Last month, TBB and Fragomen co-hosted a roundtable event for stakeholders working in and supporting U.S. refugee labor mobility.

Participating organizations included Alight, HIAS, International Rescue Committee, Migration Policy Institute, the Niskanen Center, Open Society Foundations, Refugee Hub, RefugePoint, the Shapiro Foundation, and Social Finance. The discussion was held according to Chatham House rules, and the views in this summary should not be attributed to any individual or organization.

Globally, refugee labor mobility has provided relocation opportunities for 1,300 displaced people, expanding opportunities for refugees to migrate safely. Currently, roundtable participants are operating refugee labor mobility projects to match refugees with U.S. employers and support relocation through Uniting for Ukraine parole, the Welcome Corps private sponsorship, and employment-based visas.

Participants discussed five areas for collaboration: identifying refugee candidates, recruiting employers, post-arrival support for candidates, building sustainable pathways, and advocacy.

Key conclusions included that there are opportunities to:

• Build training for displaced candidates in countries of refuge, including sector-specific training provided by employers.

• Continue to develop common platforms and tools for job matching, to avoid fragmented systems and to support candidates to access employment opportunities across destination countries (including the United States) and participating partners.

• Develop partnerships with and identify funding for community-based and refugee-led organizations, to facilitate information about refugee labor mobility opportunities and to support displaced candidates in their current countries.

• Expand coordination and information-sharing about employer engagement and hiring needs among civil society participants that facilitate job matching.

• Support advocacy around occupational licensing, processing delays and uncertainty across timelines, reducing barriers for displaced applicants in visa applications. 

To this end, we discussed the value of an ongoing platform for engagement on U.S. refugee labor mobility. Participating organizations will soon announce the launch of the U.S. Refugee Labor Mobility Roundtable, which will also open to additional participants.