As the number of people displaced in the wake of conflicts and climate change is on the rise, many countries have decided to grant humanitarian visas to people seeking shelter to enable them to obtain legal status in emergency situations. Applying for a humanitarian visa takes less time and is less complicated than asylum application procedures but these visas are also for a limited length of time.
Humanitarian visa admission rules stem from the criteria provided for in the Geneva Convention, also called the 1951 Refugee Convention although different countries apply different rules when it comes to granting visas. Generally speaking, a humanitarian visa is a short-term document that aims to protect refugees from persecution based on political or religious discrimination. When an individual obtains a humanitarian visa, it gives them immediate protection in the third country where they can subsequently apply for asylum.
EU countries
The European Union as a whole does not have a common procedure for the issuance of humanitarian visas. Each member state has its own approach and grants visas according to its national laws. Each country also has its own name for these admission programs which are not always necessarily referred to as humanitarian visas. While asylum application procedures are based on the 1951 Refugee Convention which enables the same rules to be applied across every country, the granting of humanitarian visas is mostly discretionary.
For instance, France started to grant asylum visas to Syrians in 2013 and to Iraqis in 2014, issuing long-term permits for both. Aside from this, France also introduced a humanitarian admission program called the Humanitarian Corridor in March 2017. Within this program, 519 Syrians and Iraqis from Lebanon were granted protection in 2019, and later 420 of these were granted refugee status or given subsidiary protection which is international protection for people who are not eligible to gain refugee status. Italy introduced the Humanitarian Corridor within which it granted a safe and legal stay to about 700 Lebanese in 2019.
Belgium, in turn, may grant short- or long-term visas based on humanitarian grounds and on an ad hoc basis through its State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration as well as the Federal Public Service Home Affairs.
Poland grants a humanitarian visa for a maximum of one year and those who wish to gain one must apply through embassies, consulates, and visa centers. Visas are granted when there is a risk that applicants may be victims of political repressions in their country of origin. This is why the Polish authorities recently decided to grant a visa to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya after she alleged her team’s officials had been trying to force her to fly home to Belarus against her wishes. Recently, Poland has also decided to grant humanitarian visas to 45 Afghan citizens who had helped Polish and EU military missions.
The U.S.
In the U.S., a humanitarian visa is also known as humanitarian parole which is granted for urgent humanitarian reasons. A visa can be obtained for a maximum of one year and offers no provision for a permanent residency which would require going through the necessary immigration procedures.
Russia
In Russia, a humanitarian visa is granted to stateless people as well to those who require humanitarian relief, those visiting for cultural exchanges sport events, or political exchanges, and those in the country for scientific reasons.
