After a piloting private refugee sponsorship program involving refugees from Afghans and Ukrainians, the US administration now expands the program to include refugees in all countries. This is a major change in immigration policy in the past few decades.

The US government named this program Welcome Corps. In a joint statement today, more than 200 organizations voiced their support for the Welcome Corps program. These organizations will be able to participate in the program to help sponsor and guide those who want to sponsor.

VOICE is one of the above. There are also large organizations with extensive experience in helping refugees, such as Community Sponsorship Hub, Welcome.US., Church World Service, and International Refugee Assistance Project.

Originated from the efforts of overseas Vietnamese people since the late 1990s, VOICE has been working hard to advocate for and resettle refugees in camps in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This effort is still ongoing as many Vietnamese have to leave their homeland in search of freedom. Fortunately, the United States has once again opened its doors to accept refugees through this private sponsorship program.

Similar to the Canadian government’s program, the US private sponsorship program also requires each refugee family to have 5 individuals apply for sponsorship, along with background checks and some other conditions. However, at this moment, the sponsor will only be able to sponsor refugees who have been accepted to settle in the US.

VOICE will inform the public in the near future about all the conditions to be able to sponsor refugees. We will also apply to sponsor to gain practical experience so that we can support those who want guidance.

You can visit https://welcomecorps.org for more details of the program.