63 to that time due to the stagnation of the economy in the early 1980s and the strong devaluation of the bolivar in 1983 (Pellegrino, 1984). Since Venezuela had become structurally dependent on foreign workers (United Nations, 1982), there was still a substantial demand for labor from Colombia and other countries at that time.

The stock of foreign workers was atill large in the early 1980s. Castano (1988) estimated that there were more than one million Colombians alone working in Venezuela, but that Colombian labor migration to neighboring countries has virtually ceased. Torrealba (1987) also reported that illegal immigration may have decreased in the early 1980s and that the emigration of both immigrants and Venezuelans increased at the same time. Van Roy (1984) confirmed this trend, arguing that both legal and illegal migrants were beginning to leave Venezuela in the early 1980s and he estimated a level of net emigration of over 66,000 for 1980-1982. I cannot evaluate the quality of this estimate, but there does seem to be substantial evidence of a turnaround in international migration patterns in the early 1980s. Therefore, the World Bank's previous immigration figure of 250,000 for 1980-1985 seems quite high (it is also much higher than the estimate of 75,000 by the United Nations for the same period). I would suggest reducing the 1980-1985 estimate to about 100,000 unless there is some specific evidence that the above information is wrong or that there was another reversal in the trend in 1984 and 1985. Moreover, the drop in net immigration in the last three periods seems too rapid, particularly in the event that oil prices recover. I would suggest net immigration of 75,000 for 1985-1990, 50,000 for 1990-1995, and 35,000 for 1995-2000.

# Colombia

The estimates of net international migration for Colombia need to mesh with the estimates for Venezuela. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the level of Colombian emigration to the United States. In fiscal years 1980-1984, an average of 10,182 Colombians immigrated to the United States legally each year (Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1987). In FY1985-1987, the annual figure increased slightly to 11,697. In addition, there has been a considerable amount of illegal immigration from Colombia. Of the 266,795 undocumented immigrants who applied for amnesty in Venezuela in 1980, 246,194 were Colombians (Van Roy, 1984). It has been estimated that overall there were between 900,000 and 1,100,000 Colombians living abroad in 1980 (Diaz-Briquets and Frederick, 1984) and illegal immigration to other countries has continued to be strong during the 1980s.

The net emigration rate from Colombia declined steadily Letween 1964 and 1982, but the rate still stood at 1.8 per 1,000 during the period 1978-1982 (World Bank, 1984). This translates into net emigration of just under 50,000 persons per year for that period. This figure, however, seems low if both legal and undocumented movement are taken into account. On the other hand, the current World Bank estimate of 250,000 for 1980-1985 seems rather high given the restrictions placed on immigration to Venezuela during that period. I would suggest reducing emigration from Colombia to 200,000 for 1980-1985,