• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Ukrainians seeking asylum in the United States wait to board a bus April 22, 2022, outside the Benito Juarez sports complex, set up as a shelter by the local government in Tijuana, Mexico. Thousands of Ukrainians who fled the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion are now eligible to apply for a one-year extension of their stay in the U.S.(OSV News photo/Jorge Duenes, Reuters)

US extends stay for thousands of Ukrainians as war enters second year

March 16, 2023
By Gina Christian
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, War in Ukraine, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Thousands of Ukrainians who fled their nation in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 can now apply to extend their stay in the U.S. by one year.

On March 13, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would begin considering extensions, on a case-by-case basis, for Ukrainian nationals and immediate family members who entered the U.S. prior to the federal government’s Uniting for Ukraine program.

Launched in April 2022, the Uniting for Ukraine program granted eligible applicants up to two years of humanitarian parole, enabling them to enter the U.S. and apply for employment authorization. Program applicants are required to have a financial supporter in the U.S., complete vaccinations and other public health requirements; obtain biometric, biographic and security checks; and fund their own commercial travel to the U.S. To date, more than 118,000 Ukrainians have entered the U.S. through the Uniting for Ukraine program.

Local residents walk past a multistory apartment block in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 16, 2023, which was destroyed during the Russian invasion. Thousands of Ukrainians who fled the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion are now eligible to apply for a one-year extension of their stay in the U.S. (OSV News photo/Alexander Ermochenko, Reuters)

However, Ukrainians who fled to the U.S. between Feb. 24, 2022, and the Uniting for Ukraine program start date had only been granted one year of humanitarian parole. The DHS extension aligns both groups, and the agency expects the extension vetting process to take approximately four weeks.

A DHS spokesperson in a written statement told OSV News the department has assessed, given the ongoing war, “there remain urgent humanitarian reasons, as well as a significant public benefit, for extending the parole of certain Ukrainians and family members on a case-by-case basis.”

The statement also noted that the covered Ukrainians “may pursue multiple immigration pathways at the same time.” The extension process does not impact other benefit requests, “including for those who have applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), been granted TPS, or applied for asylum,” said the agency.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an estimated 8 million Ukrainians have become refugees following Russia’s full-scale invasion, while close to 6 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced. Some 17.6 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the U.S., welcomed the extension.

“Most refugees do indeed want to return to Ukraine. They love their country, their people, their culture,” he said. “(But) some people don’t have anything to go back to. Their towns and their cities have been destroyed. Others have children already traumatized by the brutality of the war, and they want to wait it out until the victory of God’s truth (in Ukraine).”

Father Ostap Mykytchyn of St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, told OSV News that refugee children from one family in Kyiv, whose house was bombed by Russian troops, “can’t sleep in pajamas; they sleep in coats because of the trauma. They wait for the bombs.”

Refugees also are grappling with family separation, said Father Mykytchyn. “Many, many women are here with their kids, without their husbands, who because of the war can’t leave the country,” he said. “This is a very difficult, emotional moment for them.”

On arriving in the U.S., refugees’ lives are “complicated,” Father Mykytchyn said. “Because of the huge numbers of refugees, it’s hard (for them) to find a job.”

Language barriers and dependence upon sponsors (usually family members or friends) for transportation — particularly in suburban areas like Jenkintown, which lacks a robust public transit system — can pose additional challenges, he said.

“They depend on their (sponsoring) relatives because they don’t have their own car, so when the relatives aren’t able to come to church, they also can’t come,” he said.

Yet amid the heartache and hurdles, Ukrainian refugees at St. Michael have still been “very active in parish life and in Ukrainian community life,” said Father Mykytchyn, adding he was grateful for U.S. support of Ukraine.

“America is, I think, our closest friend in this war,” he said.

Gina Christian is a national reporter for OSV News. Follow her on Twitter at @GinaJesseReina.

Read More Crisis in Ukraine

Ukraine church tensions surface in wake of Alaska summit

Archbishop Gudziak on visit to Ukraine calls for unity to end Russia’s ongoing ‘barbarity’

Pope sets Aug. 22 as day to pray, fast for peace in Ukraine, Holy Land

Trump meets with Zelenskyy, European leaders after Putin summit

Archbishop Gudziak: Trump-Putin summit fails to advance peace, justice

Pope says he hopes Trump-Putin meeting leads to ceasefire in Ukraine

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Gina Christian

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pope Leo holds the host up in both hands during the consecration Pope Leo’s Tears at Mass

  • Analysis: At 100 days, Pope Leo’s papacy rooted in St. Augustine, reflection, unity

  • ‘Miracle girl’: Baltimore native’s childhood cure from leukemia helped canonize America’s first saint

  • Sister Patricia McCarron, new schools superintendent, talks about what inspired her to become an educator

  • This Colorado teen died saving others in a school shooting — is he a future saint?

| Latest Local News |

‘Miracle girl’: Baltimore native’s childhood cure from leukemia helped canonize America’s first saint

Sun Meals Program a blessing for many

The homework debate: Is it time to re-think after-school work?

Sister Patricia McCarron, new schools superintendent, talks about what inspired her to become an educator

Project PLASE hopes Beacon House Square shines a light in Southwest Baltimore 

| Latest World News |

Bishops meet in Colombia to discuss future of church’s Pan-Amazon region

Federal judge blocks Texas 10 Commandments law from being enforced in some school districts

Building God’s kingdom requires listening, dialogue, pope says

Land transfer including Indigenous sacred site blocked again; Trump plans appeal

Vatican studying possible papal trip to Turkey, Lebanon

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Bishops meet in Colombia to discuss future of church’s Pan-Amazon region
  • Federal judge blocks Texas 10 Commandments law from being enforced in some school districts
  • Building God’s kingdom requires listening, dialogue, pope says
  • Land transfer including Indigenous sacred site blocked again; Trump plans appeal
  • Vatican studying possible papal trip to Turkey, Lebanon
  • More states move to copy ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ amid reports of inhumane conditions for migrants
  • Revealing Leo
  • ‘Miracle girl’: Baltimore native’s childhood cure from leukemia helped canonize America’s first saint
  • Sun Meals Program a blessing for many

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en