If you’re in Afghanistan, please find information on our Help Afghanistan website.
If you have family in other countries, you might be able to join them through family reunification. Opportunities for this depend on the country where your family is and how you are related to them, so you need to check information for that country. You can find more details on our Help Afghanistan website’s Family Reunification page or Indonesia’s page.
I have heard about special programs set up by other countries to help Afghans who worked with or for those countries to travel to those countries. Can UNHCR Indonesia help me access these programs?
Some countries have recently announced opportunities for Afghan nationals who have worked or been affiliated with those countries to apply for permission to travel to those countries. These programs are established by those countries and UNHCR does not refer people to the programs or process applications.
There may be more programs that are now or soon to be available to support Afghan people in or outside of Afghanistan. UNHCR will try to keep up to date with announcements as we become aware of these State-sponsored programs. Details of them can be found on the websites set up by the particular state. Please check information on our Afghanistan page for the latest information and links to those government websites.
Some programmes include the following:
🇺🇸 United States of America 🇺🇸
The United States recently announced opportunities for Afghan nationals who have worked or been affiliated with the US government, military, NGOs, or media. Please visit the following sites from the US State Department for details:
- Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for Afghans employed by or on behalf of the US Government
- Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for Afghans who worked as translators/interpreters for US military forces
- US Refugee Assistance Program (USRAP) Priority 2 Program
🇨🇦 Canada 🇨🇦
The Canadian program is available for Afghan nationals whose “employment involved a significant and/or enduring relationship with the Government of Canada”, including interpreters for the Canadian military and local staff who work or worked for the Canadian Embassy. Please visit the following site for details:
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 🇬🇧
The UK has established two programs for current and former locally employed staff in Afghanistan. Please visit the following sites for details:
Can UNHCR help me travel to another country?
UNHCR welcomes the announcements by several States that they will increase resettlement opportunities for Afghan refugees. However, the UNHCR resettlement programme will continue to be accessible only to those who meet the strict eligibility criteria and through the already established UNHCR process. Resettlement remains an option only for very few refugees who are the most in need in the country where they are living so only a few will qualify. UNHCR already has your details and will get in touch with you if there are any opportunities.
UNHCR has long resettled Afghan refugees from first countries of asylum to a variety of resettlement countries based on individual needs and circumstances (46,000 Afghans resettled globally since 2003). We are continuing this work as a regular part of our global resettlement program. In Indonesia, UNHCR will continue to consider Afghans for resettlement based on our established resettlement criteria and processes. This is not done through self-referrals, but though the identification, referral, and review systems we have in place to assess individuals with extremely heightened needs in the country of asylum and to determine whether they qualify for resettlement. Though some individuals may be determined to be in need of life-saving resettlement and may meet eligibility criteria so as to be submitted for resettlement consideration in the future, this is contingent on many factors, including the severity of resettlement needs, the protection environment, the position of the host country, the availability of resettlement places for host countries, among others.
Can UNHCR help refer my case to the US P1 programme if UNHCR cannot refer to other programmes?
UNHCR refers cases to the US Priority 1 programme through its existing resettlement programme. The UNHCR resettlement programme, including UNHCR referrals to the US Priority 1 programme, will continue to be accessible only to those who meet the strict eligibility criteria and through the already established UNHCR process. Resettlement remains an option only for very few refugees who are the most in need in the country where they are living so only a few will qualify. You may consult with Afghanistan Inquiries – United States Department of State for further information.