TBB is proud to announce the launch of AfghanTalent.US—a platform to capture the skill profiles of Afghan evacuees, in an effort to facilitate their employment in the United States.

We’re piloting this program with the Biden Administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, Upwardly Global, Welcome.US, Amplio Recruiting, Coursera, Jobs for Humanity, and other US partners.

Nearly 100,000 Afghans have been evacuated by the United States since August 2021. This includes thousands of highly skilled professionals and workers looking for a chance to rebuild their lives and careers. They need and deserve that opportunity. Meanwhile, thousands of American businesses stand to benefit from tapping into this new talent pool.

We’ve started working with Afghan evacuees based at Fort Lee, assisting them to register their skills, experience and qualifications on the Afghan Talent platform, and we’re currently seeking partner organizations interested in accessing these Afghan Talent profiles to facilitate job placements for this group of talented newcomers.

Our US. Mobilization Director, Edafe Okporo—a member of the Council of Welcome.US—is reaching out to organizations that specialize in job-matching.

In 2016, Talent Beyond Boundaries launched its Talent Catalog in Jordan and Lebanon, creating the world’s first in-depth database of refugee skills and talents. This concrete proof of the breadth and depth of talent within refugee communities has led the governments of Australia, Canada and the UK to take concrete steps to open skilled labor migration opportunities to refugees.

The Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact on Migration have explicitly called on nations to open up labour mobility pathways to forcibly displaced people.

TBB is now working to open skilled migration opportunities in the US for refugees. As a first step, we’re sharing our technology and expertise through the Afghan Talent initiative to help employers recognize the skills and talents of Afghan evacuees.

Members of the refugee community—with whom we have worked closely over the last five years in the Middle East—have told us how important it is to them to be valued for their talents and abilities, rather than being seen only through a lens of vulnerability and treated as dependent. For example, Suliman, a Syrian lawyer, and refugee in Lebanon, told us: “I am a refugee—like everyone around me. [But] if you go on a work visa, it tells you, ‘You’re a doctor; You’re a teacher. You have value. Your skills are needed.’”

Support this initiative

• Encourage Afghan evacuees in the US (including on US bases) to register on the Afghan Talent platform.

• If you are based in the US and wish to discuss opportunities to partner on this project, you can contact our US. Mobilization Director, Edafe Okporo.

• If you are an employer and would like to explore the possibility of employing refugees within the United States, complete our Request To Hire form.