About the Welcome Corps

No. The Welcome Corps program, which was a refugee sponsorship initiative within the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), was terminated in Feb. 2025. The Welcome Corps is no longer accepting new applications, and pending applications will not be processed or certified.

Refugee cases that have already been referred into USRAP through a certified Welcome Corps application currently remain in the pipeline, though their processing is on hold and no flights are being scheduled for refugee arrivals.

A certified application means information about the refugee(s) you applied to sponsor was referred to USRAP, and the refugee(s) named on your application has a case with the U.S. government.

If your Welcome Corps application was certified, an email was sent to your group coordinator at the time of certification.

If your Welcome Corps application was not certified, the refugee(s) named on your application do not have a USRAP or SIV number. This means they have not been referred to the U.S. government for private sponsorship and therefore do not have a case with the U.S. government.

The refugee(s) named in your Welcome Corps case were referred into USRAP if:

• Your group coordinator received an email from [email protected] stating that the refugee(s) named in your application were referred to USRAP.
• The refugee(s) named in your application have received a USRAP number. A USRAP case number consists of two letters followed by a 6-digit number, for example, JO-123456.

The Welcome Corps is not accepting or processing applications, and the portal is closed. If you previously created a Welcome Corps account, this means you will not be able to log into the portal. All application-related communications before the program was terminated were conducted via email. Your sponsor group coordinator should have a record of your application’s progress in their email inbox.

We are closely tracking the lawsuit, Pacito v. Trump, which challenged the U.S. government’s suspension of USRAP. We will provide more information once a final order is made. For more up-to-date information, you can follow the case here.

The U.S. Department of State has halted all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa issuance for Afghan passport holders, instructing consular officers not to issue visas, including those already printed, effective Nov. 28, 2025. This pause applies to visas across the board, including Special Immigrant Visas (SIV). Afghan SIV holders who already have valid visas and travel documents in hand should still be able to travel to the United States.

In addition, as mentioned above, Afghans are affected by the broader pause on immigration application processing and asylum application decisions. Afghans are also subject to re-review if they arrived in the United States or had an immigration application approved by USCIS on or after Jan. 20, 2021.

The Welcome Corps program was terminated by the State Department in late February 2025. This means that the Welcome Corps is no longer accepting new applications, and pending applications will not be processed or certified.

It is unclear whether refugee sponsorship will return. As elected officials shape new policies related to refugee admissions, Americans can share their support for private sponsorship by using our guide for contacting your federal representatives.

You can:

• Contact your congressional representatives to express support for refugee sponsorship programs or get help with your application.
• Use our guide for contacting your federal representatives for detailed instructions.