In March-April 2021, UNHCR launched a portal for requesting a refugee letter for asylum seekers in Israel with sponsors in Canada. Within one month, UNHCR received over 4,000 requests for refugee letters. Since then, UNHCR team has been diligently working through those requests.
For each request, UNHCR needs to follow 3 steps:
- Verify the sponsors in Canada
- Conduct an interview with the applicant
- Determine the person’s refugee status
Unfortunately, many persons who requested UNHCR letters in 2021 are still waiting to be called for an interview due to the time-consuming nature of the process and our limited resources. There is no need to call UNHCR office to enquire on the expected interview date. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
UNHCR is not taking new requests for Group Five UNHCR letters and will not accept new requests for the foreseeable future. Once we have the opportunity to process new requests, we will make sure to inform the community.
US private sponsorship – WelcomeCorps
Recently, the United States had announced a new US private sponsorship pilot programme called WelcomeCorps. UNHCR has no role in processing applications for that programme. The WelcomeCorps is a US government programme and information about it is available at the US government WelcomeCorps website.
Important! UNHCR Israel will not be interviewing or issuing refugee letters in relation to that programme and has no additional information on the process.