WASHINGTON DC – A fast-building paperwork crunch inside the federal bureaucracy is pushing tens of thousands of fully vetted Ukrainian parolees out of the American workforce – not because they broke any rules, but because the government failed to keep pace with its own.
More than two years after the launch of Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), the humanitarian parole program created to offer safe refuge to Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion, thousands of legal workers admitted under the program are seeing their employment authorization documents expire without timely renewal.
Employers, facing strict compliance requirements, are pulling workers off schedules the moment those cards lapse – shattering the fragile stability of families who arrived in 2022.
These are families who passed extensive background and security screening, secured US sponsors, and built new lives. Now those same lives are being upended at the exact moment government processing has slowed to a crawl.
The fallout is a quiet but expanding crisis touching small businesses, local economies, and the American households that stepped up to support the program.
“This is not an immigration issue. This is a paperwork and processing crisis affecting legal workers who followed every rule,” reads a campaign now circulating among Ukrainian American community groups and business owners.
Advocates argue that a single government directive – automatically extending work authorization or renewing it in bulk – could halt what they describe as a looming economic and humanitarian mess.
A plea from within the system
The stakes were spelled out in stark personal terms in a letter sent to President Donald Trump earlier this week by Vlad Skots, CEO of USKO Inc. and co-chair of the Ukrainian American House.
“Twenty-five years ago I came to America as a refugee from Ukraine with nothing,” Skots said, adding, “America gave me the right to work. I worked nonstop and built everything from zero.”
Today, he says, families who followed the same lawful pathway through U4U are being pushed to the brink because their work-permit renewals are stuck in Department of Homeland Security backlogs.
Skots notes that the more than 280,000 U4U parolees were fully vetted, paired with American sponsors, and pay US taxes. “These are not people who crossed the border illegally. These are people who followed every rule the United States gave them,” he writes.
But as the initial two-year parole for 2022 arrivals expires, processing delays at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mean many fall out of work eligibility overnight.
The economic consequences, he warns, are already surfacing. “When their work permits expire, small businesses lose reliable employees, loads go uncovered, hours get cut, customers walk away, and operations slow down,” he said. “This is not a prediction. It is already happening.”
Skots is urging the White House to direct DHS to automatically extend or rapidly process renewals – a step he characterizes as a “simple administrative action” that would stabilize families and protect businesses while preserving trust with American sponsors.
“Nationwide” crisis takes hold
In an interview with Kyiv Post on Wednesday, Skots stressed that the scope of the problem is far larger than policymakers may realize.
“It’s nationwide. Almost every Ukrainian who came through U4U in 2022 is now at risk,” he said, elaborating, “Over 150,000 to 200,000 people are facing work-permit expirations because their renewals are stuck for many months. Employers are already removing workers from schedules the moment their cards expire.”
For many families, he said, the financial consequences hit immediately. “People are being told to stop working despite filing renewals on time. Paychecks stop overnight. Parents can’t cover rent, car payments, or health insurance. Some have already received eviction notices, sold their only car, or postponed medical treatment,” he emphasied.
Skots argues the crisis is not policy-driven but structural – a timing collision between the expiration of the original two-year parole period and a historic slowdown in federal processing capacity.
Economic fallout and human impact
Businesses across industries – trucking, construction, manufacturing, caregiving, restaurants, logistics – report sudden labor gaps tied to the backlog.
“Companies are losing trained workers instantly and turning down contracts because a portion of their workforce may lose authorization any day,” Skots said.
Local economies are absorbing the blow through delayed projects, reduced hours, canceled orders, and understaffed operations. The Ukrainian American House now receives near-daily reports from employers forced to pause or scale back operations.
But beyond the economic disruption, the emotional toll on families is acute.
“These families escaped a war, rebuilt their lives, and suddenly lose stability because of a government delay,” Skots said. “Parents feel panic and shame. Kids ask if they will be forced to leave. People feel punished despite doing everything legally and correctly.”
Asked what he wants to hear from the Trump administration, Skots called for an immediate extension of work authorization for Ukrainians with pending renewals and an emergency clearance of parole and employment-authorization backlogs.
The White House has not yet responded to Kyiv Post’s request for comment.
Whether DHS chooses to issue an automatic extension – a step the department has invoked during past administrative logjams – may determine how many thousands of fully vetted Ukrainian workers remain in the US labor force and how many fall out solely because their paperwork is stalled.