Venezuela residence visas (transeúnte) and SAIME renewals

SAIME lists transeúnte categories for students (TR-E), rentistas living on rents or a pension (TR-R), workers (TR-L), family members of a foreigner with permanent migrant status (TR-F-M-P), family members (TR-F), family members of a Venezuelan (TR-F-V) and religious workers (TR-REL). It also lists an extension for students (TR-E-P). The family category is granted to the spouse, children under 18 who are not emancipated, parents and parents-in-law, after reliable proof of the family link.

Every renewal starts by creating a user and password on the SAIME website and uploading a photo of a passport valid for at least six months, the entry and exit stamps and the latest visas. Students add an updated certificate of studies. Rentistas add a certification of lawful means showing that they live on lawful rents or a pension with monthly income equivalent to USD 1,200. Workers add the labour authorisation issued by the Ministry of Popular Power for the Social Process of Labour.

Family members of a Venezuelan add a document proving the link; for a spouse, the marriage certificate must be registered in the country of origin or, if the couple married abroad, duly registered in Venezuela. Religious workers add a valid worship authorisation from the Ministry of Popular Power for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace. The student extension (TR-E-P) also asks for a letter of motivation, proof of lawful means of support for the applicant and family, and apostilled criminal records.

Renewals are processed through SAIME's online procedures. Create your account on the SAIME website, choose the procedure for your category, upload the documents and pay the corresponding fees through the official channels the system indicates. SAIME does not publish the fee amounts or processing times on its foreigners page.

Venezuela's foreign service issues a re-entry transeúnte visa (TR-RI) to foreigners with transeúnte status whose condition has expired while they were abroad. Its listed requirements are a passport valid for six months, not having acquired residence in another country and, for residents, not having spent more than two years outside Venezuela; the page also states a limit of thirty days outside Venezuela. The application includes the visa form, the original and a copy of the passport with the visa and two recent colour ID-size photos.

Inside Venezuela, SAIME lists an extension for residents (prórroga residente, CRES) with the same documents as the tourist extension: a letter of reasons to SAIME's Director General, a ticket out of Venezuela, copies of the current year's entry and exit stamps and payment of the fees, and not having more than 90 days in the national territory.

First-time transeúnte visas are issued by Venezuelan embassies and consulates; this guide has separate pages for the student, work, business, investor and family categories, based on the requirements published by Venezuela's foreign service. Asylum procedures are not covered, because no official Venezuelan page describing them could be consulted.