In today’s highly interconnected world, government entities, advocacy groups and employers are placing an increasing emphasis on labor mobility, recognizing it as a vital response to talent gaps across the globe. Last month, Talent Beyond Boundaries and Fragomen held the Global Refugee Labor Mobility Summit in Amman, Jordan, to further this discussion and explore ways to dramatically expand employment pathways for refugees. Following this summit, TBB held a webinar to reflect on learnings from Jordan and to consider how the United States can benefit enormously from refugee labor mobility. 

At this webinar — which was held on April 3, 2023 — experts and key stakeholders from a variety of industries spoke about the challenges the U.S. faces in hiring and retaining skilled workers and the personal impact of refugee labor mobility on employers and the refugees that they hire. Moderated by Marina Brizar, TBB’s UK & Europe Director, the webinar considered the numerous strengths of labor mobility and its necessity to the economic growth of the United States.

The Case for Refugee Labor Mobility

One of the key takeaways was the fact that refugees come up against unique barriers in the U.S. that pose challenges in accessing international work opportunities. Betsy Fisher, Director of TBB’s U.S. program, considered how current employment-based visa pathways can be burdensome for refugees to access due to factors like documentation requirements and licensing restrictions. 

“Removing obstacles for refugees to access employment-based opportunities aligns with many stated policy positions of the Biden administration,” Fisher said. “Our role is to put forth opportunities and we certainly hope to see movement in addressing some of these obstacles that refugees face in accessing opportunities to relocate based on skills.”

Miro Marinovich, Regional Director of North America Programs at HIAS, believes that labor mobility not only supports refugee communities, but also labor-constrained businesses. 

“Having skilled refugees coming to the United States, contributing to the economic and social development of the country they are coming to… is certainly a huge benefit for everyone,” Marinovich said. 

Amy Fallon, a partner at Fragomen, shared a similar sentiment, stating that “there is a shortage in tech, healthcare, academia, engineering, and hospitality. Our clients are desperate for foreign talent.”

According to a report by Envoy Global, 71 percent of American employers are considering relocating workers currently in the United States because of immigration restrictions. 

“It’s win-win-win,” Fallon said to participants at the webinar. “The economy wins by bringing foreign talent, the employers are going to win because they’re desperate for talent and the candidates will win because once you get here, you don’t have to worry about having to go to another country and your family doesn’t have to worry about being separated from you.”

The Personal Impact of Refugee Labor Mobility

Another key discussion at the webinar was how adopting labor mobility pathways and hiring refugees personally enriches the lives of employers and their teams. Tom Kaneb, Chairman of SigmaPoint Technologies, and Hamzah, a refugee hired by SigmaPoint as a Process Engineer, shared their story of how they connected through TBB.

Canada, where SigmaPoint operates, faces an acute shortage of labor in a number of industries. For SigmaPoint, hiring skilled engineers was challenging at times. 

“We weren’t hiring refugees, we were hiring talented people,” Kaneb says. “We’re not graduating enough engineers to fill the vacuum [in Canada].”

To address these challenges, SigmaPoint interviewed displaced candidates with support from TBB. Hamzah — who was a refugee living in Jordan at the time — had been searching for an opportunity to put his engineering skills to work, but his status as a refugee limited his options. Connecting with Kaneb allowed Hamzah to bring his career back on track.

“Compared with a normal hiring process, hiring with TBB is actually very similar,” Kaneb shared. “We approached it the same way we would approach hiring anyone: TBB sent us a number of resumes to look at and we chose three people we wanted to interview.”

For Hamzah, the chance to interview with SigmaPoint changed everything. Despite limited work opportunities, his past experience and knowledge as an engineer impressed recruiters. Shortly thereafter Hamzah received a job offer, and SigmaPoint worked with TBB and Fragomen to get Hamzah to Canada. While the process took over a year, he moved to Canada in May 2022. 

“I can’t forget the support from SigmaPoint,” Hamzah said. “They helped me with accommodation until I found a permanent apartment to move to and the team was very helpful with my training.”

Overall, the webinar was an insightful discussion on the challenges and opportunities for refugees and employers in the U.S. labor market. By recognizing the unique skills and experiences that refugees bring, and by working collaboratively to create policies and programs that support their integration and success, there is ample opportunity to both create a stronger workforce that benefits everyone and help displaced people rebuild their lives.