Blog by Charlotte Shurtz, Hannah Somers, and Betsy L. Fisher *
Introduction
Labor mobility is the international movement of individuals for the purpose of employment.
International labor mobility opportunities for refugees, often called refugee labor mobility or displaced talent mobility, refers to international migration that promises employment for forcibly displaced people.
Labor mobility pathways can give displaced people who have skills and whose experience aligns with international labor markets an avenue to enter, and ideally, permanently remain in a country that offers them a pathway to citizenship. The long-term goal of refugee labor mobility is to support displaced people to access economic opportunities without specialized refugee pathways, and crucially, without significant intervention from non-profit organizations such as Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB).
This article describes the work of TBB, the leading global NGO advancing labor mobility for displaced people, in the United States from 2021 to the January 2025 inauguration of President Donald Trump.
President Trump’s immigration policies make labor mobility pathways for displaced people to the United States a distant prospect. Still, the authors seek to record and disseminate the lessons learned for future labor mobility programs in the United States and other countries.
U.S. Immigration: Employment-Based vs. Humanitarian Immigration
U.S. immigration distinguishes between humanitarian pathways like refugee resettlement, which admit individuals because of their need, and employment-based visas, which admit individuals on the basis of their ability to contribute to the U.S. workforce.
The United States has been, for most periods in recent decades, a global leader in refugee resettlement, and a substantial donor for various international development and humanitarian efforts.
The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) gives little consideration to the education, skills, and professional experiences that refugees bring to the United States, and instead prioritizes resettled refugees’ rapid self-sufficiency through work of any kind (see Section III.C). Similarly, U.S. educational institutions, licensing bodies, and employers may not recognize previous experience or credentials. As a result, newly arrived refugees in the United States tend to fill entry-level roles in fields like meatpacking, housekeeping or service industries, and often struggle to access work aligned with their previous careers.
U.S. immigration law does not prohibit a forcibly displaced person from pursuing an employment-based visa (though as of June 4, 2025, an executive action bans visa issuance to individuals of many nationalities, with very limited waivers). However, even before Trump Administration’s policies, practical obstacles made it difficult to access these opportunities. For example, forcibly displaced people often do not have documents like passports or other civil and identity documents because their governments deny access to them, or refugees lost these documents during flight. Requesting new or renewed documents from an embassy might put them at risk of persecution. Likewise, refugees living in some countries may have to travel internationally to attend a U.S. visa interview, which is often impossible to fulfil for displaced individuals as their movement is restricted or they do not have the resources to finance the trip (to date, U.S. consulates have not facilitated remote interviews).
Even as the U.S. government puts up barriers to employment-based immigration, U.S. industries have significant workforce demand. In the United States, there were only 90 available workers for every 100 open jobs – before the impact of the Trump administration’s immigration policies were fully felt. This workforce demand is not evenly distributed; while California has 92 available workers for every 100 open jobs, North Dakota has only 30 available workers per 100 open jobs. Certain industries such as healthcare face particularly acute labor gaps.
1. Employment-Based Visas
TBB, in partnership with immigration legal services providers, identified existing employment-based visas as potentially viable options to facilitate displaced people’s labor mobility to the United States, including visas that provide for temporary and permanent residence based on employment.
Employment-based visas present the best opportunity to scale displaced individuals’ access to job opportunities with limited mediation from nonprofit organizations, and are more insulated from political pressure relative to humanitarian pathways. However, employment-based pathways pose many obstacles for displaced people, including requirements to have current international travel documents and other civil documentation. They also are limited in scope and only available for certain types of jobs.
Many of the employers TBB engaged had significant reservations about visa sponsorship for reasons of time (processing times range from a few months to several years), cost (government fees can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, and attorney fees often exceed the visa fee), and uncertainty as to timelines and success of visa approval. Some employers already sponsored employees for visas, but they typically hired individuals who were already in the U.S. through optional practical training (OPT) or another work status. TBB found that employers were reluctant to sponsor someone outside of the United States, without U.S. employment authorization, where no previous relationship existed.
However, using employment-based visas as a tool for refugee labor mobility should not be ruled out. TBB has identified opportunities with employers willing to temporarily hire professional non-citizen workers in specialty occupations (H-1B visas), and for candidates with advanced degrees, high levels of qualifications, or exceptional or extraordinary abilities (O-1, EB-1 and EB-2 visas). These opportunities are impacted by policies adopted by the current Administration. However, in the future these pathways may become more accessible.
2. U.S. Refugee Labor Mobility
TBB launched its support for labor mobility to the United States in 2021, seeking to address acute workforce needs as the country emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. TBB advocated for refugee labor mobility in the United States through research and publications about ways to promote displaced people’s access to labor mobility pathways, Congressional advocacy, and administrative advocacy.
TBB’s U.S. programs included existing employment-based visa pathways and developing and implementing a new labor pathway under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, called Welcome Corps at Work (WCW).
a. Welcome Corps at Work
The Welcome Corps was a private sponsorship initiative that allowed everyday Americans to form groups of at least 5 individuals who would sponsor and welcome refugees to the United States. These sponsor groups delivered all the same core services – like airport pickup, school enrollment, and securing housing and employment – that would otherwise have been administered by a resettlement agency.
Welcome Corps at Work (WCW) was a first-of-its-kind program linking qualified refugees with U.S. employers according to their skills and the employer’s needs, and then with USRAP resettlement processing and sponsor groups. WCW was implemented by TBB and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), with funding from the Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Through WCW, 77 candidates received job offers.
The program included recruiting and matching three parties: candidates eligible for USRAP, employers in need of their skills, and sponsors in the employers’ communities.
First, WCW identified refugees, primarily in Uganda and Kenya, with skills relevant to U.S. employer needs. Prior to WCW’s launch, TBB had supported several thousand refugees in the region to register on its platform. TBB and its partners (International Research Committee, Finn Church Aid, and UNHCR) recruited additional candidates via community outreach, in-person information sessions with staff in the region, and TBB’s online candidate engagement. Interested candidates created a profile on the TBB’s matching platform (called the Talent Catalog), registering their skills, experience, and interest in international labor mobility pathways. Since 2021, over 10,500 refugees in East Africa have registered on TBB’s Talent Catalog.
Second, WCW staff recruited employers through several methods, including responding to inbound requests from employers, outreach via industry associations, and cold outreach to employers. WCW staff counseled employers about the program’s uncertain timelines, the requirement for candidates to be approved for resettlement by the U.S. government, and the requirement that the candidate receive support from a group of at least 5 sponsors upon arrival. 138 US employers showed an initial interest in the WCW program and had a conversation with TBB or IRC about the WCW program. 22 employers interviewed candidates, and 11 employers extended job offers.
A significant portion of the jobs offered were in healthcare roles. WCW staff worked with employers who supported their workforce to access state licenses or certifications needed to advance in their careers beyond their initial role. Other job offers were in education, childhood development, and skilled trades. Employers were largely in rural and suburban areas.
Finally, WCW staff recruited potential sponsors in the location of an interested employer and trained and guided the sponsor group through the training and certification process required for Welcome Corps groups.
b. Successes in WCW
Welcome Corps at Work (WCW) was intended to run as a pilot for 3 years, from 2023 to 2026, but was suspended on January 20, 2025, as part of President Trump’s executive orders suspending refugee resettlement and foreign aid. Though the program did not fully run its course, the pilot program still offers valuable insights into the potential feasibility and sustainability of refugee labor mobility in the United States.
First, WCW offered employers access to a highly qualified talent pool without the high costs of many visa programs and with greater flexibility than narrow visa categories.
Second, the program benefited from significant work and partnerships that had supported thousands of individuals to register prior to the WCW program launch. TBB’s pre-existing talent pool of thousands of refugees allowed the WCW team to focus its early efforts on employer outreach. Once employers were recruited, the WCW team could identify matches, coordinate interviews, and obtain job offers more quickly. Similarly, even after the WCW program’s closure, refugees identified under WCW can be considered for other job opportunities and pathways to the United States or other countries.
Lastly, WCW operated through USRAP, which offered beneficiaries a permanent immigration status, which was highly appealing to businesses. WCW offered access to dignified and long-term safety, and an opportunity to showcase their skills, for the displaced people who would receive job offers.
c. Challenges and Limitations in WCW
The most significant challenge for WCW during its period of operation was the three-way match between employers, candidates, and sponsors. The greatest pathway to scale access to labor mobility is to work with employers interested in hiring multiple candidates. However, under Welcome Corps, for each individual receiving a job offer, the WCW team had to recruit a sponsor group of at least 5 local individual sponsors, who had to raise $2,425 per refugee sponsored. Thus, a hiring commitment of 5 candidates with one dependent each would have required at least 25 community members to commit to sponsorship and to fundraise at least $121,250. This requirement to recruit multiple sponsors also limited participation for employers in many smaller communities – turning the benefit of employers seeking to hire multiple candidates into a major challenge. Future pathways should ensure that employers committed to decent and fair wages and worker protections can hire through labor mobility programs, even if they are in smaller or rural communities.
Another challenge came from several kinds of uncertainty, including a lack of clarity on timelines for immigration processing from the written job offer to the candidates’ relocation. WCW offered employers a lower-cost and more flexible pathway, but this came with the significant tradeoff of uncertain processing timelines for candidates’ approval and relocation. In the long-term, the program faced significant uncertainty and eventual closure under the Trump administration.
Lastly, an additional challenge was the candidates’ anxiety leading up to the program’s cancellation, and their disappointment after cancellation. Before it was confirmed that the WCW program had been suspended, one candidate who secured a job offer reported: “most of us only rely on this opportunity to move abroad. If it fails, that means we are done. . . . [W]e won’t have any other option.” This candidate, like many of those in the WCW program, faces stringent regulations restricting his rights to work and move freely in his current country of residence. TBB is working to support these candidates to access other opportunities.
Recommendations
Traditionally, immigration systems are built on the logic that forcibly displaced individuals will relocate through humanitarian pathways. However, many displaced people have professional skills that align with the needs of international employers. As such, labor mobility pathways for refugees demonstrate that displaced people can bring benefits to employers and communities, while providing displaced people with durable solutions and decent work.
Establishing long-term labor mobility pathways for displaced people will require a significant shift in policy towards displaced people in the United States. It will also require intentional and targeted socialization with local and national employers, elected officials, refugee-serving non-profits, and implementing government agencies.
1. Key Principles
Future labor mobility pathways for displaced people should follow a few key principles. First, they should be developed to be accessible to displaced people and employers who are in need of their skills. Refugee labor mobility will only become a sustainable and durable solution for displacement when individuals can access job offers and immigration opportunities independently and without significant mediation from organizations like TBB.
Second, pathways must advance protection for refugees. This means providing living wages and safe working conditions, building solidarity with other workers, and access to long-term legal status.
Third, pathways must respond to the economic needs of communities and the practical needs of employers for certainty in cost, timeline, and skills of potential employees. International labor mobility carries costs and uncertain timelines, and should be only one part of a workforce strategy, alongside raising wages, investing in existing workers, and recruiting local staff.
In the United States, there are several possible solutions to build a new pathway. While the current political environment makes such a solution feel like a distant possibility, it is important to understand policy proposals for a future political environment, particularly given increasing workforce demand in industries like healthcare, as well as growing numbers of skilled displaced individuals globally.
2. Labor Mobility via Humanitarian Pathways
Refugee labor mobility should supplement traditional, needs-based resettlement, but could operate within USRAP with a complementary allocation for refugee labor mobility. A USRAP-based model could operate via a dedicated referral pathway for refugee labor mobility, allowing one or more organizations to nominate refugees who have received job offers in a manner additional to vulnerability-based resettlement (in the United States, this is called a Priority 1 referral, on an individual basis). The organization making referrals, or another entity, would verify the candidates’ eligibility for USRAP status and have responsibility for due diligence with the employer to ensure protection of the candidate and appropriate wages.
Refugees with job offers could receive any available method of welcoming support: support from traditional refugee agencies, private, or virtual reception and placement, with costs partially or fully covered by employers. A labor program built on a sponsorship pathway should explore options such as modified sponsor group size or support sponsor groups with funds by establishing a revolving fund supported by employer contributions. Additionally, efforts could improve outcomes for individuals in USRAP by engaging in job matching for individuals in the resettlement pipeline prior to arrival. In any case, future pathways must ensure that candidates earn a living wage, thus reducing the need for ongoing financial support from sponsors.
3. Labor Mobility via Employment-based Pathways
The key barrier currently standing between refugees and U.S. employment-based visas is not a lack of skills aligned to the U.S. workforce needs. Rather, it is that U.S. visa pathways lack sufficient flexibility to meet the needs of U.S. employers or to be accessible to displaced people. A model designed around addressing employers’ workforce demand and the protection of American workers could also include forcibly displaced people. Key elements of such a visa program would:
- Offer immediate lawful permanent residence or a bridge to lawful permanent residence.
- Allow workers to change employers (“portability”).
- Offer flexibility in the kinds of roles that candidates can fill, subject to worker protections.
- Set wage and work condition standards to support the wages and working conditions of all workers.
For this visa pathway to benefit displaced individuals, it should recognize the need for flexibility in requirements for:
- Identity documents, for individuals who do not have a current passport and who cannot access an embassy to renew or request a travel document, or who would face danger if they contacted the government of their country of nationality.
- Civil documents, such as birth and marriage certificates, for individuals who may have lost documents due to persecution or flight.
- Recent work experience, for individuals who have been out of the workforce due to displacement or other reasons.
- The need to travel, often across international borders, for visa interviews. Visa processing should facilitate visa interviews from secure locations, such as another embassy or consulate, or an office of an international agency like UNHCR or IOM.
Making a visa pathway accessible to displaced individuals may require additional funding to help candidates cover travel costs and initial housing setup. Employers with acute labor demand often pay significant hiring bonuses or visa fees; these employers could also consider hiring displaced individuals and funding initial housing and relocation costs. Employers could coordinate services through private relocation providers. There is also precedent in U.S. statute for extending resettlement benefits to individuals who do not arrive through the resettlement program; visa criteria could specify that individuals who are refugees (as documented by registration with UNHCR or a government agency) are eligible to receive refugee benefits.
Alternatively, the U.S. government could establish a dedicated visa pathway for displaced individuals. This option is not preferred, as it leaves the pathway vulnerable to political attack. These recommendations are only feasible if a U.S. government upholds its humanitarian commitments and has the political will to not only welcome additional refugees, but also views them as people who seek to bring their talents and skills to their new communities.
* The authors were all employees of Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) and, with other TBB colleagues and external partners, implemented the programs described in this article. This article reflects their personal views.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author/s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Refugee Law Initiative. We welcome comments and contributions to this blog – please comment below and see here for contribution guidelines.