What determines individuals’ preferences for different policy responses to forced migration, and what does this imply for promoting greater cohesion and reducing inequalities between host communities and refugees? Migration has been central to electoral shifts in many receiving countries, arguably by eroding trust in governments who are perceived to be ineffective. Yet most existing work examining public preferences for forced migration policies has focused on high-income destination contexts—particularly around the European “migration crisis” of 2015. This presents limitations for developing better theoretical and empirical understanding of how migration policy preferences form and change. We address these problems by considering the case of Venezuelan migration to Colombia, currently one of world’s largest and fastest-growing mixed migratory flows. Using an online conjoint survey experiment, to be fielded in Colombia in January-February 2021, we identify Colombians’ preferences for policy “packages” comprising variations in numerical limits, dispersal, access to welfare and labour markets, and return requirements. We also measure features including respondents’ levels of trust in government, perceptions of how many Venezuelans reside in Colombia, personal contact with Venezuelans, and values such as humanitarianism. Our results have implications for how policymakers think about—and act upon—the issue in the future.