Applying for Benefits & Services
Virginia's local departments of social services determine whether Virginia's refugees are eligible for public assistance. Local refugee resettlement agencies determine whether they they are eligible for employment services (applications must be made in person and proof of immigration status is required).
- Assistance Available
- Local Departments of Social Services
- Virginia Refugee Resettlement Service Provider Listing
- Virginia Refugee Resettlement Program Manual
Comprehensive Resettlement
The Virginia Refugee Resettlement Model is the framework for the resettlement of refugees and other eligible populations. It is based on the guiding principle that refugees and other eligible populations are best served by a community-based system of service delivery that is comprehensive, coordinated, and responsive to the client’s strength and needs. The model originates from the purpose of U.S. refugee resettlement: to provide effective ...Read More
resettlement through the attainment of economic self-sufficiency at the earliest time possible and was developed by the Virginia Office of Newcomer Services.
The six key elements in the Virginia Refugee Resettlement.
- A Comprehensive Resettlement Plan is the root and center of the delivery of all services to refugees and other eligible populations.
- Long term public assistance utilization is not an acceptable way of life in America and is not a resettlement option.
- Early employment promotes economic self-sufficiency.
- Physical and mental health needs must be addressed in a timely, coordinated, and integrated way to promote and ensure the well-being and health of refugees and other eligible populations.
- Community receptivity to refugees is a key factor in successful resettlement. Service providers must take the lead in creating a welcoming environment for refugees and other eligible populations through community dialogues that involve key stakeholders and provide local awareness of and input into the resettlement process and adequate levels of local support for the resettlement effort.
- Refugee resettlement involves many services that may be provided concurrently, progressively, or successively, but must always constitute a continuum of services beginning at the time a client arrives in the U.S. or is granted refugee-eligible status, and continuing through self-sufficiency and leading up to citizenship. The service delivery continuum should reflect the following:
- Services delivery must be sensitive to cultural and ethnic issues
- Language access is critical to the resettlement process and must be fostered by all who work in some way with refugees;
- Refugees are best served by linking them to service providers that are conveniently located in the communities where they live;
- Coalitions of service providers ensure strong public/private partnerships and work to maximize resources and to create a seamless service delivery system
- Ethnic organizations, otherwise known as Mutual assistance associations (refugee self-help groups) bring unique strengths and cultural knowledge to the resettlement process and should be included in the service network.
Eligible Populations
| Refugee Type | Eligibility Determination |
| Refugees | Refugee is a person outside his/her country of origin because of a well- founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a social group. Eligible participants hold the legal immigration status of a refugee, which is granted before their arrival in the United States. |
|---|---|
| Asylees | Asylee is a person who, either after arrival in the U.S, or at a border, demonstrated that he/she qualified under the “refugee” definition. An asylee does not enter the Unites States with the legal status of refugee, but rather applies to the USCIS for asylum after arrival. Once granted asylum, the asylee is eligible for all services and support offered by the Virginia Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) and for public benefits such as TANF, Medicaid, and SNAP. |
| Cuban or Haitian | Cuban/Haitian entrant is a person from Cuba or Haiti who has been admitted (or paroled) into the United States under P.L.96-422 or obtains that immigration status after arrival in the U.S. |
| Afghans and Iraqis | Afghan or Iraqi with special immigrant visa (SIV) status is a person who was grated SIV status under section 8120 of Pub.L.111-118, Department of Defense Appropriation A2010. An Afghan or Iraqi with SIV status is eligible for refugee and entitlement benefits and services for the same time period as refugees. |
| Victims of Severe Human Trafficking | A person who has been certified by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement as a victim of severe form of human trafficking under Public Law, No. 106-386, Div. A, 114 stat.1464 (2000). Victims of trafficking are eligible for benefits and services to the same extent as refugees. The trafficking Victims Protection Act defines trafficking as: A commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or such act induced on a person who has not attained 18 years of age or the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjugation to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. |
| Amerasians | Amerasian is a person of American and Asian descent, especially one whose mother is Asian and whose father is American. Certain Amerasians from Vietnam are admitted to the united States as immigrants under the provisions of specific federal laws. These individuals were born in Vietnam after January 1, 1962, and before January 1, 1976, and were fathered by U.S. citizens. Eligible spouses, children, and parents or guardians also qualify for the program. |
| Unaccompanied Refugee Minor | Unaccompanied refugee is a minor (i) overseas without a parent or relative to provide long term care who the Department of State determines meets the definition of refugee; or (ii) in the U.S. which the Office of Refugee Resettlement determines is eligible because they do not have a parent or relative available to provide care, including Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ), unaccompanied alien children (UAC), and minors who holds a U status or U visa. Central American Minor Refugee |
| Central American minor | A child determined by the Department of Homeland Security’s USCIS Office to meet the definition of a refugee. An application for the Central American Minors Refugee/Parole Program is filed by a qualifying parent living in the U.S. USCIS then determines (i) if the minor is eligible for U.S. entry and |
Virginia Department of Social Services