Amazon will help recruit Venezuelans in the US

The diplomatic mission reported that e-commerce company Amazon is cooperating with a program promoted by the Venezuelan Embassy in the United States, headed by the envoy of opposition leader Juan Guaido, to provide work for Venezuelans.

The agreement with Amazon was recently finalized and allows Venezuelans to register and get information about available places in the area that interest them and receive a code that the company identifies with it to give them priority in the selection process, explained a source from the diplomatic commission, led by Guaidó representative, Carlos Vecchio.

The United States and fifty other countries consider Guaidó the interim president of Venezuela, Considering that the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro in 2018 was fraudulent.

“In the first 36 hours, 9,706 people visited the job communication site and there were 850 active registrations on the embassy’s platform.” Confirms Director of Communications for the Diplomatic Commission Johan Merchan, who specifies that Amazon does not offer a specified number of places.

This program mainly benefits Venezuelans with temporary protection status (TPS) Or political asylum, but it is open to everyone on American soil.

TPS is a temporary and renewable program that prevents deportation and allows access to a work permit For foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their country due to natural disasters, armed conflicts or other exceptional circumstances.

In an official statement, Vecchio confirmed that the US government claims it has taken measures to expedite TPS processing of Venezuelans. “His word was that we’re going to start seeing changes from now on. So we’re going to think we’re going to start to see an increase in the approval rate for TPS and work permits,” he says.

Amidst this announcement by Jeff Bezos, the United States government Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Tuesday that it has extended up to a year and a half the time many immigrants will be able to work with expired or about to expire work permits.

Currently, immigrants and those who have applied for asylum in the country can continue to work for 180 days after their work permit expires, But now that period has been extended an additional 360 days to a total of 540 days, USCIS said in a statement.

The new ruling will come into effect on Wednesday 4 May to “avoid employment gaps”. This is at a time when the United States It is suffering from a persistent labor shortage, which has led the government to announce tens of thousands of additional temporary worker visas since last January, many of them for citizens of Central American countries.

“This temporary rule will provide non-citizens eligible for automatic extension the opportunity to keep employment and provide critical support to their families, while preventing further disruption to US employers,” USCIS Director Or M. Gedo, quoted in the note.

* With information from Agence France-Presse.