U.S. immigration law provides for giving refugee status and asylum status to persons who have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, nationality, religion, or membership in a particular social group or political opinion.
If you are outside the United States and wish to apply for refugee status through the United States Resettlement Program (USRP), you must first get a referral from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or, in rare instances, the U.S. Embassy in your country. A referral is not the same thing as being registered with the UNHCR. If you are already registered with the UNHCR, but wish to apply for resettlement in a third country under P1, you need to make a formal application through the UNHCR. This means that the person must go to the UNHCR and request to be considered for a Priority-1 interview with the US Resettlement Program. Without this referral, a person cannot be considered under Priority-1 processing.
