Yes, Venezuela’s Crisis Deepens—But Venezuelans in Guyana Aren’t Rushing Back Home

BY: Hem Kumar

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Maduro’s grip weakens, promises of reform echo from Caracas—but are the roughly 40,000+ Venezuelans settled in Guyana rushing back home? The answer is a resounding “Nah, staying.”

Despite the massive political shift shaking Venezuela and nostalgic calls for compatriots to return, the sobering reality has set in among the Venezuelan diaspora in Guyana. A collapsed economy, severe humanitarian crisis, and daily survival struggles in their homeland mean that for migrants here, returning simply isn’t viable right now.

The Numbers Tell the Story
The United Nations estimated 40,456 Venezuelans were living in Guyana as of mid-2024. Some government officials and civil society groups suspect the real number could be closer to 50,000–100,000 when accounting for irregular arrivals. These aren’t temporary visitors—they’re families who’ve built new lives here because home became unlivable.

Venezuelans now constitute about 3% of Guyana’s total population. In the Barima-Waini region alone, particularly in communities like Mabaruma and Port Kaituma, they’ve become a significant demographic presence.

Why Haven’t They Returned? The Sobering Reality

A Broken Economy That Won’t Fix Itself Overnight
Venezuela’s economic collapse didn’t happen in a year—it took decades of mismanagement, corruption, and policy failures. Even if political leadership changes, rebuilding takes generations, not months. Meanwhile, Guyana’s economy is booming, with GDP surging 32.2% in 2023 alone thanks to its oil and gas sector.
For a Venezuelan migrant in Guyana, the choice is stark: return to a country where hyperinflation has wiped out savings and salaries buy nothing, or stay where there’s actual work—even if it’s informal.
Legal Limbo: No Refugee Status, No Work Permits
Here’s the uncomfortable truth Guyana must confront: Venezuelan refugees are technically not recognized as refugees by Guyanese authorities. They live in legal limbo.
• Refugee status: Not recognized
• Stay permit: Renewable 3–6 months, but no work authorization
• Employment: 75% work informally—street vending, construction, domestic work
• Children: More than half are children, limited school access.
• Healthcare: Almost none have insurance or protection.
Without formal legal status, Venezuelans can’t participate in Guyana’s oil-windfall prosperity—even though the world’s fastest-growing economy needs workers.
Humanitarian Crisis: Water, Food, Blackouts Still Rule Venezuela
The same crises that forced them out remain unaddressed in Venezuela. For Warao Indigenous families—2,500 of whom fled to Guyana—return means going back to conditions many describe as “there is no food”.
Guyana offers:
• Stable currency and functioning businesses
• Public healthcare available to migrants.
• Children in school (despite barriers)
• No daily blackouts or water shortages
Guyana Is a Proven Magnet
The economic and social conditions in Venezuela are so distressing that it’s “not reasonable to think that they have returned to their homeland by the droves”. Guyana’s oil developments are now a proven magnet attracting migrants—legal and illegal—from neighboring countries.
Once people witness the difference—stable currency, functioning businesses, children in school—they don’t voluntarily leave.
What This Means for Guyana’s Immigration Policy
The Hard Truth
Guyana’s open-door policy temporarily halted when it suspended the biometric registration system that granted renewable stay permits. Now Venezuelans continue entering via irregular routes, exposing themselves to trafficking, abuse, and exploitation.
Roughly 25,000 Venezuelan refugees sheltered in Guyana are falling victim to smuggling networks or finding informal employment in the gold mining sector—dangerous, unregulated work.
The Policy Gap
Guyana is not a signatory to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention or the ILO Convention on Migrant Workers. This denies Venezuelans formal refugee status and exposes them to exploitation.
Yet the government has established a Multi-Agency Coordinating Committee chaired by the Minister of Citizenship to address the influx. With UNHCR support, Guyana became the first country in the Caribbean and Americas to roll out government-led registration through UNHCR’s identity management system.

The question is: Why isn’t this enough?
These Critical Reforms Needed

Formal Refugee Status Recognition
• Grant official refugee status to Venezuelans fleeing persecution and economic collapse
• Provide work permits tied to legal status, not marriage to Guyanese citizens
• End the hypocrisy of welcoming migrants while denying them right
Pathway to Permanent Residency
• The current renewable 3–6 month permit system creates perpetual uncertainty[developmentaid]
• Require renewal every few months forces migrants to miss work, travel long distances, and gather extensive paperwork—especially burdensome for those in remote areas.
• Create a 5–10 year pathway to permanent residency for those who’ve established roots
Integration Investment
• Fund Spanish-to-English language programs (most Venezuelans don’t speak English)[migrationpolicy]
• Subsidize transportation to healthcare and education facilities in remote regions
Recognize :foreign credentials and skills to move migrants from informal to formal work
The Broader Regional Lesson
Trinidad and Tobago hosts the largest Venezuelan diaspora in the Caribbean—an estimated 60,000 Venezuelans, more than 4% of its population. Even there, despite political upheaval in Caracas, migrants aren’t rushing back. In 2022, only 2,000 Venezuelans returned home as cost of living rose in T&T—but thousands more stayed because leaving wasn’t viable.[youtube +1]
Guyana is facing the same inflection point. This isn’t temporary displacement. This is permanent migration driven by irreversible collapse.
The Bottom Line
Venezuelans aren’t staying in Guyana because they love bureaucracy or enjoy living in legal limbo. They’re staying because:
• Their homeland is unlivable—economy broken, food scarce, medicine unavailable, power unreliable
• Guyana offers survival—even if imperfect, it’s better than the alternative
• Hope is local now—their children’s future is here, not in a Venezuela that may take decades to recover
The political shift in Venezuela hasn’t changed the fundamental calculus: return isn’t viable.
What Guyana Must Do
Guyana has a choice:
Option A: Continue the current approach—welcoming rhetoric but restrictive policies, leaving 40,000+ people in legal limbo, vulnerable to exploitation, unable to contribute fully to the economy.
Option B: Embrace the reality—formalize refugee status, grant work permits, create pathways to residency, invest in integration. Turn a humanitarian crisis into a demographic and economic dividend.
With the world’s fastest-growing economy and a population of only 800,000, Guyana needs workers. Venezuelans are here, willing to work, desperate for stability.
The question : is whether Guyana will recognize this reality and act accordingly.
The Venezuelans who’ve settled here have already made their decision: they’re staying. Now Guyana must decide whether to welcome them properly or let them languish in the shadows.