Venezuelan Argentines (Spanish: venezolano-argentinos) are Argentine citizens of partial or full Venezuelan descent, or Venezuelan citizens who have migrated to and settled in Argentina. As of 2021, there are 179,203 Venezuelans living in Argentina,[1] most of whom migrated during the latter half of the 2010s as part of the Venezuelan refugee crisis.[2][5] The last census held in Argentina, in 2010, registered only 6,000 Venezuelan migrants living in the country.[6]
As of 2018, Venezuelans were the fourth-largest expat community in Argentina, behind Paraguayans, Bolivians and Chileans.[7] According to IOM figures, Argentina granted 170,223 residency permits to Venezuelan citizens alone from 2018 to 2020, nearly twice as many as to Paraguayan citizens.[8] This makes Venezuelans the fastest-growing expat community in the country.[9][10]
The Venezuelan community in Argentina has grown considerably since 2015 due to a number of factors, most notably, the ongoing socioeconomic crisis experienced by the Caribbean country.[6] Despite the geographical distance between the two countries (there are 1920 miles between Venezuela's southernmost city and Argentina's northernmost), Argentina's lax migration laws have made the country a major destination for Venezuelans.[10][11]
According to a 2019 IOM report studying Venezuelan migrants in Buenos Aires, 80.4% of respondents had jobs at the time the study was conducted (August–September 2019): 55% as employees and 25.4% as independent workers; 15.6% were unemployed. Around 70% of the surveyed migrants counted with a monthly salary ranging between Argentina's mandated minimum wage and twice that amount. By business sector, 43% were active in commerce, 26% in transport (taxi cabs and mobility apps and services such as Uber), 6% in health, and 3% in IT. Nearly 71% of the surveyed migrants worked in the informal economy, while 29% worked in registered jobs.[12]
Venezuelan diaspora
