'Everything is uncertain now': Venezuelan travelers blindsided by travel ban

For Venezuelan travelers the past few days have been filled with uncertainty, fear and confusion — not to mention the financial toll.

Since the Trump administration issued a travel ban barring nationals from 12 countries including Venezuela, Venezuelans both in and outside the U.S. have scrambled to reschedule flights — some moved them earlier, others delaying plans. Some wanted to arrive before the ban kicked in on Monday. Others wanted to wait to travel out of fear that Customs and Border Protection would be revoking visas. And for families that were hoping for reunification pending an upcoming appointment to get a visa, plans have been canceled.

Among those who changed plans to beat the travel ban was José Malave and his family.

Malave had booked a flight with his wife, Estefanía Ramírez, their 10-month-old baby, and his mother-in-law from Mexico City, where they currently reside, to New York City. The trip was meant to reunite his wife with her brothers, whom she hadn’t seen in over a decade.

The family had scheduled the trip six months in advance for June 12 — just three days after the travel ban was set to take effect. But on June 4, when the White House proclamation was made public, their plans were thrown into chaos.

“We moved our flight to June 8, a day before the travel ban took effect, terrified that once it started we wouldn’t be allowed into the U.S.,” Malave said. “We were scared and distressed, but luckily, we were able to enter without any issues at customs, though the financial impact has been huge.” The family had to spend an extra $800 to change the flights.

Malave, 33, and Ramírez, 32, both computer programmers, are naturalized Mexican citizens. However, they travel using their U.S. tourist visas, which are stamped in their Venezuelan passports. Their 10-month-old son is a born Mexican citizen with a U.S. visa in his Mexican passport, while Ramírez’s mother holds only Venezuelan citizenship.

Malave expressed deep frustration with the abruptness of the travel ban — and he takes great offense to the implications it makes about Venezuelans. President Donald Trump’s proclamation states that the measure is a way to protect the United States from terrorism and crime, and that the designated countries lack screening and vetting information for travelers.

“This proclamation affects everyone, no matter their background. It should’ve taken effect with more notice,” he said. “People are interpreting it differently, and Venezuelans are caught in the middle.”

He feels heartbroken, unsure of how to plan for the future. “Everything is uncertain now. We had planned to spend Christmas in New York, maybe take our son to Disney — but those dreams are shattered. We don’t even know if we’ll be able to travel again on our Venezuelan passports.”

“We don’t know when, or if, we’ll see our family again. This is the reality Venezuelans face, even outside of Venezuela.”

While Malave’s family was able to reschedule their flights and reunite with their relatives, many others may never get the chance to reunite with their loved ones in the U.S.

Karla Flores is a Venezuelan who has has lived in Woodbridge, Virginia, for the past three years. She planned to take her mother, Mercedes, from Venezuela to Spain in order to apply for a U.S. tourist visa, where the application process is faster than in Colombia. Since the Nicolás Maduro regime severed diplomatic relations with the United States in 2019 after Trump, during his first term, recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president, the U.S. consular office for Venezuelan visa applications now operates out of Bogotá, Colombia. But it has a yearlong backlog.

Flores said her mother is living alone and struggling with health issues. Flores left Venezuela eight years ago—that was the last time she saw her mother, who is 75. Now the hope for a reunion seems lost.

“We have uncertainty and profound sadness,” Flores said. “We don’t understand why we have to go through this.”

Fear of having visas revoked

The U.S. State Department clarified on Sunday that the travel ban does not apply to individuals holding valid visas issued before June 9. However, for many Venezuelans with current tourist, business, or student visas, and flights scheduled just days away, the clarification came too late to ease their fears. Confusion and anxiety had already set in, with travelers uncertain about whether they would be denied entry at the border — or worse, have their visas revoked.

Venezuelans living in Maracaibo, in the western state of Zulia—about 700 kilometers from Caracas—often travel overland for more than three hours to reach Colombian border cities before flying from Bogotá to U.S. destinations like Miami. There have been no direct flights between Venezuela and the United States since 2019, when the Trump administration suspended air service. As a result, what was once a three-hour flight from Caracas to Miami has become a costly and time-consuming journey, often taking longer than a flight to Europe.

On Monday, Venezuelan passengers at Bogotá’s airport reported unusually slow and thorough security screenings.

Aleika Áñez, co-owner of Kunana Travel, a Venezuelan travel agency with 34 years of experience said her clients reported that there were delays leaving Colombian airports. “A customer who traveled on Monday said the check-in process was more rigorous at the airline counter because they held Venezuelan passports,” she said but despite the uncertainty, many Venezuelans flying from Colombia to Miami have been able to enter the U.S. “without incident.”

Many are waiting to see how Venezuelans are treated at immigration checkpoints this week, she said. Several Venezuelan travelers told her they were rescheduling trips for later in the summer to see how the travel ban is implemented. Ultimately, entry to the U.S. ultimately depends on the discretion of customs officers.

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