There are two Bitcoin ATMs at the airport, and a business accepts the cryptocurrency as a payment method. Migrants can pay the tax to enter El Salvador with the crypto asset, but few of them have done it.
While waiting at the airport, several migrants perceived the plans of Nayib Bukele to attract foreigners with Bitcoin were paying off. The idea of going to the first country to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender attracted around 10% of travelers.
After landing, everyone could see at the airport a blue Chivo ATM between two traditional ATMs. A poster above that device explained to curious travelers what to do with it, stating that using Bitcoin was easy and optional.
A few steps from immigration, a second lone Chivo ATM was leaning against a column. It required those who wanted to make a transaction to confirm their identity with a phone number. Of course, those who had just landed did not have that service yet, so they could not advance beyond the first instructions.
The only business at the airport that displayed a sign saying We accept Bitcoin was a pizza restaurant. They seemed to be following the same government logic of using the pioneering cryptocurrency to attract foreigners. However, the girl who served at the counter confessed that not many customers had yet responded to that strategy.
The Review of Identity Documents during the Migration Process
Those who traveled to El Salvador had to make three lines to go through immigration. The first was to pay an entry tax of USD 12, with the option to use Bitcoin. The same as with the pizza restaurant, only a few people did. Due to the potentially vulnerable public WiFi at the airport, many of them did not want to risk exposing their PIN to access their wallets.
Some might come to believe that travelers would have free entry into the country after paying the tax. However, the immigration line was the second, where the official carefully and suspiciously checked the passports.
She recorded the data on the computer, took pictures of them, and shared them in a WhatsApp group. In addition, she made a phone call and then left her booth with the documents of some travelers with dual nationality. She then showed them to other officials as if they were strange objects never seen before.
After verifying that the entry of these travelers to the country would not represent risks, she sealed their passports and welcomed them. In some cases, the review of some people’s documents took up to six hours, while it went smoothly with others.
In the last file, they checked the stamp on the passports and the luggage of the migrants at customs. At the exit, a picture of President Nayib Bukele and the first lady welcomed travelers to the country.
The relevance of Bitcoin in the world economy is becoming more evident with each passing day. That led the Bukele government to decide to adopt it as legal tender. After the entry into force of the Bitcoin Law, the cryptocurrency has not yet shown its full potential.
By Alexander Salazar
