Venezuelan Migrants Face More Curbs as Ecuador Moves to Require Visas

(Bloomberg) -- Ecuador is the latest country to tighten restrictions on Venezuelans seeking refuge from their nation’s economic collapse.

Migrants from Venezuela will need a visa to enter the Andean nation, according to a decree signed this week by President Lenin Moreno, which will take effect in close to a month from now.

Ecuador faces an “emergency migration scenario”, and nearly half a million Venezuelans are projected to be living in the country by year-end, according to the decree.

The new visas will allow the migrants to work, as Ecuador seeks to “regularize” the migrant population by March. Ecuador will accept as valid identity documents that are as much as five years past their expiry date, and those who entered legally will receive an amnesty if they’ve overstayed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephan Kueffner in Quito at skueffner1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Matthew Bristow

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