Annual Survey of Refugees

The Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) helps the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) meet its congressional reporting requirements, as specified in The Refugee Act of 1980 (Section 413 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, [8 U.S.C. 1523]). From the time of their arrival in the United States, refugees are eligible for social services, including means-tested public assistance, according to eligibility criteria established by the locality in which they are resettled. Following an initial 90-day reception period funded by the U.S. Department of State, ACF, through ORR, provides transitional resettlement assistance through a network of national non-profit grantees and their local affiliates. In many cases, these services are expected to end after an 8-month resettlement period. By that time, refugees are expected to be transitioned to mainstream social services or to self-sufficiency. The design of the resettlement program means that ORR has limited administrative information on refugees’ experiences after the 8-month resettlement period. The information collected through the ASR generates national population estimates of refugee labor force participation, public benefits receipt, English language acquisition, and conversion to legal permanent residency to meet Congressional reporting requirements. Given that ORR does not have access to cross-program administrative data on refugees’ participation in state-provided services, a representative survey is the most resource-efficient way to meet ORR’s annual reporting requirements, laid out in the Refugee Act of 1980. In particular, descriptive information from the survey is used to meet the requirement of 413(b)(1): “an updated profile of the employment and labor force statistics for refugees who have entered the United States within the five-fiscal-year period immediately preceding the fiscal year within which the report is to be made.” Descriptive information from the survey is also used alongside quantitative and qualitative data collected during program administration to meet the requirements of 413(b)(5): “the extent to which (A) the services provided under this chapter are assisting refugees in achieving economic self-sufficiency, achieving ability in English, and achieving employment commensurate with their skills and abilities.” This request covers the following administrations of the ASR: ASR 2023 (to be fielded spring 2024), ASR 2024 (to be fielded spring 2025), and ASR 2025 (to be fielded spring 2026). In January 2025, the current Administration released multiple Executive Orders (EO) and memoranda requiring updates to information collections that request gender and/or gender identity, to only request “Sex” with the options Male/Female. Additionally, presidential actions focused on the removal of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-specific activities. To be responsive to the new administration, ACF is submitting change requests for a number of implicated information collections. This request is specific to updates related to a recent presidential action, as detailed in the accompanying Justification for a NonSubstantive Change Memo.

The latest form for Annual Survey of Refugees expires 2026-10-31 and can be found here.

ORR-9 Annual Survey of Refugees

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Community and Social Services - Social Services