In order to get Iceland from the international airport of Maiquetía, in the capital region of Venezuela, one would need, more or less, between 1,700 and 2,600 dollars to pay for the plane ticket, for a travel that would take about 23 hours. There are 7,484 kilometers of distance between the Caribbean Venezuela of a temperate climate and constant all year long and Iceland – a country which is also an island of the north of Europe, volcanic and of glacial winds, with suns of midnight in summer and only three or four hours of light in winter.
In the first nine months of 2019, however, 84 Venezuelans requested international protection from the authorities of that country of 362,000 inhabitants. As of September, Iceland’s Directorate of Immigration had received 621 requests for asylum; Venezuela was the second country, after Iraq, that made the most requests. The authorities approved them all: they granted protection in five cases and subsidiary protection for 79.
This is an advantageous group in comparison with Venezuelan migrants who try to reach neighboring countries in the Americas in any way they can, facing increasing restrictions. In addition to having obtained the money for the trip and the migratory managements, the legal situation of these Venezuelans in Iceland is resolved.
The increase in asylum applications by Venezuelans in Iceland is considerable compared to the previous year, when there had also been a total decrease in these figures. According to the most recent statistics from the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration, in 2018, 14 Venezuelans applied for this protection status and eight were approved; in 2017, only two Venezuelans made the applications and the government granted it to one (a humanitarian permit); and in 2016 no Venezuelans applied for asylum.
In 2017, Iceland had 41,853 immigrants, according to UN figures quoted by an Expansión newspaper special report –39 of them were Venezuelans. Until recently, Icelanders were not accustomed to receiving immigrants.
The official figures of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), yet conservative, register at least 4.5 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants around the world. They say that more than 650,000 Venezuelans have sought asylum worldwide and that more than 2 million live “under other forms of legal stay” in the Americas. As it is well known, these numbers ignore the people who emigrate without papers as well as the children of nationals of the countries they go to, who inherit the citizenship of their parents.
Venezuelan migratory pressure continues to increase and in the last three years, at least, it has been more palpable in the neighboring countries of the Americas, where restrictions for the entry of Venezuelans are increasing. Eleven Latin American countries are already asking Venezuelans for visas, as Florantonia Singer found in a report for El País. These countries are Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. Recently, Mexican immigration authorities have been harassing Venezuelan travelers (as well as Colombians and Brazilians) at the airports: they deport them — seven out of 10, according to Excelsior’s Claudia Solera — but first, they hold them in incommunicado detentions and mistreat them. On the other hand, there have been several reports of xenophobic actions against Venezuelans in several countries in the region.
It is not unreasonable, then, for Venezuelan migrants to seek other corners of the planet.
Why Iceland? Why an island with 200 volcanoes and 11.1% of its territory made up of glaciers, closer to the North Pole than to southern Europe, with a completely opposite climate (12 degrees on average in summer; 1 degree or two in winter) and a very different culture, a foreign language, and only one city, its capital in 103,000 square kilometers of surface (because Iceland has a population density of only three inhabitants per square kilometers)?
The standard of living in Iceland is good. Although by its volume of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) it is the 107th economy of the world, its 2018 GDP per capita was 62,100 euros, which puts it in 7th place out of 196 in the ranking of world GDP per capita. According to Expansión, Iceland’s average salary is amongst the highest on the planet and the accumulated annual inflation to October 2019 was only 2.8%.
Laws and the constitution favor equality in general.
Icelanders are friendly and welcoming, according to the testimonies that Venezuelans living in that country gave to Voice of America.
And security is a key factor. Since 2008, Iceland has been undefeated as the safest country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index. “Coming here from Venezuela was a total relief. To be able to go out into the street, without fear,” Hugo told Voice of America’s Iacopo Luzi.
English is a good vehicular language to live in that country but the Association of Venezuelans living in Iceland, which posted blog entries until 2017, recommends taking courses to learn Icelandic. This increases the chances of finding a good job with a better salary. “Those who know Icelandic have easier access to the different services and they can also keep an eye on what’s going on around them in Iceland,” they wrote.
Iceland has a peculiarity in its laws: it is virtually impossible to live there without legal documents. It is compulsory for everyone to have the identification number and social security, the kennitala. “Everything (not exaggerating by saying everything) is linked to this number, which is unique and unrepeatable for each person. Knowing someone’s kennitala you can know from their telephone number, in which bank they have their accounts, where they work, their home address, how many properties they have, etc… And without this number you don’t even have the possibility of renting a room to live in, let alone get a job,” says other entry from the Association of Venezuelans living in Iceland.
It is also compulsory to have medical insurance. Moreover, because of its good indicators, Iceland is one ot the most expensive countries in Europe, and migrants who aspire to legal residence must demonstrate, upon arrival, that they can support themselves without depending on the government.
“It is one of the best countries to be a woman, to be a mother, to move forward and really to be better. It is safe at all possible levels and for those who are willing to leave behind the Venezuelan viveza, it is one of the best destinations they can find,” they wrote in the Association.