Besserer Rayas et al. Comparative Migration Studies (2024) 12:47 paperwork gaps regarding naturalization signals a remarkable change in Colombia’s citizenship and immigration regimes. 4. Eased regularization requirements The Colombian state bridged a fourth paperwork gap regarding Venezuelan regularization. Prior to 2017, there were limited regularization options for those who could demonstrate they had crossed an official border by presenting a valid stamped passport. Over time, Colombian bureaucrats identified that holding a valid passport was a major hindrance to acquiring legal status. In response, they offered Venezuelans temporary protected status without requiring a passport, in turn allowing those who had entered Colombia through an irregular point to also regularize their status. In a separate decree, recognizing that many Venezuelan passport holders had an expired document, Venezuelan passports’ validity within Colombia was extended for 10 years after the formal expiration date. In 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially recognized the difficulty of obtaining a passport and that, “among the population of Venezuelan nationals who have migrated to Colombia, an important number of them do not have a valid passport” (MRE, 2019). This recognition led to initially extending the validity of Venezuelan passports for two years, and then in 2021, to 10 years beyond their expiration date (MRE, 2021b). Other states across the region adopted an analogous practice.6 Expired passports can be used to leave, enter, and move within Colombia; they also count as valid proof of identification and can be used for visa applications. States usually understand the institution of the passport as a crucial part of its monopoly on the legitimate movement of people (Torpey, 2000). The sovereign extension of another country’s passport’s validity to unilaterally bridge a paperwork gap is a noteworthy and powerful repertoire of migration governance in the context of international displacement. As the Venezuelan inflow increased from 2015 to 2017 – estimates suggest that, by early 2018, 650,000 Venezuelans had immigrated to Colombia (R4V, 2024) – the Colombian state began offering migratory status and work permits via a two-year residence called the Special Permanence Permit (PEP in Spanish acronym) (MRE, 2017). The PEP was created in 2017 as an ad hoc mechanism to regularize the unexpectedly large influx of Venezuelans. It was available via a smartphone application through which Venezuelans could photograph their stamped passport as proof of having entered Colombia through an official border crossing. They would then receive a document via email, which they could download and print, to use as an official identity card, as well as a residence and work permit. In theory, the PEP provided access to healthcare via formal work and could be used to enroll children in public school. A civil servant from the Ministry of Migration who was a key decision maker underscored the fact that the PEP was established because of the urgency to swiftly offer regular status to large numbers of Venezuelans; it was “what we could do at the time” (Interview with public official E). Another high ranking official, also key in the PEP decision-making process, relayed that in addition to humanitarian reasons, the PEP was important because it allowed the state to assess the numbers of Venezuelans in the country, provide access to public services, and 6 Among others, Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Panama, the UK, and the US have extended the validity of Venezuelan passports within their own territories (see, e.g., Brumat, 2021); the timeframes vary, though all remained below Colombia’s 10-year extension. Page 13 of 20