Santo Domingo, RD.
Milaide Nader was an administrator in Venezuela, in the Dominican Republic she fixes her eyebrows in a street stall: she is undocumented and cannot access a formal job, but a government regularization program can change her situation.
About 115,000 Venezuelans live illegally in the Dominican Republic, a country of nearly 11 million people.
Nader arrived in Santo Domingo three years ago fleeing the crisis in his country. He entered as a tourist and stayed.
Without papers, he cannot open a bank account or access social security. For the Dominican state, it does not exist.
“Many doors are closed for us, we cannot work on what we want,” Nader, 35, a native of Maracaibo (Zulia state, western Venezuela), told AFP. “Because we don’t have the papers (…) they don’t give us the opportunity.”
“Most Venezuelans here are professionals and we want to practice what we study,” he adds near the street stall where he fixes his eyebrows and places false eyelashes: a chair crossed on the sidewalk of a boulevard in Santo Domingo.
The government announced in January a “normalization plan” that began this week with a census of undocumented immigrants and aims, first and foremost, to regularize their immigration status with a single fine of about $ 115.
This step will give the person 60 days to leave the country or apply for a work visa in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, renewable every year, and subsequently an identity document.
The process, which does not provide for a permanent residency process, costs a total of about $ 300 per person, more than a minimum wage of 230.
It is a large amount for many of these migrants who normally find low-wage jobs.
Dilcia Rojas, 40, worked, for example, as a maid for less than the minimum wage. Today he sells juices on the street with his 10-year-old son, hoping “to be able to leave and re-enter the Dominican Republic without any problems” with this process.
“It’s my concern because I have another child in Venezuela and I haven’t seen him in three years because I can’t go out,” he says.
– ‘Skilled migration’ –
Migration is a sensitive issue in the Dominican Republic, especially in Haiti, a neighbor with whom it shares the island of Hispaniola and with which it maintains a difficult relationship from a historical point of view.
The government of President Luis Abinader has even proposed a fence that divides the border of both countries to reduce the illegal crossing of Haitians, the main migrant community on the island, which also arouses great rejection among locals.
This is not the case for Venezuelans, says the director general of migration, Enrique García, assuring that the regularization plan was welcomed.
“The Dominican has the concept that Venezuelan migration is a skilled migration, that there are people who come to contribute to the country,” he told AFP.
Eleana Vásquez, a 42-year-old graphic designer, wants to “give stability” to her family with this process. She and her husband, who is a mechanic, work at home. Between them he earns $ 500; her 23-year-old daughter, also a designer, is unemployed, and her other 16-year-old son is at school.
“Our stay is in the medium and long term,” she says, hoping that this process will lead to permanent residence, which is currently ruled out by the authorities.
Nader, who has lost the characteristic Maracaibo accent and has a similar one to the Dominican, looks to the future with enthusiasm. Think about “having the privilege of having health insurance and all that.”
“Get a better job, open bank accounts, get more benefits,” says Evelyn Nieto, a 38-year-old teacher who also earns a living by fixing her eyebrows. “To be able to travel to my country,” he continues, “to miss my family, I miss them very much.”