The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended by the Refugee Act of 1980, allows for the admission as refugees of persons of special humanitarian concern to the United States who can establish that they have suffered past persecution or have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. See INA §§ 101(a)(42) and 207; 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42) and 1157. The law also provides for resettlement assistance to be provided to arriving refugees, including initial reception and placement with a voluntary public or private nonprofit agency serving as a sponsor. See INA § 412; 8 U.S.C. § 1522. Biographical information is collected from each refugee applicant in order to, in part, place him or her with a resettlement agency at an appropriate resettlement site if admitted to the United States.
This information is collected at refugee processing locations abroad during a personal intake process with the applicant using, for the most part, already pre-approved DHS and DOS collections (OMB 1115-0057, OMB 1615-0008, and OMB 1615-0097). The recipient of the information is either an embassy consular officer or, at locations with a large number of applicants, an employee of a nonprofit or international organization that has a cooperative agreement with the State Department to perform this service for us at a Resettlement Support Center. The data collected includes a refugee applicant’s personal characteristics such as date and place of birth, gender, marital status, religion, ethnic group, education, occupation, and English language ability. While most of the information is captured through pre-existing collections with DHS and DOS, there are additional data, such as skills, language ability and case cross references that are needed by the resettlement agencies in the United States. The data is transmitted to the Refugee Processing Center in Rosslyn, Virginia, and is given to resettlement agencies at a weekly allocation meeting. Resettlement agencies use the data to place each refugee in an appropriate resettlement location in the United States. If the data were not collected, the resettlement agencies would not be able to provide appropriate initial reception and placement services as provided for in the Refugee Act.
There is currently no form associated with this data collection. The applicants provide the information during the intake process. The State Department has developed an automated data capture system called the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) that is in use at processing locations for electronic transmission of the data to the Refugee Processing Center, which permits faster dissemination of the information to the resettlement agencies. The Department has designed this data collection to make most efficient use of digital data capture. While this does not represent a complete end-to-end electronic process, it equates to paperwork reduction by incorporation of the electronic entry of intake responses.
There is no duplication of collection. Some information is available on other forms necessary for the processing of refugees, but all the required information is not available on other forms. It is more efficient to collect the complete data needed by the resettlement agencies in one instance than it would be to collect partial data and then search other completed forms for the remaining information.
The information collection does not involve small businesses or other small entities.
Failure to collect these data would seriously detract from the ability of the resettlement agencies to place refugees in appropriate resettlement locations in the United States.
The data is collected only once for each refugee. There are no special circumstances to collect this data.
The State Department (Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration) published a 60-day notice on May 4, 2017, to solicit public comments for this collection. 82 F.R. 20958. Four comments were received.
One commenter expressed that the United States does not need any more refugees entering this country due to safety reasons. Further, the commenter suggested that any and all data should be collected on refugees by security agencies, including any association with terrorist organizations, to ensure the safety of our country. The commenter did not offer any recommended changes to the current data collection process; therefore, no changes will be made to the data collection process to address this comment.
One commenter expressed the need to stop immigration because Americans are becoming foreigners in their own country, immigrants are taking jobs and receiving more benefits, and immigrants are a major burden on the system. The commenter suggests that we cease immigration altogether. The commenter did not offer any recommended changes to the current data collection process; therefore, no changes will be made to the data collection process to address this comment.
One commenter expressed their level of respect for the United States and the need to protect the health and benefits of this country. The commenter suggested the importance of treating what is still left of our planet with the care and respect it needs and deserves to support all of us on the planet. The commenter did not offer any recommended changes to the current data collection process; therefore, no changes will be made to the data collection process to address this comment.
One commenter’s remarks are addressed to Secretary Tillerson regarding their dislike for the Muslim Ban, suggesting that is it unlawful and unconstitutional. The commenter suggests that the Department of State must reject this illegal action and that refugee data collected should not be used to implement Executive Order 13780. The commenter did not offer any recommended changes to the current data collection process; therefore, no changes will be made to the data collection process to address this comment.
Respondents receive neither payments nor gifts for providing their biodata. However, the level of resettlement benefits which refugees receive in the United States is based in part upon needs that are identified through a review of the data provided.
Respondents are notified that the information in their files is released to State Department personnel, officers of other federal agencies including Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, and resettlement agency employees on a need to know basis. Guidelines for the disclosure of information are attached to the cooperative agreements between the resettlement agencies and the State Department.
Information on religion and ethnic group is provided at the option of the respondent, but it can be useful in determining which resettlement agency or resettlement site is appropriate for a refugee. For example, a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union might prefer to be sponsored by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and located in a city with a synagogue. This placement could not be assured if the applicant had not indicated his or her religion during the collection of biographical data.
Based upon the refugee admission numbers expected for FY18, up to 50,000 individuals will provide biographical information. Each individual provides the information only once. Based upon our experiences in collecting this data over a number of years, we estimate that 50,000 individuals will participate. It takes approximately 30 minutes per individual to collect the necessary data. Total hour burden is estimated to be 25,000 hours (50,000 respondents x 30 minutes estimated completion time = 25,000 hours). Please note, due to refugee applicants’ circumstances, the vast majority of them do not work and therefore, PRM is unable to calculate the monetized time burden because the refugees are unemployed.
There is no cost to the individual who provides biographical information.
Annualized cost to the Federal Government is approximately $500,000. Please see chart below. This is based upon an average hourly salary of a Resettlement Support Centers’ worker of $20; data collection time of 30 minutes per refugee; and 50,000 total refugees estimated for admission in FY17.
Refugee Admissions |
RSC Hourly Salary |
Biographic Data Gathering Time |
Total |
50,000 |
$20/per hour |
30 minutes (one-half hour) |
$500,000 |
The number of hours reported on our last submission was 35,000, based on FY14 projected refugee admissions of 70,000. The number of refugee admissions varies each fiscal year, guided by the ceiling set in the annual Presidential Determination, but which may also be affected by financial resources and refugee processing capacity.
The results of this collection will not be published.
Relevant officers and employees will inform applicants of the expiration date of the collection.
There are no exceptions to this certification statement.
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | ParkerS |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-22 |