With regard to Afghanistan, the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan has not yet led to the repatriation of millions of Afghan refugees. Although international efforts continue to prepare for their return, the situation is still in flux. increase in Afghan refugee applications for U.S. resettlement among close family members has been noted.

An

Designated Nationalities. Afghans, Iranians and Iraqis in priorities one through four may be registered for the U.S. Refugee Program without special approval. A small number of Syrians and Libyans were approved for refugee processing on an exceptional basis during FY 1990.

An important aspect of Soviet foreign and domestic policy over the past two years has been the continued rise in authorized emigration. The United States and other nations who have long called for greater freedom of movement welcome this increase and hope it will prove to be a lasting move toward a more liberal Soviet emigration policy. The United States has devoted considerable effort, and a large portion of its refugee admissions budget, to support resettlement of those allowed to leave.

Two main routes were used by Soviets emigrating to the United States before this year. The majority of Soviet Jews and increasing numbers of Evangelical Christians departed the Soviet Union on the basis of permission to emigrate to Israel. They travelled to Vienna, where a very large proportion would declare their intent to emigrate to the United States. Voluntary agencies did the preliminary processing after which applicants were sent to Rome where INS conducted a refugee interview. With the rapid increase in Soviet emigration via this route, the U.S. program's ability to handle this large number of people in Vienna and Rome was soon overwhelmed and the process became very costly because the United States was obligated to cover care and maintenance costs. The refugees' living expenses alone amounted to $35 million in FY 1989 and almost $50 million in FY 1990.

To institute effective management control of Soviet emigration to the United States, as of October 1, 1989 all Soviet applicants were required to apply for U.S. admission while still in the Soviet Union as a phaseout of the Rome/Vienna pipeline was begun. There were three essential elements of this policy: phasing out the Vienna/Rome pipeline, expanding processing in Moscow, and establishing the Washington Processing Center (WPC) to assist Embassy Moscow with the increased workload. As of July 1990, the Vienna/Rome pipeline was effectively closed having moved to the United States over 46,000 refugees during FY 1990 alone. Since October 1989, Embassy Moscow has distributed over 600,000 applications, the WPC has received almost 300,000 completed forms and scheduled over 43,000 applicants for interview in Moscow.

FY 1990 was a transition year for the Soviet program as the locus of refugee processing shifted from Western Europe to Moscow. In an effort to minimize the impact of this change on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, much of the pre- and post-interview processing is handled at the Washington Processing Center. This facility lends a high degree of efficiency to a program which handles hundreds of thousands of applications, telephone calls and written inquiries, and would be impossible to duplicate inside the Soviet Union. In addition, the

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computerized processing of applications allows INS officers to interview, in priority order, those applicants who are members of groups at risk and of particular concern to the United States.

Soviet refugees admitted to the United States in FY 1990 will total approximately 50,800. Of these, approximately 8,000 were privately funded. During the course of the fiscal year 2,000 numbers were allocated to the Soviet program from other regions. In addition, pursuant to the Armstrong amendment to the U.S. Refugee Program's portion of the Dire Emergency Supplemental, 700 of those numbers originally intended for the private sector program are being provided USG funds and allocated to Soviet refugees.

The 50,000 refugee numbers allocated for the Soviet Union in FY 1991 will be used by Soviet Jews, Evangelical Christians, Ukrainian religious activists, as well as other individuals of particularly refuseniks. The vast majority of Soviet refugees admitted through our program now have ties to the United States.

concern -

With regard to scheduled interviews, applicants with close family members who are citizens, legal permanent residents, refugees, parolees, or asylees are given priority. Priority is also given to Jews, Evangelical Christians, Ukrainian religious activists and others who, in accordance with legislation enacted late last year, are thought to be in the most urgent need of refugee resettlement. Many applicants do not meet these priorities and it is made clear in the new application process that not all who apply will be interviewed. At the same time, the new procedures allow us to identify and process in a timely and orderly fashion, family reunification cases and others of priority concern to the United States.

Third Country Resettlement. Between FY 1975 and FY 1990, over 200,000 refugees from the Soviet Union resettled in the United States. With a reallocation of numbers and private sector support, FY 1990 Soviet admissions will total approximately 50,000. The other major resettlement countries for refugees from the Soviet Union include Australia, Canada, Israel, and Western European countries particularly the Federal Republic of Germany.

U.S. Admissions

Proposed Ceiling. The proposed admissions ceiling for refugees from the Soviet Union is 50,000.

The PSI is a joint public-private program under which all the basic costs of admission and resettlement of refugees are paid by the private sector. First approved in June 1988, this initiative for the privately funded admission and resettlement of refugees continued during FY 1989 and was renewed in FY 1990.

Under the Cuban American National Foundation's private sponsorship program, 733 refugees were admitted in FY 1988 and about 1500 entered in FY 1989. For FY 1990, 3000 admissions numbers were allocated for the Cuban program.

Two small privately funded sponsorship projects were approved during FY 1989: one for the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America for refugees from Iran; and the other for the Vietnamese Resettlement Association. The renewal of both programs is expected in FY 1991.

During FY 1990, approximately 8,000 Soviet Jews are expected to be admitted under private sponsorship.

A project for the admission of a small number of Ethiopian refugees was approved in August 1990 and is also expected to be renewed for FY 1991. Further, we are evaluating new proposals for admitting Southeast Asian and Near Eastern refugees as part of the PSI.

In light of the growing interest in the program and the potential for its expansion, a ceiling of 10,000 unallocated admissions for use under the PSI is recommended for FY 1991.

Applicants for refugee admission into the United States must meet all of the following criteria:

The applicant must meet the definition of a refugee
contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act;

The applicant must be among those refugees determined by the President to be of special humanitarian concern to the United States;

The applicant must be otherwise admissible under United
States law; and

The applicant must not be firmly resettled in any foreign country.

Although a refugee may meet the above criteria, the existence of the United States refugee admissions program does not create any entitlement for that person to enter the United States. The admissions program is a legal mechanism for admitting a refugee when the applicant is among those persons of particular interest to the United States.

With respect to persons applying overseas for admission to the United States as refugees, an initial review is performed to evaluate cases based on U.S. national interests, the refugees' situation in temporary asylum, the conditions from which they have fled, and other humanitarian considerations. Applicants who meet the criteria specified above and who fall within the priorities established for the relevant nationality or region, are presented to the INS for determination of eligibility for admission under Section 101(a)(42) of the INA. 2. The Worldwide Priorities System

The worldwide priorities system sets guidelines for the orderly management of refugee admissions into the United States within the established annual regional ceilings.

The issue of whether a person is a refugee under U.S. law, and the priority to which a refugee should be assigned for