American law defines the term 'refugee' as follows: a person forced to flee his or her country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Lautenberg Amendment, under which Jews and Evangelical Christians living in the USSR are a priori recognized as potential objects of persecution. This assumption somewhat simplified the process for these categories to obtain refugee status in the United States. (However, only a Jew or Evangelical Christian from the former USSR who has direct relatives in the United States – children, parents, brother or sister – is eligible for status.)
American law also sets a maximum number of refugees per year who may enter the United States from countries around the world. Currently, this maximum is 80,000 people, of which 37,000 are allotted to people from Europe, including CIS countries.
Previously, American relatives of potential refugees from the former Soviet Union themselves sent a certificate of family relationship to the Washington center. Now there is concern that the innovation will cause considerable confusion and lead to an increase in the processing time for obtaining status.
In this regard, the Hebrew Immigration Assistance Service (HIAS), together with other American Jewish organizations, has begun widespread notification of all interested parties about the new procedure. HIAS will also check the submitted documents.
Refugees from other countries have long been processing documents exactly as those from the former USSR are now required to do. The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration in the U.S. State Department told HIAS that the current change in procedure is necessary, first, to standardize the process, and second, to prevent fraud and forgeries.
However, refugee status applicants from the former USSR were previously granted another indulgence. Their refugee status had an exceptional characteristic compared to refugees from other countries: it had no expiration date, so to speak. That is, those who received this status remained its holders for an indefinitely long time. As a result, 12,000 'status holders' lived in the former USSR, living and not going to America.
And then last year, the U.S. government announced that the refugee status of people from the former USSR loses its special character – it now has an expiration date, and that period is 12 months. But what about those who received the old, indefinite status? Their year expired long ago.
It turned out that some of them have already lost their status, while others have not yet. What is the difference between these people? On what basis was the decision made? With these and other questions, the leader of the Jewish community of Ukraine, Iosif ZISELS, turned to the executive vice president of HIAS, Leonard GLICKMAN. And he received a detailed explanation.
'The U.S. government,' Mr. Glickman noted, 'has repeatedly pointed out to us, local Jewish organizations, that the refugee program for citizens of the former USSR is practically the only one in the world that grants status without time limits. And last year, the government firmly informed the community: it is ready to support the very existence of the program, but on the condition of introducing time limits on status.'
American Jewish organizations responded that before introducing time limits, it is necessary to ascertain the circumstances of people who have not yet used their status. What if they have valid reasons, and we simply deprive them of status that gives them some guarantee of protection? If the status holder can prove that such reasons exist, we told our government, it would be advisable to grant a deferral – to retain the status for some more time.
In addition, we received a promise from the government to definitely notify everyone – one year in advance, in writing – of the expiration of their status. It was also important to us that the American relative of the status holder receive exactly the same notice. For us, this was a guarantee that the content of the letter was definitely brought to the attention of the status holder. We also received another promise from our government: 90 days before the status holder's case is to be closed (i.e., before the revocation of status), he must receive another written notification.
Thus we negotiated the possibility of extending status. Under certain circumstances. These include:
– having elderly relatives for whom no one else can care besides the status holder;
– serious illness of the status holder preventing him from traveling;
– unforeseen bureaucratic circumstances.
HIAS hopes that in such cases it will be able to help extend status.
Nevertheless, recently 6,000 cases have already been closed. That is roughly half of those who received status but did not use it. Perhaps someone died, someone moved to another country... Although there are few such: only 5% of letters returned marked 'gone.' But 50% of addressees simply did not respond to the warning letter. And this despite the fact that a timely response was one of the requirements set out in the letter. People remained silent – even though telegrams were sent, they were called, written to. Silence became the main reason for closing their cases. And now, having lost their status, they are dismayed. However, there is no mechanism for reopening a closed case. It is closed forever.
Therefore, if a family cannot leave for some serious reasons, they must request an extension of status immediately upon receiving the first warning letter, and not 90 days before the case is closed, when the notification letter arrives. It is impossible to obtain an extension in 3 months.
All this applied to those who received refugee status before January 1, 2000. Their status was still indefinite.
Those who had interviews at the U.S. embassy after January 1, 2000, received a strict status – for 12 months, during which they must enter the U.S. If they want an extension, they must present the most serious reasons for it. There is no list of such reasons. Everything is decided individually. One such reason could be a serious illness. But it must be kept in mind that in many cases, very elderly paralyzed people managed the flight – they were transported on stretchers...
This should also be known by those who are still planning to apply for refugee status. After all, preparing for departure for permanent residence is not a simple matter, and it is extremely difficult to accomplish it within 12 months. One must prepare before submitting documents, but this must be done cautiously: there is no 100% guarantee that every Jew or evangelical Christian with direct relatives in the U.S. will obtain refugee status. Some are not accepted into the program at all – they are not even invited for an interview. This happens when, in the opinion of the immigration officer, the case does not fall under any category provided for by refugee legislation. Among Jews in the first half of 2000, this was 1.6%, and in the second half - 2.3%.
Of those who were accepted into the program, not all could prove persecution. They were given "parole" status. In the first half of last year, 13.4% of Jews received "parole", and in the second half – 21.2%. Accordingly, 85% and 76.5% received refugee status. Among non-Jews, 12% were not accepted into the program, 22.7% received "parole", and 65% received refugee status.
During the same conversation, Iosif Zisels lamented that there is no HIAS office in Ukraine, and therefore there is nowhere to get information or consult on one's case. There is no such office in Moscow either. That is, there actually is one in Moscow, but apparently, not wanting to be besieged by meticulous clients, it remains in deep hiding, sheltering under the roof of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).