Refugee Health Program

Refugees in RI

What is a refugee?

Refugees are a category of immigrants who arrive with legal resident status in the United States and as such are entitled to all of the rights and responsibilities of legal residents. The Department of Homeland Security determines refugee status before a person is eligible for resettlement in the United States.

Below are federal definitions of the terms “refugee”, “asylee”, “Cuban/Haitian entrant”, “Certain Amerasian”, and victims of “severe forms of trafficking”. The term “refugee” will be used to refer to all populations eligible for refugee services as defined below.

Refugee
Any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. [INA § 101(a)(42)(a); 8 USC § 1101(a)(42)(a)].

Asylee
An individual who has received permission to remain in the United States, under Section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), based on a “well founded fear of persecution” should the alien return to their native land. A prospective asylee applies for this permission from United States soil, unlike a refugee who applies from abroad. Asylees of all nationalities are eligible for Refugee Health Assessment Program services within 90 days of US entry. With the exception of certain Cuban and Haitian entrants, asylum applicants are not eligible for services.

Cuban/Haitian Entrant
(a) Any individual granted parole status as a Cuban/Haitian Entrant (Status Pending) or granted any other special status subsequently established under the immigration laws for nationals of Cuba or Haiti, regardless of the status of the individual at the time assistance or services are provided; and

(b) Any other national of Cuba or Haiti

(1) Who:

(i) Was paroled into the United States and has not acquired any other status under the Immigration and Nationality Act;
(ii) Is the subject of exclusion or deportation proceedings under the Immigration and Nationality Act; or
(iii) Has an application for asylum pending with the Immigration and Naturalization Service; and

(2) With respect to whom a final, nonappealable, and legally enforceable order of deportation or exclusion has not been entered.

This definition is contained in the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980, Pub. L No. 96-422.

Certain Amerasians
Persons from Vietnam who are admitted to the U.S. as immigrants pursuant to section 584 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1988, are also eligible to receive ORR assistance and services.

This definition is contained in section 101(e) of Public Law 100-202 and amended by the 9 th proviso under Migration and Refugee Assistance in Title II of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Acts, 1989 (Pub. L. No. 100-461 as amended).

Severe forms of trafficking in persons
(A) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or (B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

*ORR also assists individuals who have permanent resident status in the United States, provided that these individuals held one of the above mentioned statuses before becoming permanent residents (i.e. "green card" holders).