IOM leaders tour Brazil’s Operation Acolhida as government seeks to scale migrant-integration model

A senior delegation from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), including Director-General-Chief-of-Staff Mohammed Abdiker and Regional Director Maria Moita, concluded a three-day visit to Roraima on 30 January to assess Brazil’s Operation Acolhida—the humanitarian task-force that receives and relocates Venezuelan migrants at the northern border. (gov.br)

Hosted by the National Secretariat of Justice (Senajus) and the Brazilian Army’s Logistics Task Force, the group toured reception and documentation centres in Boa Vista and Pacaraima, witnessing biometric enrolment, health screening and interior-relocation briefings. Officials discussed potential replication of the model in other Latin-American corridors experiencing mixed-migration flows. (gov.br)



Since its launch in 2018, Operation Acolhida has processed over 600,000 Venezuelans, with roughly 135,000 voluntarily relocated to 930 Brazilian municipalities. The programme relies on a public-private network of shelters, NGOs and corporate sponsors that provide jobs to newcomers, making it a case study in whole-of-society response.

For employers, the visit signals continued government commitment to regularising Venezuelan labour: work-permit processing at interior destinations remains faster than in border camps, offering companies a pool of Spanish-speaking talent for call-centres, agriculture and hospitality projects.

Senajus representatives said that proposals to digitise migratory documentation through the gov.br platform could cut processing times by 40 %, a change that would directly benefit HR teams onboarding refugee employees. IOM pledged technical assistance and hinted at additional funding for vocational-training pilots to start in Q2 2026. (gov.br)