Around 5,000 Cuban citizens are trapped in “immigration limbo” in Uruguay, where they are waiting to be accepted as refugees.
These people do not yet have their refugee status, but they cannot leave either because that would mean giving up the refugee application, something essential to eventually process permanent residence in that country.
The local press noted at the beginning of 2024 that the territory closed last year with 24,193 migrants waiting for their refugee applications to be processed. The Refugee Commission indicated that 7,293 of these were Cubans who began the process in 2023.
These Cubans receive a provisional document that allows them to remain in the territory for two years, during which time they can work and access health and education services; however, their goal is to receive refuge and permanent residence.
Although very useful, the document received does not allow the migrant to apply for family reunification, something that many Antilleans propose when they escape from the Island.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Omar Paganini, indicated on local television that the number of refugee requests is very high, and many of these are rejected because they arrive for economic reasons, especially from Cuba, instead of for reasons policies.
The official points out that the authorities are working to find a solution so that people who do not need shelter can remain in the country.
“They are living among us and should go to a residency process. The legal conditions today are not clear and remain in a limbo situation,” he told the Canal 12.
To obtain a residence, foreigners need to present documentation with the corresponding consular visa, something that Cubans solved by traveling to a Uruguayan consulate in Brazil. However, recently established restrictions have made this option impossible.
The middle The country He interviewed one of the Cuban women who is in this limbo, identifying her as Milagros Rodríguez. The woman asks, along with other compatriots, that the State of Uruguay consider exonerating visa requirements for those who have lived in that country for a long time, as was done during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“An exemption from that visa or another solution that is definitive,” Rodríguez requested to the press.
In an attempt to address the problems they have experienced during their stay in Uruguay, a group of Cubans started a campaign on the platform Change.org, which is addressed to the Government of Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou.
“We are already in Uruguay, we already work for Uruguay (…) why do we have to be special to legally reside in a country that has already welcomed us?” reads in this text.
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