On Wednesday the first 15 of an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 Vietnamese
scheduled for resettlement in the USA over the next three years
will leave Vietnam with IOM.

The group are the first beneficiaries of the Humanitarian
Resettlement (HR) programme, an extension of the "Orderly Departure
Program" (ODP) that has successfully resettled over 470,000
Vietnamese to the USA since 1980. 

HR follows an agreement between the US and Vietnamese
governments late last year to allow certain categories of people
previously unable to apply for resettlement to the USA to do so
now.

Eligible applicants include Vietnamese citizens who were former
employees of the US government or private US companies, as well as
former soldiers or officials of the former government in the
south.

There will be a two-year application period from 25 June 2006
until 25 June 2008.

For further information please contact:

David John

E-mail: "mailto:JohnHRInfo@wrapshochiminh.org.vn">HRInfo@wrapshochiminh.org.vn