# Introduction
Each year, the United States of America resettles at the most 70,000 refugees from around the world. This number is allocated to different regions of the world. There is a well-established refugee resettlement program based on the Refugee Act of 1980. Each year, the president determines the number to be resettled and the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and Department of Health and Human Services implement the program in collaboration and cooperation with various resettlement NGOs and community organizations. More details available at http://www.state.gov/g/prm
The Basic Elements of the U.S. Resettlement Program
Selection for Resettlement.
Refugees in their current camps will be intensively interviewed by the State and Department of Homeland Security and selected for resettlement. The selection program involves systems to check whether the interviewees meet the requirements for resettlement. If you have ever assisted terrorists, been a terrorist, and sympathize terrorists groups, you will be disqualified for resettlement.
Traveling from the camps to the US.
Selected refugees will be provided with orientation by the NGO (s) called Voluntary Agencies or VOLAGS, who will be responsible for transporting them to the United States in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration. The air-fare will be loaned to refugees, who are expected to pay it back in the future in reasonable installments.
Arrival in US/Immediate Assistance.
When the refugees arrive at the US airports, they will be received by the VOLAGS representatives. They will be provided with essential services like housing, clothing, food, medical and social services for the first 30 days. Orientation to shopping, transportation, etc is provided.
Then this program will connect refugees to the long-term resettlement agencies funded by the US Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Long Term Resettlement.
Ongoing benefits provided include:
· Transitional cash assistance, up to eight months after arrival,
amount depends on family size and state of residence
· Health benefits, state Medicaid for eight months and s any US
citizens thereafter
· Matching Grant Programs: Agency will match the money you
save.
*Social services:
§ Employment services such as skills training, job development, orientation to the workplace and job counseling. The agencies will train the refugees and find jobs for them as soon as possible.
§ English language training is a basic service offered to all refugees.
§ Other services targeted at community and family strengthening, cultural orientation, ethnic community development, family counseling, and social adjustment.
*Social services are available for the first five years after arrival, although the program of services is structured to promote employment and self-sufficiency much earlier than five years. Services are also provided following job placement to ensure continued employment, and to enhance opportunities for advancement. There are continuing services beyond five years on a limited basis for those refugees who are identified as difficult to employ.
The refugee program offers citizenship classes to assist refugees who wish to study for the citizenship test.
Unaccompanied refugee minors (meaning children without parents) are placed in special foster care programs in certain States, and are provided the regular foster care services of that State, as well as supplemental services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. As the children near adulthood, they are assisted in the transition to independent living and with career choices.
A special services program provides a comprehensive program of support for victims of torture, including treatment and rehabilitation, social and legal services.
Education.
Refugees on entry are eligible for education assistance as any other American citizen. Government grants, government sponsored loans, university scholarships, and various external scholarships are available. Lack of money will never stop an able refugee from acquiring a decent education. Educational loans are provided at a very low interest, which is deferred by the government as long as you attend school full time and six months after you graduate. It needs to be paid back in small installments. Payment is deferred if you go back to school for a new degree, or if you are unemployed.
Work.
New arrivals without professional skills work as cashiers, sales person, taxi drivers, baby-sitters, security personnel, managers, construction workers, etc. Eventually, most go to schools and get trainings, and transition into managers, non-profits workers, health workers, beauticians etc.
Work hours may be long at times, depending on the type of work. In the beginning, odd hours, odd shifts are common. With experience, there is more choice about the hours and type of work.
Note: Land ownership and farming is very differently organized in the US. There is no subsistence farming. Huge tracts of land are organized for commercial farming. The land you own may, at best, be the land your house will stand on, unless you invest on commercial farming. People who want to be agricultural workers will have enough opportunity, working for organized mechanized farm owners. Apple orchards, vineyards, plantations abound in the interior farmlands.
Social and Community Life.
Social and community life needs to be organized around one’s work schedule. All communities from different parts of the world have their own organizations and associations which organize conventions, get-togethers, festivals. Nepalese in the US have many organizations. Even though small in number, Bhutanese in the US have been organizing small get-togethers in their own cities each year. The Association of Bhutanese in America (ABA) is expected to make such gatherings more robust and bigger. There are Hindu and Buddhists temples in most places, mostly run by Indian priests and Tibetans. Nepali restaurants are relatively common.
Food and Housing.
All kind of food is available. Vegetable and spices and meat are sold by Indians everywhere. Indian grocery stores are available in most places, especially where the Bhutanese refugees could be potentially resettled.
About 25% of Bhutanese in the US own their house. The rest rent apartments. Rent is paid monthly, with six months to two years leases. Apartments have heat (in the winter), air conditioning (in the summer), and electricity. It takes about a week or two to get a phone line in the house after you request one. If you accumulate a small amount of money, you can buy a house. You don't have to have all the money for the price of the house. You make a small down-payment and pay the rest in monthly installments.
The Future.
Legal Permanent Residence (LPR): Refugees can apply for LPR, also known as Green Card one year after arrival. A Green Card is issued after about a year after application. Green Card holders have all rights except to vote and stand for elections. They can get travel papers and travel to other countries.
Citizenship: Four years after receiving their Green Card, refugees can apply for American citizenship, which will be granted in about six months after application. Classes for a very basic citizenship test are provided free of cost. Provided a LPR does not commit any serious crimes, there is nothing that bars him/her from citizenship.
Why does the United State offers to resettle Bhutanese refugees?
The United States is not resettling Bhutanese refugees because it wants to bring in divisions among them. The US has nothing to gain by it. The United States has had a tradition and a national policy of resettling refugees for a long time, since WW II. Most Americans’ ancestors came to this country as refugees. They established a free state here. However maligned American image is around the world, its humanitarian policy has been exemplary.
It is not the first time the United States is offering to resettle refugees. The following numbers of refugees have been resettled in the United States in the last few years:
2001: 87,104
2002: 45,793
2003: 39,201
2004: 73,851
(Source: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/data/index.htm)
Contrary to rumors, refugees will be flown to the US, not shipped. For confirmation, check with the UNHCR.
Contrary to rumors, refugees will be resettled in places where they have their own community, and where there are resettlement agencies to provide services. They will not be resettled in uninhabitable places. Once resettled, they are free to move to any parts of the United States.
Contrary to rumors, refugees are not required to join the US army. Some immigrants love to join the US army. If an immigrant joins the army though, the path to citizenship is expedited.
Conclusion.
The US offer is an honest humanitarian effort to solve a protracted issue. The international community has perhaps decided that repatriation is not possible, and may not lead to a stable solution to the problem. There are millions of refugees around the world, waiting in camps for more than thirty years sometimes, to avail of such an offer. The Bhutanese, being a peaceful lot, have attracted US attention.
More information available at the following websites:
US State Department, Population, Refugee and Migration Bureau at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/
US Office of Refugee Resettlement at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/refrp.htm
Links to Resettlement Agencies available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/partners/volunteer.htm
Posted by: Ashok Gurung
Executive member
Refugee Rights Coordination Committee (RRCC)
E-mail: info@rrccbhutan.org/asokgurung@gmail.com
