24.2% of Venezuelans who arrived in Colombia resided in Bogotá upon arrival

Dane revealed on the morning of Tuesday, April 12, the Pulse de Migration survey, which showed the data of the wave of Venezuelan citizens that have arrived in Colombia in recent years.

According to the survey, for January-February 2022, 24.2% of migrants living in Colombia and whose origin is Venezuela reported that the department where they resided when they first arrived in the country was Bogotá; for 14.3% it was Norte de Santander and for 9.5%, Antioquia.

15.4% of migrants surveyed between January and February 2022 reported having Special Permit to Stay or PEP, while 84.6% did not have it. Of the percentage with PEP, 15.7% were women and 15.0% were men. Since 2018, 41.3% of this population has been granted permission and since 2019, 24.2%.

According to Dane, when the Venezuelan migrants surveyed were asked to think about the best job they had in Venezuela, 30.4 percent replied that they were employed in the service sector and as sellers of shops and merchandise, for the period January-February 2022, of this percentage, 37.6% were women and the 24.9, men.

On the ease of getting a job, the survey showed that 85.0% said they had difficulty getting paid work in the country, the situation was especially acute among women. The greatest difficulty they face is the lack of job opportunities (57.1%), especially among those aged 55 and over (66.7%).

The Pulse of Migration Survey asked migrants between January and February 2022 what activity they spent most of their time in the past seven days. 53.5 per cent said they were working (67.7 per cent for men) and 25.3 per cent were engaged in domestic trades (41.9 per cent for women).

This survey also asked migrants if their employment was the first job they had in Colombia, 55.9% said yes and the highest proportion by age was for the 55-plus age group (66.2%).

Finally, 80.8% of migrants reported having a verbal employment contract, while 19.2% had written contracts, with 87.5% being a permanent job for the period January and February 2022.

On the other hand, 48.3% of Venezuelans surveyed reported to Dane that last month in the job they had earned from $700,000 to $1,050,000 and 17.7% received from $350,001 to $700,000. In addition, 92.1 per cent said they did not receive overtime income in the last month.

For the period January-February 2022, 26.0% of the unemployed Venezuelan population has been looking for work between three and four weeks; by sex, the largest increases are reported in women with 28.7%. For men, 28.2% who take five and six weeks looking for work.

Finally, in the last four weeks of the survey, 36.3% of the Venezuelan population consulted or asked for help in getting a job or setting up a business from Venezuelan family or friends, while 30.0% did so with Colombian family or friends.

Regarding the intention to vaccinate, 71.8% of Venezuelans surveyed responded that the vaccine had already been applied; 23.2 percent said they were interested in getting the vaccine against the coronavirus and 5.1% said they were not interested in getting the vaccine.

When asked about the main reason why people replied that they were not interested in getting the coronavirus vaccine, it was concluded that 39.3% believe that the vaccine may be unsafe due to potential adverse effects.

On the other hand, 57.1% of migrants reported that not all members of their family have access to health in Colombia and 42.9% said yes.

Between January and February 2022, 33.6% of migrants said that on the first day they arrived in Colombia they felt completely identified with Colombian culture (equivalent to a grade of 5 on a scale of 1 to 5), most of them (51.0%) from the age group 55 and older.

7.4% said they don't feel identified at all (equivalent to a grade of 1 on a scale of 1 to 5). Likewise, 52.2% of Venezuelan migrants said they felt not discriminated against by Colombian society on the first day they arrived in Colombia, most of them were people aged 55 or older, with 63.0%.

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