Glossary
The process by which an individual is permitted to legally enter the United States as a refugee. | |
The method of assigning refugee cases to resettlement agencies in order to obtain sponsorship for them. This assignment is made on the basis of information about the refugees obtained while they are overseas. The information is matched with the program and the community best suited to help each refugee achieve economic self-sufficiency in the U.S. | |
The favorable adjudication by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer of an application for U.S. refugee admission. The same term is used in the case of favorable adjudication of an immigrant visa application by a consular officer. | |
| Assistance | Activities that provide relief to refugees, conflict victims and internally displaced persons. Such relief includes food, clean water, shelter, health care, basic education, job training, sanitation, and provision of physical and legal protection. Humanitarian assistance is often given in response to emergencies, but may need to continue in longer-term situations. |
The beneficiary of an approved application for asylum. The Department of Homeland Security handles the asylum program. | |
Under U.S. law, a status that may be granted to an alien physically present in the U.S. , whom has been determined, among other requirements, to satisfy the U.S. statutory definition of a refugee. After a continuous year in asylum status, an alien may petition for adjustment to permanent resident status. Only 10,000 such requests may be approved in any fiscal year. | |
Refers to "mixed flows" of migrants -- an undifferentiated combination of documented and undocumented travelers, smuggled migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and trafficking victims moving through an area. | |
Training staff of humanitarian organizations to provide better quality service to refugees and internally displaced persons. | |
Non-governmental associations of citizens, charitable or otherwise, formed for the purpose of providing benefit to the members and to society. The term includes non-governmental organizations engaged in humanitarian work. | |
An individual who has been forced or obliged to flee or leave his or her home temporarily, and who expects to return eventually. Internally displaced persons (IDPs)have moved within their country, while externally displaced persons have crossed an international border. Depending upon their ability to return, and whether they are subject to persecution in their home country, externally displaced persons may be entitled to recognition as refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) mandate. | |
| Durable Solution | The three durable solutions traditionally identified for refugees are: voluntary return to country of origin (also known as voluntary repatriation), local integration in the country of refuge, or resettlement in a third country. |
A country that permits refugees to enter its territory for purposes of providing asylum temporarily, pending eventual repatriation or resettlement (locally or in a third country). First asylum countries usually obtain the assistance of UNHCR to provide basic assistance to the refugees. | |
| Local Integration | One of the three "durable solutions" -- voluntary return, local integration, third-country resettlement – sought for refugees. When voluntary return to their home country is not possible, refugees can sometimes settle with full legal rights in the country to which they have fled (also known as the country of first asylum). This is local integration. The Bureau works diplomatically to encourage host governments to protect refugees and internally displaced persons through local integration and provides assistance to meet these humanitarian needs. |
A "mixed flow" of migrants may include a combination of documented travelers, smuggled migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. | |
A principle which, as codified in the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol, precludes return of a refugee to a country where his/her life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, with certain limited exceptions. | |
An entity funded by the Bureau's Admissions Office to prepare the paperwork on refugee cases before the refugees are interviewed by officials from the Department of Homeland Security's United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. If DHS officials approve the applicant, OPE staff help the refugee complete processing by requesting a sponsorship assurance from a resettlement agency in the U.S.; scheduling the refugee for a medical examination; ensuring a security namecheck has been done; arranging travel through the International Organization for Migration (IOM), etc. Depending on the processing location, the OPE function is currently performed by a non-governmental organization; an international organization; or within a U.S. Embassy. | |
Parole is an extraordinary measure through which the Secretary of Homeland Security may bring an otherwise inadmissible alien into the United States for a temporary period of time for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Parole is not regarded as an admission of the alien to U.S. under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). | |
Pursuant to an Executive Order of the President of the United States, an individual interdicted at sea who is determined to have a "well-founded fear" of persecution, or is more likely than not to face torture if he/she returns to his/her country of origin, and whom the U.S. Government houses and cares for at its Migrant Operation Center on the Guantanamo Naval Base while it finds a third country in which to resettle him/her. | |
Any of the activities that provide safety, meet basic needs, or secure the rights of refugees in the places to which they have fled. Examples of protection include:
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The Bureau's program to provide reception services to arriving refugees during their first 90 days in the U.S., carried out through cooperative agreements with resettlement agencies. Required services include: initial housing, furnishings, food, clothing, orientation, counseling and assistance in accessing programs and benefits for which refugees are eligible. | |
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any person who is outside any country of such person's nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. | |
An entity located in Rosslyn, Virginia that is operated by SRA International, Inc. and managed by the Bureau's Admissions Office. The RPC helps process and gather information about the refugee admissions program, including case allocation, sponsorship assurances, and statistical reporting. The RPC manages the U.S. Government's Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) database (www.wrapsnet.org ). | |
Mechanisms for governments to meet at a regional level to discuss migration policies and programs. For example, an annual conference on migration brings together government officials from North and Central America to discuss enforcement and protection issues. | |
Voluntary return of a refugee to his/her country of origin when conditions permit. Worldwide, this is the "best case scenario," in which a refugee feels comfortable returning home to rebuild his or her life. Recent examples of repatriation have been in Kosovo and South Sudan. | |
The process of relocating a refugee from the country of first asylum to another country. When it is clear that a refugee will not be able to return to his/her home and cannot be integrated into the country to which he/she has fled, resettlement is often the only solution left. However, worldwide refugee resettlement figures are very low; fewer than one percent of refugees will ever be considered and accepted for resettlement. The U.S. has the largest refugee resettlement program in the world. | |
This term describes the nine U.S. non-profit agencies and one state agency that currently have cooperative agreements with the Department of State to provide reception and placement services to newly arrived refugees in the United States. Such agencies receive funding for their headquarters’ operating expenses and for per capita grants to assist with providing required initial reception and placement services for every refugee. The Bureau enters into agreements with such agencies annually, based on a proposal submission and review process. | |
The resettlement agency that assists newly arrived refugees on their arrival in the U.S. In all cases, under the terms of the Bureau's Reception and Placement Cooperative Agreement, the agency accepting sponsorship responsibility must ensure that certain services are provided. Established community groups and congregations may agree in writing to provide the actual assistance, and many programs use volunteers. | |
The process by which resettlement agencies commit to providing reception and placement services to each refugee they resettle. | |
| Statelessness | According to UNHCR, a stateless person is "someone who, under national laws, does not enjoy citizenship - the legal bond between a government and an individual - with any country." While some people are de jure or legally stateless (meaning they are not recognized as citizens under the laws of any state), many people are de facto or effectively stateless persons (meaning they are not recognized as citizens by any state even if they have a claim to citizenship under the laws of one or more states). |
Any person who is recruited, harbored, provided, or obtained through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, forced labor, or commercial sex qualifies as a trafficking victim. For more information on State Department's activity to prevent trafficking in persons, please see www.state.gov/g/tip | |
See "Resettlement Agencies" | |
The database that tracks refugee resettlement cases from application through admission to the U.S. |
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