Updated Date: May 27, 2022
Following Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is providing support and humanitarian relief to Ukrainian nationals in need both in the United States and abroad. To protect Ukrainians residing in the U.S., the Secretary of Homeland Security designated Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. This will allow Ukrainians here since April 11, 2022 to stay and apply for employment authorization in the U.S. To provide pathways to the United States for Ukrainians seeking refuge, DHS is working to expand current legal pathways and develop new programs in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to displaced Ukrainians. We are coordinating our efforts closely with our European allies and partners who are on the frontlines of this humanitarian crisis.
Legal Pathways for Eligible Ukrainians
While we expect many Ukrainians will choose to remain in Europe close to family and their homes in Ukraine, the United States has announced plans to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia’s aggression through the full range of legal pathways. In particular, the U.S. is focused on welcoming eligible Ukrainians who have family members in the United States and is committed to protecting the most vulnerable. The United States is working with European Union and our partners to ensure a well-coordinated, global humanitarian response and will update this fact sheet periodically with additional program information.
Temporary Protected Status
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas designated Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. In addition to demonstrating continuous residence in the United States since April 11, 2022, and meeting other eligibility criteria, initial applicants for TPS under this designation must demonstrate that they have been continuously physically present in the United States since April 19, 2022, the effective date of this designation of Ukraine, before USCIS may grant them TPS. Information on how to apply for TPS and an Employment Authorization Document can be found here: www.USCIS.gov/tps.
Asylum
Ukrainian nationals currently in the United States who are not able to return to Ukraine because they have been persecuted or fear that they will be persecuted on account of their nationality, race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, generally may apply for asylum. These applications should be filed with USCIS if they are not currently in removal
proceedings. Information on how to apply for asylum in the U.S. can be found here: www.USCIS.gov/asylum.
U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) is an inter-agency effort involving several governmental and non-governmental partners, both overseas and domestically, whose mission is to resettle refugees in the United States. The U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) has overall management responsibility for the USRAP and has the lead in proposing admissions numbers and processing priorities.
Within DHS, USCIS has responsibility for interviewing refugee applicants and adjudicating applications for refugee status. Through its cooperative agreements with Resettlement Support Centers (RSC), PRM handles the intake of refugee referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), U.S. embassies, and certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as the prescreening of cases and the out-processing of individuals for travel to the United States. The U.S. Government currently has a Priority 2 direct access program for Ukrainians under the Lautenberg Program for Certain members of Religious Minority Groups in Eurasia and the Baltics. This category includes Jews, Evangelical Christians, and Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox religious adherents identified in the Lautenberg Amendment, Section 599D of Title V, Pub. L. No. 101-167, as amended, with close family in the United States.
USCIS will continue to process existing refugee cases involving Ukrainian nationals that are in the USRAP pipeline and will conduct interviews and adjudicate new cases as they are presented to us. For information on the USRAP, please see Refugees | USCIS.
Humanitarian Parole
Individuals may request parole for themselves or on behalf of another individual who is outside the United States based on urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons. Parole allows an individual to temporarily enter the United States and apply for employment authorization, but it does not confer immigration status or provide a path to lawful immigration status. Parole is discretionary and issued on a case-by-case basis and should not be requested to avoid normal visa-issuing procedures, inadmissibility waiver processing, or established refugee processing channels. Parole is not intended to replace established refugee processing channels. In general, a refugee may not be paroled into the United States absent compelling reasons in the public interest with respect to that particular refugee. Additional information about potential qualification and necessary evidence for parole can be found here.
Special Situations and Expedited Processing
USCIS announced a series of immigration flexibilities that may help people affected by extreme situations, including the invasion of Ukraine. More information can be found here. USCIS is also proactively prioritizing the processing of certain applications and petitions filed by Ukrainian nationals. DHS will additionally suspend certain regulatory requirements for Ukrainian F-1 nonimmigrant students who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a direct result of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine.