The Annual Survey of Refugees helps
The ACF Office of Refugee Resettlement 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]). This ICR requests additions to the survey instrument
intended to maximize the utility of the data collection, including
for secondary analysis. The information collected through the
Annual Survey of Refugees 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. The ASR has
the potential to be a valuable source of information about the
experiences of refugees during their first five years in the United
States. To increase the utility of this routine data collection and
improve the value of the ASR for the body of knowledge on ACF
programs, the redesigned instrument described in this ICR is
intended to collect richer information about a variety of factors
that social science research indicates are related to refugee
outcomes in self-sufficiency and well-being.
PL:
Pub.L. 96 - 212 413(a) Name of Law: Refugee Act of 1980,
Section 413(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (Sec. 413 [8
U.S.C. 1523]
The number of respondents used
in the burden calculation was reduced from the previously-approved
2,000 respondents to 1,500, to reflect what can be reasonably
accomplished with the resources the agency has available for this
information collection. The target of 1,500 respondents was reached
for ASR 2017, 2018, and 2019. The burden associated with the ASR
was increased from 0.5 to 0.80 hours, to reflect estimates of the
burden from the revised instrument for a household averaging 2
eligible adults. This marginal increase in individual burden is
expected to substantially increase the utility of the data
collection for ORR programmatic use and secondary research use to
improve understanding of the factors associated with resettlement
outcomes.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.