Exploring Safe Mobility Offices for Latin Americans Seeking Entry into the United States

The United States Government began the Safe Mobility program for Latin American immigrants in 2023. Photo: Getty Images. (mrdoomits via Getty Images)

Las Safe Mobility Offices is a program that the United States government began in 2023 to ensure that migrants who are in certain Latin American countries can travel legally and safely to the United States, Canada or Spain.

Through the ‘Safe Mobility’ program, eligible refugees and migrants will be considered for refugee and humanitarian admission programs, and other legal admission pathways.

The United States has the help of two UN agencies for the implementation of this program. On the one hand, the IOM, which deals with migrations, and, on the other, UNHCR, specialized in helping refugees.

In this article we will analyze what the requirements are to apply to the program, how it is processed and, finally, which countries are the final destinations for migrants whose requests are approved.

At the time of writing this article there are four Safe Mobility Offices in Latin America, but it is not ruled out that the number will change. Each of them has its own requirements to apply. But in all of them the application is always free.

Colombia

Cubans, Haitians or Venezuelans who can demonstrate their physical presence in Colombia on June 11, 2023 or before can apply to participate in this program. It does not matter whether you entered Colombia legally or irregularly. Nor if at the time of applying you have legal immigration documents to reside in that country or not yet. Filling out a form on the official website of the program in Colombia. Currently it is only activated on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 8 am local time. If an application has already been submitted, there is no need to repeat. If you have questions about the program, you can call toll-free 018005190665 from Monday to Friday, from 7 am to 7 pm.

Costa Rica

The basic requirement to apply to this program are two: To apply it must be filled out online. If you enter the page and said form does not appear, try it a few days later. It is common for the form to be removed when there are a high number of requests in a short time. For more information, you can dial toll-free 0800032009, Monday to Friday between 6 am and 6 pm local time.

Ecuador

To apply, you must meet the following requirements: be of Colombian, Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan or Venezuelan nationality, demonstrate physical presence in Ecuador on or before October 18, 2023, be registered in a regularization process or have requested refugee status. It is enabled or closed depending on the number of requests, so the official page must be consulted frequently until you find the day on which it is enabled. If you have questions, you can ask them by calling toll-free 1800001667, Monday to Friday from 7 am to 7 pm, local time.

Guatemala

In this case only Guatemalans who can qualify to travel to the United States for one of the following reasons: could qualify to obtain the status of refugee or asylee, were at the border between Mexico and the US between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021, could qualify for an H-2A visa for temporary work in agriculture, could qualify for a temporary H-2B visa in a temporary non-agricultural job, They are minors and have their father or mother in the United States with a pending request for asylum, a U visa for victims of certain crimes, a T visa (for victims of human trafficking), or another immigration status. For additional information, you should contact IOM by calling +502 7824-1698, writing an email to, or visiting either of its two local offices in Guatemala City or Quetzaltenango.

Only US government officials decide on submitted applications. They do not report those they reject and only contact the people whose procedure they are going to process. They may be required to appear for a personal interview. Regarding the delay time, an approximate period cannot be given, since it depends on the circumstances of each request. But it has been made public that from June 2023 to February 2024, 147,000 applications had been submitted and a total of 5,900 people had entered the United States under this program.

Although the Safe Mobility program is a US project and must be applied to it as stated previously in this article, Canada and Spain collaborate to contribute to the objective of achieving safe and legal migration. Canada has committed to receiving a maximum of 11,000 migrants who meet the following requirements: being Colombian, Haitian or Venezuelan, found in Mexico, Central America, South America or the Caribbean, be a child, spouse, common-law partner, grandchild, parent, grandparent or sibling of a Canadian or a permanent resident in Canada, that that family member commits to supporting the migrant financially for one year, that the migrant commits to living in a province or territory other than Quebec. In the case of Spain, its collaboration is less, since it has committed to admit 285 refugees, although under interesting conditions, since it offers them accommodation, training and work. The first to arrive under the protection of this program were from central Spain and they were provided with training and work in the field of renewable energies.

In conclusion, the Secure Mobile Offices program is an option to consider for migrants who meet all of the aforementioned requirements. However, it must be taken into consideration that it is a project with continuous changes. For example, at first Nicaraguans, Hondurans and Salvadorans residing in Guatemala could apply, but now they no longer can. On the other hand, initially you could not apply if you resided in Ecuador, but now you can. For these reasons, it is advisable to check the one that is in Spanish and always keep in mind that no one can ask for money to apply for the program, which is always free.

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