The Welcome Corps

The Afghan Hazara family, while registered by UNHCR as refugee seekers, realistically have had little chance of being able to emigrate and settle in a safe country. Despite the computer programming that Ali was doing for the team of university professors in the US, there was no prospect for them to come to America, until the announcement of the new Welcome Corps Program {https://welcome.us/}.

 The Biden Administration in early 2023 announced this new program that may offer an opportunity that we have been searching for- “The Welcome Corps”. Hopefully, it will continue and live up to its announced intent.

 Groups of five or more US citizens in a locality may sponsor vetted immigrants. The sponsoring group members must pass background checks prior to being approved to participate in the program.

 Initially, the program is limited to already vetted refugees identified by the State Dept. However, by the end of 2023, the program is expected to allow groups nominating specifically identified refugees to sponsor for immigration. All refugees will need to be vetted before being allowed to immigrate to the US.

 Welcome Corps Group are to be responsible for:

Airport Reception

Financial Support

Housing

Basic Necessities

Documentation

Benefits and Services

Health Services Sponsorship

 Language Translation

Cultural Connections

Orientation

Employment

Transportation

Transition from Sponsorship

Reporting/Feedback

Welcome Corps groups must also commit to and demonstrate the ability not only help the refugees to integrate into the local community and become self-sufficient within three months, but also to demonstrate the ability and to raise the necessary funds to cover the refugees during that period by raising in this case $12,000 by the time the proposed Welcome Corps group applies to sponsor the family of refugees and an estimated $30-35,000 prior to the family’s arrival in the US.

 This is likely to be a multi-month (if not multi-year) process, with bumps along the way. It is not certain to be successful. (For example, Afghans have little official identification to enable them to be easily vetted.) However, we are committed to doing what we can to get this family to safety in NH as soon as possible.

 The current status of the Welcome Corps efforts is at {Status of our efforts}.