Thousands of Venezuelans head to Peru to beat residency deadline

At least 6,000 Venezuelans lined up at Peru’s northern border on Tuesday in hopes of entering the country before a deadline for acquiring residency, and another 4,000 were due to arrive in the next two days, Peru’s ombudsman’s office said. Peru was one of the first countries to offer temporary residency cards for Venezuelans who have been fleeing their crisis-stricken homeland and crossing Colombia and Ecuador to reach Peru. As the number of Venezuelans in Peru has surged to nearly half a million, the government moved the deadline from the end of the year to the end of October. They must enter the country by Wednesday to be eligible for the cards which allow them to live, work and study in the country legally. More…