45,000 U.S. citizens sign up to sponsor Ukrainian refugees

Private sponsorship program helps those displaced by violence and war in their home countries

The U.S. government is now allowing private sponsorship programs to help individuals fleeing war-torn countries to temporarily settle in the United States. In the past, refugees who were fleeing violence and war in their home countries had to apply to specific organizations funded by the U.S. government in order to seek refuge in the United States. Now, individuals and community groups are stepping forward through private sponsorship programs to help house and resettle refugees from Ukraine.

More than 45,000 U.S. citizens have submitted sponsorship applications in just over the past month to help resettle Ukrainian nationals who have fled the country due to the Russian invasion. Many of these applications were made possible under the Uniting for Ukraine program which was issued by the Biden administration in April 2022 as a way of streamlining the resettlement process for Ukrainians affected by the war in their home country. The Biden administration even hopes to create a private sponsorship pilot program by the end of 2022 which will be open to all refugees.

How many Ukrainians have arrived in the United States since the war broke out?

So far, just over 6,500 Ukrainian nationals have arrived in the U.S. under the Uniting for Ukraine program. In addition, 27,000 Ukrainians who are sponsored by the program are expected to arrive soon as they have just recently been authorized to travel to the United States. Coupled with the 22,000 Ukrainians who are admitted to the U.S. via the southern border, in the next 3 months, the United States will most welcome over half of the 100,000 refugees that the Biden administration has vowed to take in.

It should be noted that Ukrainians entering the United States under this program will only be given temporary humanitarian parole and not refugee status. Under humanitarian parole, foreign nationals are allowed to live and work in the United States for a period of 2 years.

How to apply for private sponsorship through the Uniting for Ukraine program

Unlike previous U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) programs, private sponsorship applications are filed electronically online and not through paper-based applications which can take months to process. To help further expedite the process, there are roughly 300 USCIS employees who have been trained and assigned to process these sponsorship cases. To sponsor a Ukrainian for temporary parole in the United States, the process is as follows:

1. Sponsorship applicants submit an application online. This application will help determine in the applicant has the necessary income and household to take in Ukrainian refugees.
2. The applicants will then undergo the necessary background checks.
3. If approved, the Ukrainian nationals whom the applicants hope to sponsor will then need to upload their biographical information including their vaccination history to the USCIS’s website.
4. The Ukrainian nationals will then undergo the necessary background checks. If approved, the Ukrainian nationals will then be authorized to travel to the United States.