U.S. Resumes Refugee Program in Iraq
After nearly a year-long suspension of the State Department’s refugee resettlement program in Iraq, U.S. officials are returning to Baghdad to resume processing refugee applications. Interviews for the special U.S. refugee program in Iraq were temporarily suspended last June during a period of high political unrest. As of April 17th, U.S. officials have resumed interviewing refugee applicants.
Though Iraqi nationals could travel to neighboring countries during the suspension and interview for the refugee program in those countries, a backlog of over 57,000 applications flooded in during the one year suspension of interviews in Iraq. Even before the suspension, due to thorough security checks and overwhelming application numbers, many applicants waited years for their applications to be processed. Lawrence Bartlett, director of the refugee resettlement program, hopes to increase the size of staff in Baghdad in order to process applications more quickly.
The State Department’s refugee resettlement program was launched in 2007. Since then, over 130,000 Iraqi nationals have successfully relocated to the United States.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/iraqi-refugee-us-refugee-program-restarts-117318.html
USCIS Offers Relief Measures for Nepali Nationals
Following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal in April, USCIS has implemented several immigration relief measures for Nepali nationals affected by the earthquake. The following measures are available upon request for eligible Nepali nationals:
- Change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
- A grant of re-parole;
- Expedited processing of advance parole requests;
- Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
- Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate;
- Consideration for waivers of fees associated with USCIS benefit applications, based on an inability to pay; and
- Assistance replacing lost or damaged immigration or travel documents issued by USCIS, such as Permanent Resident Cards (green cards).
More information is available on the USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/immigration-relief-measures-nepali-nationals.
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