Aníbal Rojas thought his yearly visa renewal in Colombia was going to be as swift as usual. He had done it three times before and never had any issues. As the vice president of engineering at Platzi, a prominent edtech startup based in Bogotá, he had easily fulfilled the Colombian government’s main requirement to live and work in the country: a stable job. This time, though, Rojas faced far more probing questions in what had previously been a routine visa application form, he told Rest of World. “Isn’t there a Colombian who could do the job?” Rojas said he was asked. “And, where is your engineering degree?”
Rojas had been too busy making a living in Venezuela, and then escaping his country’s turmoil in 2019 to get a formal degree in computer engineering. But he said he’d never been asked to provide proof of a degree before — neither in Colombia nor Venezuela — until that day. “I’ve worked in software development for 30 years in Venezuela, and later for big transnational companies, and developing for startups around the world,” Rojas said. “No one ever asked me for a degree.”
His visa application was denied because he could not provide official proof of a university degree. Rojas seriously considered leaving Colombia until Platzi legally intervened to secure his work visa. “Aníbal has a unique talent,” Freddy Vega, CEO of Platzi, told Rest of World, when asked about why the company went to such lengths to secure his Colombian papers. “The process was super complex, took almost a month, and was very costly for the company.”
Rojas is just one of hundreds of migrant developers and tech workers who have been in Colombia for years, and who have suddenly seen their work visas jeopardized because of newly tightened requirements on foreigners working in the country. Unlike Rojas, few have the backing of a prominent CEO to push their case. Developers and migration lawyers told Rest of World that the new rules are making Colombia an unwelcoming place for essential migrants — especially tech workers on whom the country’s fledgling startup ecosystem has relied and thrived. A large proportion of those affected are tech workers from Venezuela — the new migratory hurdles have been a significant change for the community, after years of an exceptionally welcoming migratory policy in Colombia.
“This has caused a lot of people to have unexpected issues with their visas,” said a Bogotá-based immigration lawyer who has taken on many of the applicants’ cases, requesting anonymity because she fears speaking out might hinder her own visa renewal process. “These are all people who made their lives here in Colombia, and what is happening with them is cruel.”
Colombia’s new rules on foreign-born residents working in the country specifically require companies to explain why there aren’t any Colombian professionals suitable for the job. Certain jobs, including computer programming, are now classified as “regulated professions.” Applicants also need to provide official proof of higher education, certified by an autonomous government association named National Professional Council of Engineering, or COPNIA.
The association’s members need to have an engineering degree from a Colombian university or a pre-approved foreign university. Without a COPNIA membership, tech employees cannot apply for a work visa.
Even if applicants do fulfill the government’s updated requirements, additional new rules make the process longer and more expensive. They have also made getting visas for spouses and other family members a lot more difficult, according to migration lawyers.
The new regulations put the country’s “national interest first [by prioritizing] national labor,” a spokesperson from the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Rest of World, adding that the “adjustments to visa requirements were meant to ensure orderly, safe, and legal migration.” The spokesperson did not answer questions on the consequences that a potential exodus of Venezuelans, specifically tech workers, could have on the Colombian economy, its tech sector, or on the migrants themselves. COPNIA did not respond to requests for comment from Rest of World.
Through the end of 2022, Colombia has received 2.48 million Venezuelan migrants since 2014, as per government figures. Previous rules allowed them to obtain a temporary permit that gave them access to work, public health care, and social security services — before being able to obtain a more permanent visa.
The updated visa rules have affected hundreds of professionals coming from several countries, across a plethora of sectors. But tech workers from Venezuela stand out — their government’s bureaucratic paralysis means it’s hard for them to obtain the required paperwork. Venezuelans are also disproportionately represented in the country’s tech sector.
Going away would be leaving my family again.”
After an economic crisis ravaged the Venezuelan economy, the country’s tech workers were invited into Colombia to fill what the government acknowledged was an “IT talent gap.” While there are no specific numbers on Venezuelan employees in the Colombian tech industry, they are part of several startups, including dozens of founders and C-level executives in companies such as B2B e-commerce platform provider Sumer and fintech company Wama (acquired by Reserve in 2021). Apart from these high-level employees, there are hundreds of developers, designers, and product managers who have stepped in to fill the tech talent gap.
To make matters worse, some of the dysfunction that led Venezuelan tech professionals to leave their country may now be the reason they are forced out of Colombia. Even if they do have officially recognized university degrees from Venezuela, getting them approved by COPNIA is especially difficult. Venezuelan authorities can take up to six months to issue an apostille to certify a college diploma, far longer than the three-month deadline for a Colombian visa application.
Ángel Guadarrama, a Venezuelan developer who graduated from one of his country’s best technical schools and has worked in Colombia for four years, didn’t even know COPNIA existed, despite having had his visa renewed twice. He told Rest of World his employers hadn’t known about the new requirements until he flagged them. “If they deny my visa, I’ll probably have to leave for another country,” he said.
All this does not take into account that many tech workers don’t have a college degree because they learned their craft online — through videos, or online courses and forums. Several Venezuelan developers told Rest of World their lack of a formal computer science or engineering diploma was the main reason why the Colombian government denied their visas.
Platzi’s Rojas worries the updated visa policy will prevent future Venezuelan developers from working in Colombia. “It would be very bad for the country if, suddenly, a bunch of experienced technical folks who live here suddenly start to go to Argentina because they’re less demanding with their requirements,” he said.
For Venezuelan migrants, the prospect of another exile is particularly upsetting. “I want my startup to be Colombian,” developer Ángela Ocando told Rest of World. Her visa was not renewed because she didn’t have a college diploma. “And there are people who have adopted me here,” she said. “Going away would be leaving my family again.”
