The region’s wars, revolutions and dictatorships of the last century forced millions of Jewish immigrants to other countries, and HIAS has been helping them to escape persecution and find better lives. During the last 20 years HIAS assisted more than 400,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union in starting a new life in the United States.

The Former Soviet Union Today
The region’s tumultuous history continues: after the fall of the USSR, unstable political, social and economic conditions in many countries of the former Soviet Union have fed armed conflicts, civil strife and extreme forms of nationalism and xenophobia. Thus, the fear that many Jews and other minorities have for the future continues to precipitate immigration. The region is also subject to a variety of sizable internal migratory movements, as well as migrations from problem areas in Asia and Africa.

Services
HIAS monitors conditions in the region that affect emigration of Jews and other vulnerable groups, and brings specific problems to the attention of appropriate international and governmental organizations. Using HIAS’ expertise on a wide range of migration issues, our offices in Moscow and Kiev implement several specific programs providing refugees with much-needed information and legal assistance.

HIAS Moscow

Cultural Orientation Program
Funded by the U.S. Department of State, this educational program provides U.S.-bound refugees from the Former Soviet Union and third-world countries with vital information about life in America during the initial period of their resettlement.

Moscow Migrant Counseling Program
The Moscow Migrant Counseling program provides consultations to Jewish refugees from the Former Soviet Union to prepare them for adjudication interviews at the American Embassy in Moscow, also helping refugees with filling out and translating into English the required U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services forms.

HIAS  Kiev

Kiev Migrant Counseling Program
This program assists primarily Jewish refugees from Ukraine to prepare for their adjudication interviews at the American Embassy in Moscow.

Legal Protection Services (LPS) Program
In January 2003, HIAS Kiev began to operate (with funding from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR) the Legal Protection Services program for refugees and asylum seekers in the Kiev region.

The program provides consultations on a variety of legal issues to refugees and asylum seekers. The program's work has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of incidents of detention and harassment of refugees and asylum seekers by the Kiev police. Additionally, HIAS efforts have instigated positive changes to the regulations on refugees and asylum seekers introduced by Ukrainian authorities in the fall of 2003.

Learn More
Notes from Moscow: An Update on the Situation for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (January 2004)

"FSU Update: The Need Remains" (Passages Magazine - Winter 2003)

"Old Fears and New Hurdles: FSU Refugees Struggle to Find Freedom" (Passages Magazine - Summer 2003)

Contact Us

HIAS Moscow
2nd Zvenigorodskaya ulitsa 12
Moscow 123100, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
telephone/fax: + (7-095) 797-8724
e-mail: mc@hias.ru

HIAS Kiev
vulуtsa Dashavska 22
Kyiv 03056, UKRAINE
telephone: + (380-44) 453-1653, fax: + (380-44) 453-1650
e-mail: mail@hias.kiev.ua

Please note: Only U.S. Refugee Program applicants are eligible for assistance by Migrant Counseling programs at HIAS offices in Moscow and Kiev.