Workers are starting a go-slow campaign, known in Spanish as plan tortuga at Migración Colombia in protest over stalled negotiations with government bosses.
Even in a country where state services are often underfunded and overworked, the Colombian immigration office has a lot on their plate. That’s why workers today decided to implement ‘plan tortuga‘ at Migración Colombia in an attempt to get support for their aims.
The workers are not allowed to go on strike, as they are deemed essential workers. However, work-to-rule is definitely on the table, and that’s the route they have taken. That led to dozens of flights being cancelled and airports in chaos.
There is also the rather odd sight of protest posters in official border posts and admin buildings, as well as protesting union members in some places. However, not everyone is in favour of plan tortuga at Migración Colombia.
We popped down to the Migración site so many foreign residents know so well on Calle 100 to see what was going on. What we found was…not much. Posters were up around the office, but that was it – no queues or obvious delays. Staff were guarded and reluctant to speak openly, with everything seemingly working as normal.
Working as normal may be cold comfort to some, though. For at least a month or two there have been complaints about hour or more waits at Medellín, especially from foreign tourists. It’s clear that the rise in foreign tourism has not been matched by increased investment in processing.
With Christmas and New Year around the corner, masses of travellers will be flying soon and chaos could reign. That runs the gamut from disrupted holidays and family visits. At the very least, this will be a bad advert for Colombia on the global stage, sadly.
Long running delays on cédulas extrajerías have been an issue for foreign residents for over a year now, with the lag between giving biometric data and receiving the physical card often taking up to three or four months. This is unlikely to help that situation.
The long-term resident fiasco is not helpful, either. This is actually a fairly progressive move from the government, designed to formalise and professionalise the system. However, the implementation has been haphazard, with frequent delays to the deadline and people ending up with ‘out-of-sync’ cédulas.
Why are they implementing plan tortuga at Migración Colombia?
After a long round of negotiations with the government, workers have finally lost their patience. This seems surprising, as Gustavo Petro’s administration should be broadly worker-friendly. Budgets across the board are stretched thin, though, and the money has to come from somewhere.
The chief gripe is the number of workers at Migración Colombia. While there has been a huge uptick in foreign visitor numbers, reaching nearly six million last year. Numbers have been growing for years, but state incompetence has meant that staffing numbers haven’t increased at anything like the same.
That’s finally hit crisis point. Union leader Oscar Guateque explained that they have been waiting for a year to get the sign off on some 544 more workers. These are positions that were in a batch of 670 decided on in 2022, so the government has had plenty of time to get it sorted.
The union is also asking for pay reform to reduce inequalities in pay rates throughout the organisation. They have had some success here, with an agreement in place since last year to raise Sunday and holiday pay. However, again there has been little joy in the wider view, with the government dragging its heels on further investment.
Working conditions have also come under criticism, with demanding targets and out-of-date facilities. This is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that the Japanese government stepped in to help fund an upgrade to the Centro Andino on Calle 100. Nice gesture it might be, but this really should be in the gift of the Casa Nariño.
Finally and perhaps most optimistically, the workers are asking for a complete review of the way the organisation operates. Unsurprisingly, those in charge are reluctant to make changes that could affect their positions. However, this seems the most logical of the demands. Migración is currently handling situations it was never designed to confront and far more people than it ever expected to see.
What does it mean for you?
This is extremely annoying, but try to stay calm. Remember that these workers aren’t doing this porque sí, but in desperation. Getting angry with them will exacerbate the situation, not only for yourself but for everybody behind you in a queue.
If you are flying overseas in the next few weeks, be ready for delays leaving Colombia. It might be wise to add an extra hour or two in order to get through the queues, especially if you are particularly close to the Christmas/New Year holidays. If you have a biometric passport, that might make things a little easier as you can simply use the machines and bypass the help desks.
In extreme cases, you may find that flights are cancelled, rescheduled or heavily delayed. Make sure to stay fully up to date on flights from around 24 hours in advance.
If you are arriving in Colombia soon, be prepared to wait in a big old line. As mentioned earlier, Medellín is particularly slow anyway these days. You might want to flag up the potential delay to your hotel/hostel as your expected arrival time might be significantly later than previously thought.
If you are awaiting a Colombian visa, you should be fine. The plan tortuga at Migración Colombia should only be applying to that part of the organisation and not the wider cancillería. Having said that, there may be minor knock on effects.
If you are waiting to pick up a cédula extranjería, it might be best to leave as much time as possible before making the collection from the office on 100. This is especially true if you don’t need the cédula for anything urgent such as opening a bank account or similar.
If you need your cédula as soon as possible, arrive with plenty of time and be prepared to wait. It’s worth remembering that this part of the puzzle has been problematic for months now anyway, so you may well find that the online list of cédulas ready for collection is simply not functioning, fuelling the fire.