Bipartisan Group of 65 Lawmakers Urge Administration to Cut Red Tape for Ukrainians Seeking Refuge

April 7, 2022

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) led a bipartisan effort, joined by Ukraine Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Andy Harris (R-MD), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), and Mike Quigley (D-IL), along with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), to improve the burdensome bureaucratic immigration processing hurdles too many families are facing. Signed by 65 lawmakers, the letter proposes a set of simple actions—strengthening the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, increasing the availability of doctors for immigration medical checks, speeding inter-agency communication, waiving application fees—that the Administration can and should do today.

The members write: “In facing this humanitarian crisis and the devastating effects of this war, we must use every tool in our toolkit to ensure our country responds by efficiently processing eligible immigration and refugee applications, knowing that each one represents someone fleeing devastation, whose life and future may depend on how rapidly paperwork is processed.”

“Too many Ukrainians—still shocked by their losses and with minimal resources—are entangled in bureaucratic delays that impair their ability to be united with loved ones in America, as we are seeing time and again from our Ukrainian American constituents’ families,” said Rep. Doggett. “Our bipartisan appeal is about easing their burdens through reasonable actions that the Administration should undertake promptly. This would prevent some from being stranded for weeks in a foreign land and allow others already here to work and go to school. This action would give more meaning to President Biden’s commitment to admit 100,000 Ukrainians seeking refuge.”

Full letter below and here:

Dear President Biden,

As you are aware, Vladimir Putin’s violent, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has displaced more than ten million civilians and forced four million Ukrainians to take refuge outside their homeland—often heading to neighboring countries or countries where they have family, including the United States. In facing this humanitarian crisis and the devastating effects of this war, we must use every tool in our toolkit to ensure our country responds by efficiently processing eligible immigration and refugee applications, knowing that each one represents someone fleeing devastation, whose life and future may depend on how rapidly paperwork is processed.

We appreciate the decision on March 3, 2022 to announce Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ukrainian nationals physically present in the United States as of March 1, 2022, so that no Ukrainian needs to return immediately to a country under siege while Russia advances a military campaign that indiscriminately attacks civilians and military targets alike. As the conflict continues, we urge you to modify the physical presence eligibility date for TPS from March 1st to the publication date of the forthcoming Federal Register notice, thereby making any Ukrainian in the United States on that date eligible for Temporary Protected Status. This technical update could provide significant relief for Ukrainians who recently entered, as they cannot—and should not—return to a war zone right now. It will also allow these Ukrainians to work and attend school, contribute economically to the United States and support themselves, while they await the end of this war.

We alsowelcome the Administration’s announcement that the United States will accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing harm through “the full range of legal pathways,” including the refugee admissions and regular immigration processes, as well as through humanitarian parole. In concert with this announcement, we also recommend you utilize existing administrative options to improve efficient processing for Ukrainians outside of the United States who already qualify for immigration benefits.

We encourage the Administration to further provide additional resources to U.S. embassy personnel across Europe who are processing immigrant visa applications for eligible Ukrainians, including immediate family members of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. We have been alerted to the need for more coordination between the National Visa Center (NVC) and Department of State (specifically U.S. Embassies). For example, we have learned of constituents missing a scheduled green card interview because their application fee had been taken out of the bank by NVC but not properly processed before the case got transferred to the U.S. Embassy, thus preventing them from completing required documentation in time for the appointment.

Applicants have also faced challenges getting an appointment with an approved panel physician to conduct a medical exam. As you know, a medical exam by a panel physician is required to be issued an immigrant visa for a foreign national to travel to the United States. We urge you to expeditiously coordinate the Department of State and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to solicit and approve more applications to become panel physicians in Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, and other countries to which Ukrainians are fleeing in large numbers.

For families fleeing conflict areas like Ukraine, high fees can be a heavy or even insurmountable financial and bureaucratic burden. We urge you to exempt Ukrainians from fees for immigrant visa petitions and associated filings. The cost to file an I-130 petition for a family-based visa is $535 per beneficiary. The petitioner must then pay a $325 immigrant visa application fee for the National Visa Center to move forward with processing the applications. If the petitioner files from within the United States, they must also pay a $120 Affidavit of Support fee. Each applicant must undergo the aforementioned medical exam, which they must pay for themselves. Finally, if granted a visa, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services charges incoming immigrants an additional $220 to process the immigrant visa packet and produce the applicant’s Permanent Resident Card. Petitioners are already hitting roadblocks with unforeseen costs or delays to paperwork processing due to technical issues surrounding visa payments. All of this amounts to thousands of dollars in fees levied on those who just fled a country, often with little more than the clothes on their back; living in limbo is expensive, from the cost of temporary housing to that of food and travel costs in or out neighboring countries. Exempting Ukrainians from some, if not all, filing fees would allow many desperate people who fled Ukraine with little to come to America.

We look forward to working with the Administration to both ensure we bolster processing and review capacities for Ukrainians fleeing Putin’s terror, and to continue advancing our progress on reforming our asylum and refugee programs. We appreciate your response as soon as possible regarding implementation of our recommendations.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Doggett

Andy Harris

Marcy Kaptur

Zoe Lofgren

Jerrold Nadler

David N. Cicilline

Brian K. Fitzpatrick

Earl Blumenauer

Jamaal Bowman

Brendan Boyle

Sean Casten

Steve Cohen

Gerry Connolly

Joe Courtney

Madeleine Dean

Peter DeFazio

Diana DeGette

Antonio Delgado

Mark DeSaulnier

Debbie Dingell

Dwight Evans

Bill Foster

John Garamendi

Jimmy Gomez

Jenniffer González-Colón

Brian Higgins

Chrissy Houlahan

William Keating

Dan Kildee

Ron Kind

Ann Kuster

Sheila Jackson Lee

Eddie Johnson

James Langevin

John Larson

Ted Lieu

Carolyn Maloney

Doris Matsui

James McGovern

David McKinley

Jerry McNerney

Grace Meng

Kweisi Mfume

Joe Neguse

Eleanor Norton

Bill Pascrell

Mike Quigley

Jamie Raskin

Linda Sánchez

Jan Schakowsky

Adam Schiff

Robert Scott

Albio Sires

Haley Stevens

Chris Stewart

Eric Swalwell

Paul Tonko

Ritchie Torres

Lori Trahan

Juan Vargas

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Bonnie Watson-Coleman

Peter Welch

Jennifer Wexton

Susan Wild

###

Follow Congressman Doggett

Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/RepLloydDoggett | Twitter: @RepLloydDoggett | Instagram:@RepLloydDoggett