The US Government has announced a new initiative to allow groups of private citizens to sponsor refugees from around the world to live in America,

Called the ‘Welcome Corps’, the program has been hailed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as “the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades.”

Antony Blinken

Under the program, groups of at least five individuals can apply to sponsor refugees and help them acclimate to life in the US, with the help of a consortium of non-profit resettlement organisations.

The sponsor groups must raise a minimum of $US2,275 per refugee, but they will not be required to provide ongoing financial support to the refugees they sponsor.

That initial amount goes to provide the initial support for the refugees during their first three months in the country.

Similar schemes already exist in Australia and Canada.

In Australia, the Community Support Program (CSP) allows an individual, business or community organisation to support a refugee start a new life in Australia.

CSP applicants are matched with someone in need who are supported through a job offer, the provision of skills necessary for someone in need to work, or through financial support to fund visas and other costs.

The Department of State described the Welcome Corps as “a new private sponsorship program that empowers everyday Americans to play a leading role in welcoming refugees arriving through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and supporting their resettlement and integration as they build new lives in the United States”.

“Over the past year, the American people have extended an extraordinarily welcoming hand to our Afghan allies, Ukrainians displaced by war, and Venezuelans and others fleeing violence and oppression,” a State Department statement said.

“The Welcome Corps will build on Americans’ generosity of spirit by creating a durable program for Americans in communities across the country to privately sponsor refugees from around the world.” It said.

“Since the formal inception of the USRAP in 1980, the Department of State has partnered primarily with non-profit resettlement agencies to provide initial resettlement assistance to newly arriving refugees.

“The Welcome Corps creates new opportunities for everyday Americans to engage directly in refugee resettlement through private sponsorship, independent of and complementary to existing avenues for volunteering with resettlement agencies.

“By tapping into the goodwill of American communities, the Welcome Corps will expand our country’s capacity to provide a warm welcome to higher numbers of refugees. The launch of the Welcome Corps fulfils the US Government’s commitment to develop a private sponsorship program for resettling refugees in the United States, as directed by President Biden through Executive Order 14301 on “Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees” in February 2021.

“The establishment of the Welcome Corps is also an aspect of the US Government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen, modernise, and expand the USRAP. The Welcome Corps incorporates lessons learned from other emergency initiatives launched over the past year, including the Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans and sponsorship-based parole programs overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, including Uniting for Ukraine,” the statement said.

The Welcome Corps will be rolled out in two phases to identify, evaluate, and scale-up the most successful elements of private sponsorship as an innovative, community-led model of resettlement, with the goal of cementing the Welcome Corps as a central feature of the US’ refugee resettlement system.