Today, we’re proud to release our latest report: Refugee Labor Mobility in the United States: Obstacles and Opportunities.

This report outlines the potential for refugees to relocate to the United States via employment-based visas. The report builds on our expertise navigating barriers to refugee labor mobility in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Video: Skilled refugees could help fill worker shortages in the United States.

Millions of refugees globally have critical skills, education, and experience, but are not allowed to work in the countries where they currently live. Connecting refugees with U.S. employment-based visas based on their skills can complement asylum and refugee resettlement, address U.S. labor shortages, and benefit employers and communities in the United States. 

H-1B, EB-3, and O-1 visas are pathways that can allow refugees to access employment-based relocation opportunities (other pathways, like parole or refugee resettlement with safeguards to ensure that admissions are additional to vulnerability-based admissions, are not addressed in this report). This report recommends key steps for U.S. government agencies to take to address obstacles that refugees face in accessing employment-based visas.

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State (DOS) should issue guidance and train adjudicators to use the flexibility that U.S. immigration law already provides. This should include waiving passport requirements in some situations and accepting alternative evidence of civil documents and employment documentation in visa petitions.

• USCIS and DOS should also issue its guidance publicly, advancing transparency and advancing awareness of refugee labor mobility opportunities.

• USCIS and DOS should establish a central point person to coordinate on employment-based visa petitions and applications for refugees.

• DOS should revise its guidance on passport waivers to provide accurate information about statelessness and to expand passport exemptions beyond nationals of Communist countries.

• DOS should amend regulations to allow visa applicants to attend visa interviews at government facilities, connecting consular officials at inaccessible consular locations via video teleconferencing. This would not alter existing biometric requirements.

• USCIS and DOS should address challenges common across the U.S. immigration system, including long processing times and interview backlogs.

You can read the full report here.