A Brief History of Refugees Paying Back the U.S. Government for Their Travel - newsweek

Not all of the millions of refugees who have resettled in the United States over the past several decades can afford the cost of travel to their new home country.

For the past 60 years, the U.S. has offered all refugees interest-free loans to cover the cost of their travel, but what exactly does this loan program entail? And how much, on average, do refugees have to pay back to the government?

Before refugees arrive in the U.S., they have already been through the most stringent background checks of any group entering the country. Prior to boarding a plane, they must sign a promissory note agreeing to repay the cost of their airfare to the U.S. government if they did not personally pay for their ticket. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) covers the cost of U.S.-bound tickets with funding provided by the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The loan money repaid to the U.S. government is invested back into the U.S. refugee program, according to the State Department.

Under the agreement, refugees have to agree to pay back the loan within 42 months (three and a half years), and the average monthly payment is $85, says the State Department. The average loan amount for each refugee is $1,200, and the average number of people in a refugee family is 2.1, making the average loan note for U.S.-bound refugees $2,500.

Since the implementation of the Refugee Act in 1980, more than $876 million in refugee loan repayments has been sent to the U.S. government, according to the State Department. While the U.S. requires all refugees, including Syrians, to pay back their travel loans, the Canadian government announced last month it would cover the cost of travel loans and medical exams for Syrian refugees. Canada and the U.S. are the only countries that offer travel loans to refugees, according to the IOM. - Read More at the Refugees Paying Back

Why Refugees Pay the U.S. Government $1,200