President Joe Biden announced a new program called Uniting for Ukraine, which will help expedite the process for immigrant visas and refugee processing for Ukrainians.
The program will enable Ukrainian refugees to come directly from Europe to the United States. It will work with the existing legal pathways available to Ukrainians to enter the country to streamline the process for Ukrainians who have a U.S sponsor, according to an April 21 Department of Homeland Security news release.
“This program will be fast. It will be streamlined. And it will ensure the United States honors its commitment to go to the Ukrainian people and need not go through our southern border,” Biden said April 21, according to the White House.
Ukrainians must have been residents in Ukraine as of Feb. 11 to be eligible and have a sponsor in the U.S. They must complete vaccinations and other public health requirements, as well as pass a biometric and biographic screening and security checks, according to the DHS release. As of April 25, U.S based individuals can apply to DHS to sponsor Ukrainian citizens who have been displaced.
The State Department plans to expand the U.S Refugee Admissions Program in Europe to give Ukrainians more access to refugee resettlement processing, the DHS release said. Part of these efforts includes working with European partners to identify vulnerable Ukrainian citizens, which are defined as “women and girls, children, older persons with special needs, members of ethnic and religious minority groups, LGBTQI+ persons, persons with disabilities, medically fragile individuals and stateless persons.”
