Refugee Employment Integration: A Guide for Employers

Introduction

At the end of December 2025, 117.8 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced, including 41.6 million refugees (UNHCR Global Trends 2025). Many want to work, yet refugees face some of the steepest barriers to employment of any group: language, credential recognition, legal restrictions, cultural adjustment, trauma, and employer reluctance.

Employers who hire refugees often report strong motivation and lower turnover among refugee employees (Tent Partnership for Refugees, 2024). This guide covers the practical steps.

Work Rights by Country

Rules change often — always check the current official guidance before hiring.

United States

• Refugees admitted through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) may legally work as soon as they arrive; their Form I-94 with a refugee admission stamp is evidence of work authorisation. Note that new refugee entries through USRAP have been suspended since 27 January 2025 (Executive Order 14163), except where an exception applies.
• Asylum seekers may file for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) 150 days after filing their asylum application, and are eligible to receive it once the application has been pending for 180 days in total.
• Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders can obtain an EAD.

United Kingdom

• Refugees and people granted humanitarian protection have full access to the labour market.
• Asylum seekers may apply for permission to work only if they have not received an initial decision within 12 months through no fault of their own. Those who applied on or after 26 March 2026 are restricted to jobs on the Appendix Skilled Occupations list at RQF level 6 or above (earlier applicants: the Immigration Salary List).
• Homes for Ukraine visa holders can live, work and study in the UK.
• Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders can work, except as a professional sportsperson or sports coach.

Germany

• Recognised refugees can be hired immediately, on the same footing as German employees — no work permit is needed.
• Asylum seekers may not work during a 3-month waiting period; after that, employment needs permission from the local foreigners' authority (Ausländerbehörde), usually with Federal Employment Agency approval. The waiting period is six months in some cases (for example where another EU state is responsible for the application).
• Duldung (toleration) holders face the same three-month waiting period and also need the Ausländerbehörde's permission.

EU General

• The recast EU Reception Conditions Directive (EU) 2024/1346 guarantees asylum applicants access to the labour market within 6 months of their application being registered — down from 9 months under the previous rules. Member States had two years from its entry into force in June 2024 to transpose it.

Barriers and Solutions

Language

• Challenge: Language is one of the most common barriers to employment
• Solutions: Workplace language training, buddy systems pairing refugees with native speakers, accepting lower-level language proficiency for roles where it is not essential, visual instructions and multilingual signage

Credential Recognition

• Many refugees hold professional qualifications (doctors, engineers, teachers) that are not recognised in the host country
• See our separate article on credential recognition pathways by country
• Bridging programmes help qualified refugees meet local licensing and professional requirements

Cultural Adjustment

• Workplace norms differ: hierarchy, communication style, time management, gender dynamics
• Cultural orientation programmes during onboarding reduce misunderstandings
• Mentoring from settled refugees provides culturally informed support

Trauma

• Many refugees have experienced war, persecution, detention, or dangerous journeys
• Trauma can affect concentration, sleep, interpersonal trust, and stress responses
• Trauma-informed management: patience, consistency, clear expectations, access to mental health support
• Do NOT require refugees to share their stories

Employer Programmes

Tent Partnership for Refugees

Founded in 2016 by Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, Tent is a network of over 500 major employers committed to hiring and integrating refugees. Members include Amazon, H&M Group, L'Oréal, Starbucks, Unilever and Sodexo. Membership is free, and Tent provides:

• Hands-on guidance from local teams and HR trainings
• A members' hub with best-practice resources
• Country hiring guides and research on the business case for refugee hiring

IKEA (Ingka Group)

Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer, launched its Skills for Employment programme at UNHCR's 2019 Global Refugee Forum. It has supported more than 4,300 refugees across 26 countries, combining work experience, practical skills training, cultural orientation and language learning. Ingka has open-sourced a Skills for Employment toolkit co-developed with UNHCR, and aims to support at least 3,000 more refugees and asylum seekers between 2024 and 2027.

Starbucks

Starbucks' Refugee Hiring Programme, first launched in 2017, is active across 11 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, providing pre-employment training to help refugees access jobs in its stores. Starbucks reports that, as of 2023, it had directly hired more than 5,500 refugees globally. Working with Tent, it has seen higher retention among partners with refugee backgrounds than among non-refugees.

The Business Case

• Retention: Refugees are known to have lower turnover rates, and Starbucks reports higher retention among refugee hires
• Customers: Consumers say they are more likely to buy from — and to work for — companies that hire refugees (Tent Partnership for Refugees, 2024)
• Skills: Many refugees bring professional skills, multilingual ability, and resilience
• Diversity: Refugee hiring builds a genuinely diverse workforce

Resources

• UNHCR: unhcr.org
• Tent Partnership for Refugees: tent.org
• Refugee Council (UK): refugeecouncil.org.uk
• HIAS (US): hias.org
• Breaking Barriers (UK): breaking-barriers.co.uk