What Is the Cost of Refugee Resettlement?

Refugees are individuals who have fled their homes in order to escape persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion, and more. These individuals’ home countries are either unable or unwilling to provide them with the protection they need to live in safety. They are protected by international law established by the 1951 Refugee Convention.

As of 2022, there are over 89 million people in the world who have been forcibly displaced from their homes, and 27 million of those people are recognized refugees who have found asylum in another country. When refugees who have fled their country can neither safely return home nor rebuild their lives in the country to which they have fled, they are sometimes resettled in a third country. But what is the cost of resettling refugees? In this article, we’ll look at the finances involved in helping refugees find safety.

The Cost of Resettling Refugees

The cost of resettling refugees depends on the particular country where the refugees are being resettled. In this instance, we’ll focus on how much it costs to resettle refugees in the United States.

The costs associated with resettling a refugee in the U.S. include transportation, background checks, and job, and English training once the individual has been placed into a community. Combined, these add up to about $15,000 per refugee resettled in the U.S.

Some people argue that resettling refugees takes away tax dollars from current American citizens, especially since refugees are immediately eligible for welfare assistance and Medicaid. Over the first 20 years of a refugee living in the U.S., they receive about $92,000 in government assistance, which includes initial resettlement costs, welfare assistance, and Medicaid coverage. However, a report has found that those refugees actually provide the U.S. government with $21,000 more than it spends during that 20-year period through taxes.

Not only is there a moral and legal (under international law) obligation to help refugees find safety, but this information shows that refugees are also beneficial to the U.S. economy and end up contributing to it more than they are given.

The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) advocates for the rights of all uprooted people, including refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrants. ICMC and its members remain committed to supporting immigration policies that produce more sustainable solutions. 

Since the 1970s, ICMC has supported the resettlement of over 1 million refugees. In Turkey and Lebanon, ICMC manages one of the world’s largest Resettlement Support Centers, through which it works with the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to prepare refugees to start anew in the United States. ICMC’s national member in the U.S., the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in partnership with its local refugee resettlement affiliates and the U.S. Department of State, supports the resettlement of approximately 18% of the refugees that arrive in the U.S. each year.  

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About the International Catholic Migration Commission

The International Catholic Migration Commission is a nonprofit organization that protects, serves, and advocates for displaced people throughout the world. We help refugees, asylum-seekers, victims of human trafficking, and migrants of all faiths, races, and ethnicities forge lives in safety and dignity.

With support from people like you, ICMC delivers humanitarian aid and social development, protects vulnerable migrants, contributes to refugee resettlement efforts, advocates before governments, and partners with civic leaders. We seek a sustainable solution to dangerous migration and refugee crises.

Find out more by visiting our website.