The Worldwide Priority System
The worldwide processing priority system sets guidelines for the orderly management and processing of refugee applications for admission within the established annual regional ceilings. The priority system has been revised several times during this decade to reflect trends in the world-wide refugee resettlement caseload and to make it more responsive to evolving needs.
The issues of whether a person meets the definition of a refugee under U.S. law and the priority that person may be assigned for consideration of his case are separate and distinct. Assignment of an individual to a particular processing priority does not reflect any judgment as to whether that individual ultimately will qualify for admission to the U.S. as a refugee, although it may reflect an assessment of the urgency of the need for resettlement. Just as qualifying for refugee status does not confer a right to resettlement in the United States, assignment to a particular priority does not entitle a person to admission to the United States as a refugee.
Since FY 1997, a member of any nationality may be referred to the U.S. program by the UNHCR or a U.S. embassy under Priority One. This reflects the fact that small numbers of many nationalities are found among the group of refugees that UNHCR determines to be in need of resettlement. The United States intends that its resettlement program should be flexible and available to any Priority One refugee regardless of nationality referred to it for consideration.
DESCRIPTION OF U.S. REFUGEE PROCESSING PRIORITIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000
PRIORITY ONE: UNHCR or U.S. embassy identified cases: persons facing compelling security concerns in countries of first asylum; persons in need of legal protection because of the danger of refoulement; those in danger due to threats of armed attack in an area where they are located; persons who have experienced recent persecution because of political, religious, or human rights activities (prisoners of conscience); women-at-risk; victims of torture or violence; physically or mentally disabled persons; persons in urgent need of medical treatment not available in the first asylum country; and persons for whom other durable solutions are not feasible and whose status in the place of asylum does not present a satisfactory long-term solution. As with all other priorities, Priority One referrals must still establish that they meet the statutory definition of refugee .
PRIORITY TWO: Groups of Special Concern:
Africa: Specific groups (within certain nationalities) as identified by the Department of State in consultation with NGOs, UNHCR, Immigration, and other area experts. Only those members of the specifically identified groups are eligible for processing. Each group will be selected based on its individual circumstances.
Bosnia: Former detainees who were held on account of ethnicity or political/religious opinion; persons of any ethnic background in mixed marriages; victims of torture or systematic and significant acts of violence against members of targeted ethnic groups by governmental authorities or quasi-governmental authorities in area under their control; surviving spouses of civilians who would have been eligible under these criteria if they had not died in detention or been killed as a result of torture or violence.
Burma: Certain members of ethnic minorities who have actively and persistently worked for political autonomy; certain political activists engaged in the pro-democracy movement.
Cuba: In-country, emphasis given to former political prisoners, members of persecuted religious minorities, human rights activists, forced-labor conscripts, persons deprived of their professional credentials or subjected to other disproportionately harsh or discriminatory treatment resulting from their perceived or actual political or religious beliefs or activities, dissidents, and other refugees of compelling concern to the United States.
Iran: members of Iranian religious minorities.
Former Soviet Union: In-country Jews, Evangelical Christians, and certain members of the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches. Preference among these groups is accorded to those with close family in the United States.
Vietnam: In-country, former reeducation camp detainees who spent more than three years in detention camps subsequent to April 1975 because of pre-1975 association with the U.S. Government or the former South Vietnamese government; certain former U.S. Government employees and other specified individuals or groups of concern; persons who returned from first-asylum camps in Southeast Asia on or after October 1, 1995, who qualify for consideration under the Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees (ROVR) criteria. In FY 2000, on a case-by-case basis, other individuals who have experienced recent persecution because of post-1975 political, religious, or human rights activities. Completion of the processing of any residual ODP cases registered and determined eligible for consideration prior to the beginning of FY 2000.
PRIORITY THREE: Spouses, unmarried sons and daughters, and parents of persons lawfully admitted to the United States as permanent resident aliens, refugees, asylees, conditional residents, and certain parolees; the over 21-year-old unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; and parents of U.S. citizens under 21 years of age. (Spouses and unmarried sons and daughters under 21 of U.S. citizens and the parents of U.S. citizens who are 21 and older are required by regulation to be admitted as immigrants rather than as refugees unless it is in the public interest.)
PRIORITY FOUR: Grandparents, grandchildren, married sons and daughters, and siblings of U.S. citizens and persons lawfully admitted to the United States as permanent resident aliens, refugees, asylees, conditional residents, and certain parolees. (Currently open only to Bosnians and without regard to ethnicity.)
