a Transient Investor (TR-I), Venezuelan Family Member (TR-FV), Transient Person of Independent Means (TR-RE), Transient Domestic Employee (TR-ED), Transient Religious (TR-REL) or Transient Labour (TR-L) visa and the corresponding family visa may, on application, be granted Resident status by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, renewable every five (5) years.
This is the whole of the list. The business visa and the entrepreneur/industrialist visa are not on it, so neither of those two leads to residence by this route.
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
«El contratante o trabajador deberá realizar la solicitud ante el referido Ministerio del Trabajo.»Our translation - not official
The contracting party or the worker must make the application to that Ministry of Labour.
The Act puts the application on the employer. The ministry's page allows the worker to make it as well.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
Practical notes
The Act's exemption for short assignments is an exemption from the labour authorisation, not from needing a visa.
The Act also obliges the employer to notify the national register of foreigners of the terms of the employment, and of its end, within thirty days.
The ministries named in the 1999 resolution no longer exist under those names. The foreign ministry's current page names the Ministerio del Poder Popular para Relaciones Interiores, Justicia y Paz and the Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Proceso Social del Trabajo for the same two steps.
- 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
- administersVisa de Transeúnte Laboral (TR-L)
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
- administersSaime - Extranjería: requisitos de renovación y prórroga
Servicio Administrativo de Identificación, Migración y Extranjería
About this source
The migration service, under the interior ministry. It decides everything that happens after arrival: the extension of a stay, the renewal of a transient visa, the change to Resident status, the foreigner's identity card and the migration record. Its extranjería pages are the only published statement of what an in-country renewal requires, and they are quoted here for the renewal conditions that no instrument states.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It applies the rules and does not make them, and its pages add conditions the instrument does not contain. Its extranjería page is a JavaScript accordion: the capture separates headings from their lists and at least one heading is paired with the wrong requirements, so a line from it may be quoted for itself but must not be attributed to a heading without a second reading. The Extranjería tile on its own home page links to an address the site answers with its own not-found page. It publishes no fee amounts and no visa-exempt nationality list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source