Costa Rica announced a new category of asylum for Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans

---

Costa Rica announced this Thursday a new category of asylum that will allow asylum seekers from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela whose request was rejected to remain in the country. The new category will provide permanence in Costa Rica for a period of two years, extendable, with the right to carry out work activities, to people from those three countries who did not qualify for refuge. The new immigration status was published this Thursday in the official newspaper La Gaceta as a resolution of the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners.

By virtue of the protection required by migrants affected by the political, health and social situation in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, the implementation of a complementary protection system is considered appropriate to remain in Costa Rica.

David Smolansky, OAS commissioner for the Venezuelan migrant crisis, said in a statement, this decision is a great step towards integrating the refugees fleeing the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The publication in La Gaceta cited pronouncements by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the situation in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which has prompted part of their populations to seek asylum abroad.

He specified that Costa Rica registered a considerable increase in refugee applications from Venezuelans starting in 2014, while the political crisis in Nicaragua, with the wave of anti-government protests in 2018, led to a peak in refugee applications. In the case of Cuba, the publication indicated that the closure of access to the United States since 2017 led many islanders to seek permanence in Costa Rica. To qualify for the new condition, the applicant must show that his refugee claim was denied and that he has no criminal record.