News Update - October 8, 2008
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
Fiscal Year 2009 Refugee Admission Numbers
The President of the United States, George W. Bush authorized the
admission of up to 80,000 refugees for fiscal year 2009. The distribution
of refugees admitted by region of origin will be as follows:
Africa – 12,000
East Asia – 19,000
Europe and Central Asia – 2,500
Latin America/Caribbean – 4,500
Near East/South Asia – 37,000
Unallocated Reserve (allocated by region as needed) – 5,000
The total is to be considered the maximum number of refugees admitted
and not a minimum to be achieved. Unused admissions in a particular
region may be transferred to another region should there be a need.
In addition, the president authorized persons from the following
regions, if otherwise qualified, to be considered refugees for the
purpose of admission to the United States.
a. Person in Vietnam
b. Persons in Cuba
c. Persons in the former Soviet Union
d. Persons in Iraq
e. In exceptional circumstances, persons identified by a United
States Embassy in any location
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