Neil Gagen, JVA caseworker, completing an interview
at the processing center in Dadaab.
Photo:
Craig Murphy
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About JVA
From a small house where refugee interviews took place through a patio window in April 1990 to the present compound of interviewing rooms serving thousands of refugees each year, the Joint Voluntary Agency (JVA) in Nairobi, Kenya, has experienced explosive growth since its establishment.
JVA has expanded to fill the growing need to interview refugees throughout Eastern and Southern Africa. Through its diligent efforts, Church World Service and JVA have led the way in helping more African refugees access the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRP).
When the U.S. Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, Africans were admitted to the USRP for the first time. Unlike the highly developed government programs for processing refugees in Southeast Asia and Europe, few structures were in place in Africa.
Church World Service (CWS) opened a small processing operation in Nairobi in April of 1990 at the request of an officer for what is now U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) who needed assistance in preparing refugee documents for resettlement. The staff, consisting of one CWS U.S. staff member and three Kenyan CWS staff, interviewed refugees living in Nairobi and at Thika Refugee Camp just outside the city.
In October of 1990, CWS signed a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. government to provide case processing services for African refugees. Since then, JVA operations have grown to include regional circuit-ride interviews in refugee camps throughout Eastern and Southern Africa. In 2001, CWS established a presence in Accra, Ghana, to meet the processing needs in Central and Western Africa.
JVA/Nairobi is one of several Overseas Processing Entities around the world. Others are in Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa.
OPEs work in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and USCIS to identify refugees of "compelling humanitarian concern." Their staff work with refugees both before and after their final interview with USCIS. Be fore the interview, staff receive, research, pre-screen and compile case files f or the refugee applicants and get the files ready for presentation to the USCIS for refugees' final interview. Once a refugee is approved for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, OPE staff work with U.S. voluntary agencies to secure sponsorship assurances, and with partner organizations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to coordinate medical exams and travel to the United States.
The U.S. government determines a ceiling for the number of refugees admitted to the United States each year, based on need and on consultations with Congress, nongovernmental organizations, and other interested groups. The ceiling for the number of refugees authorized from Africa has risen dramatically. For FY2008, it is 16,000. These ceilings include refugees from each priority processing group.