Sponsor a Ukrainian Family

The US government has established a sponsorship program for Ukrainian families.

Here is the link from the DHS website that explains how it works: https://www.dhs.gov/ukraine.

If interested, you or someone you know should go through an application process.

In case, you need assistance with the application process and also help you to find a family who may need assistance through this organization's network, here is the Coordinator's information:

Giuseppe Mercuri, Operations Coordinator

International Rescue Committee

Email: g.mercuri86@gmail.com

If you or your friend are approved to sponsor a family, your general responsibilities entail: welcoming the family upon their arrival and transporting them to their house, making sure that they have appropriate housing, meeting all the initial needs, assisting the family with paperwork for the employment authorization and to access other services if necessary, make sure that health needs are met, assisting them with English and in finding employment. All these are general responsibilities. the specific responsibilities and what actually needs to be done to support the family depend on the specific case.

You have to be able to support the family financially for 2 years. It also depends on the specific case and how many family members you or your friends decide to support. For relocation, sponsors have to assist in finding housing and in supporting the family with the responsibilities listed above. It is better that the family lives close to their sponsors for these reasons. Unfortunately, families do not have access to the resettlement benefits ( housing included) with this type of visa. Sponsors have to assist the families in finding housing.

Giuseppe’s Kansas office is directly working on this program, and they have more detailed information about it. Here are the contact info: Kansas@rescue.org/ 316-351-5495.

If you have additional questions and decide to move forward, you can work with Giuseppe reach out to them directly, as well.