The journey from the Venezuelan coast to Trinidad's northwestern peninsula takes, in a small boat, somewhere between two and six hours depending on sea conditions. It is a crossing that thousands of Venezuelans have made in the years since their country's economic collapse under Nicolás Maduro's government made ordinary life impossible. They come seeking work, safety, and the possibility of a future — and they arrive in a country that is itself struggling with crime, economic pressure, and a government that does not know quite what to do with them.
Trinidad and Tobago is, by Caribbean standards, a relatively prosperous country with a functioning economy and a real labour market. It is also a country of 1.4 million people whose own citizens face significant unemployment and social pressures. The arrival of tens of thousands of undocumented Venezuelans has created a humanitarian and political challenge that no government has successfully resolved.
The Numbers
By 2025, conservative estimates put the number of Venezuelans living in T&T — most without formal immigration status — at somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000. The Ministry of Homeland Security has oscillated between policies of regularisation (issuing work permits and temporary status) and strict enforcement. In November 2025, the ministry cut the number of work permits issued to Venezuelans from 4,275 in 2024 to just 757 — a dramatic reduction that human rights organisations criticised as cruel and counterproductive.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar stoked further controversy when she declared her government would "seek advice on protections for our coast guard to use deadly force on any unidentified vessel entering Trinidad and Tobago waters from Venezuela." The statement, which seemed to envision shooting at migrant boats, drew immediate international condemnation — though the government subsequently clarified that it referred to vessels involved in drug and weapons trafficking rather than migration per se.
The Human Reality
Behind the statistics and the policy debates are individual lives: Venezuelan professionals working as food vendors, families separated by irregular migration channels, children growing up stateless in a country that does not acknowledge their existence. T&T's churches, NGOs, and some government agencies have worked to provide basic services. But the structural solution — a regional migration framework that distributes responsibility across Caribbean and South American nations — remains elusive.
