Ukraine war refugees face visa nightmare that blocks their path to the US

Ukraine refugees waiting for identification documents outside the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, on March 21, 2022. PHOTO: NYTIMES
Ukrainian evacuees at the train station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, on March 21, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - US citizens hoping to bring their Ukrainian parents, children or employees to America are finding that threats from bombs and bullets count little in the complex US immigration system.

Visas routinely given to students on holiday are not available to Ukrainians who do not know when they can go home, or if their home will even be there. United States consulates in the country are closed, and those in neighbouring countries are so jammed that the State Department said displaced people should head to Frankfurt, Germany, to apply for longshot visas or finish applications already in progress.

While US refugee laws cover those persecuted over their ethnic, sexual or religious identities, they lack a mechanism to quickly and efficiently take in civilians displaced by invasion, immigration attorneys said. The Biden administration has granted Temporary Protected Status to about 70,000 Ukrainians already in the US, but that does nothing for those seeking to get here.

"There is not a visa that says when war breaks out in your country, you can turn to the United States," Indiana immigration attorney John Broyles said. "We have this menu of visas available, and you have to try to figure out the one that best fits."

As US President Joe Biden pours millions of dollars into Poland, Moldova and other European countries to deal with the crushing influx, advocates are pressuring him to take emergency action to let them come to the US. Some recalled that the US helped Jews and Christians flee Ukraine and other parts of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

"In 1999, the Clinton-Gore administration shared responsibility with Europe by overcoming all bureaucratic obstacles to quickly welcome 20,000 Kosovars who fled to Macedonia, proving that when the White House has the will to urgently resettle refugees, it can find a way," said the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations in a letter to Mr Biden last week, first published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Those with close family in America should be able to wait with their loved ones in the United States until it is safe to return to Ukraine."

Cumbersome system

Immigration attorneys said that while they agree with the sentiment, that is easier said than done for many reasons.

The US system is cumbersome and layered, with the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Immigration Services each having roles in the process from application to arrival on US soil.

Mr Biden inherited an immigration system with steep staff shortages and backlogs of up to a year for some visa approvals. Former president Donald Trump cut the number of refugees allowed each year to 15,000, the smallest number in history, although Mr Biden has increased that figure to 125,000.

Also, advocates and attorneys said, one tool for letting refugees into the US conditionally - the so-called "parole" system - has been limited by Congress and sparked a lawsuit in January by states including Texas after the Biden administration applied it to some child migrants from Central America.

"There is not enough flexibility that exists in our statutes. Congress restricts the use of the parole authority and requires case by case assessment," said Professor Lenni Benson, Distinguished Chair of Immigration and Human Rights Law at New York Law School.

Remote video URL

Not like Afghanistan

The US acted swiftly to evacuate more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan in a matter of weeks after ending its military presence there. But there are key differences between that situation and Ukraine's.

Many of those evacuated from Afghanistan had worked with American soldiers and international aid officials for many years, and had already started the approval process for them and their families.

Those brought to the US included judges, women's rights leaders and others who faced extreme danger as the Taliban assumed control of the country, making them eligible for protected status under immigration laws.

None of those protections apply to Ukrainians who managed to escape a war zone or those still stuck in one, said immigration attorney Ellen Freeman in Pittsburgh. She came to the US from Ukraine in the 1990s under a law passed by Congress to help persecuted Jews and Christians escape the Soviet Union.

"Many of the people from Afghanistan were granted parole in place of asylum or refugee status, which would take many years to approve," she said. "They have no place to return to, because they wouldn't just be persecuted, they would be executed.

"In Ukraine, there is war and horrible conditions, but the people are not persecuted," she added. "Unless you are the mayor of Mariupol who is kidnapped by Russians. I'm sure he's being persecuted."

Special parole status

Congress could create a special parole status for Ukrainian refugees that would allow them in the US while their cases are processed, and the Biden administration could allow Ukrainians to live with immediate relatives here, either through executive order or expanding existing rules, attorneys said.

So far, the US government has given no indication that it is ready to take such steps. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last Thursday (March 17) that the administration believes most of the immigrants do not want to come to the US, preferring to remain close to their homes.

She said the US is doing all it can to support Eastern European countries "who have set up really remarkable systems for welcoming these refugees at a really challenging and difficult time".

"That's why we have been providing our humanitarian assistance to these countries and to Ukraine directly, in order to help augment the support in - in the best way possible," said Ms Psaki.

Asked repeatedly by e-mails over several days about the possibility of allowing parole or other measures for Ukrainians to come to the US, spokesmen for the State Department, Homeland Security and Customs repeatedly deferred to one another, saying others would be better equipped to answer.

Immigration lawyers said they are trying to find creative solutions within existing law as they field desperate calls from families and employers. These include visas for students and education, work, management and investors, Prof Benson said.

"There are no simple solutions, certainly not with the tools we have now; refugees can't just go to the consulate in Poland and say I want to go to the US as a refugee," said Connecticut immigration attorney Aleksandr Troyb.

He said he has been working with an American trying to get his Ukrainian bride to join him. The couple was in Ukraine last month, but had not completed the visa application process before war broke out.

"This is a real-life example of someone doing everything by the book, and all of a sudden the book has changed," said the attorney.

Indiana attorney Broyles managed to get a Ukrainian employee of a US non-profit organisation to Texas on Thursday - but only because the 24-year-old worker had a pending application in the system. He was able to get the woman a hearing in Riga, Latvia, which granted approval for the worker to emigrate.

If the worker had not already applied, he said, none of the many humanitarian options the employer wanted would have been available.

"What does the US, as a society, want to do? Are we willing to turn a blind eye and say let Poland and the EU handle this?" said attorney Troyb. "If we do want to help, then the administration and Congress can do something. Talking about doing something and making the changes needed to do something are two different things."

Remote video URL

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.