Bloomberg Línea — The process for migrants to apply for asylum in the United States from new immigrant processing centers began in Costa Rica and Guatemala this week, while in Colombia it will become active as of Monday.
The so-called “Safe Mobility offices” will open in a six-month “exploratory phase” in which migrants will be referred to refugee resettlement programs and other legal avenues of arrival in the US, Canada or Spain.
It is important to note that these asylum reception offices in the three Latin American countries have restrictions on the nationalities that can apply for asylum there. In the case of Colombia, they will only process applications from Cuban, Venezuelan and Haitian nationals who arrived in the country on or before June 11.
In Guatemala, applications will be accepted from applicants from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Meanwhile, offices in Costa Rica will be limited to receiving asylum applications from Venezuelans and Nicaraguans.
What are the requirements to apply for asylum?
Access to these immigrant processing centers is free of charge and those interested only need to make an appointment.
According to the US government, the steps to follow are:
- Applicants must log in to movilidadsegura.org to access this benefit
- Confirm that they are over 18 years old and belong to one of the eligible nationalities
- On the platform, they will be asked for personal information, such as full name and date of birth
- Applicants must upload a photo of their face or an image of their ID from their phone
- Once the first form is completed, the person must add accompanying family members to their asylum application
- Before submitting the application, the platform will ask some protection questions to ensure that these requirements are met
- The offices will review each application and contact eligible applicants. Some will only receive information about a possible legal pathway and others will be able to schedule an appointment.
These new processing centers were created as a response to the large number of people waiting at the US border, who travel thousands of miles and countries to reach US territory.
Alejandro Mayorkas, US Secretary of Homeland Security, said the goal is for the processing centers to register up to 6,000 applications in a month.
The centers are operated by US government personnel and other allied organizations, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration.