Almost all refugees have desires to go back. Despite their desires—and despite numerous ministerial level talks between the governments of Bhutan and Nepal to resolve the refugee crisis over the past 18 years—Bhutan has not accepted a single refugee to return home. Still, local integration has not been possible for political reasons. Several experts of refugee issues opine that with neither repatriation nor local assimilation a pragmatic possibility for the great majority of refugees, resettlement to a third country, such as the United States, has come out as the only durable solution to long-standing problem.

Seeing a dim hope for repatriation, over 48,000 of Bhutanese refugees have declared their interest for Third Country Resettlement (TCR) in a safe country. When Bhutan is never positive to take refugees back home, TCR program as offered by Australia, America and some European countries, has become a Hobson’s choice– having no alternatives– for these refugees.
 
Within a short period of time, over 3,200 exiled Bhutanese have been resettled in various countries offering resettlement, their major number crossing 3,000 alone in various States of America. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), appointed as Overseas Processing Entity by the United States of America, has been processing around 100 cases daily. If security situation goes uninterrupted, it could be expected that around 12,000 refugees would fly to America by early 2009. 

Bhutanese Identity 
Will TCR program preserve Bhutanese identity of the refugees who choose to be resettled? This is an important question of concern for all the Bhutanese. Both the groups– those who have already resettled and those who are being processed by IOM– are not well informed of their legal status as well as the issue of Bhutanese identity after their relocation, be it on temporary or permanent basis. 

Refugees, who have attended cultural orientation of the concerned country before their departure, are also confused regarding this issue. They even have fear that they would lose Bhutanese identity once they are resettled. If that happens, Bhutan- which has been accusing the refugees to be illegal immigrants migrated to Bhutan from Nepal and India- will be benefited more. The authority concerned, of all resettling countries, have been simply informing these folks that refugees can enjoy all the rights including right to citizenship, and have equal access to all opportunities–as enjoyed by the natives.

Such vibrant assurances to people, who have stayed without identity as stateless for several years, have certainly created excitement on them. That is why it is natural for the resettled refugees to build castle in air that very soon they would obtain the US Green Card (UGC) and the citizenship certificate subsequently. 

Legal Status
There is no much difference of status between Bhutanese who reached the US prior to the TCR program and those who are going now. Bhutanese, who reached the US before TCR program, are called asylees and those under TCR program are refugees. Asylees are given an Alien Number after submission of application for asylum in the US whereas Bhutanese under resettlement package enter into the US in the status of refugees with the assigned Alien Number- meaning the status is granted prior to their arrival. Both asylees and refugees are entitled to get the same level of benefits, also for same duration, in the initial stage of their arrival in the US.

The US Green Cards
Both, the Bhutanese asylees and folks under TCR program have the same kind of conditions to obtain the UGC. According to Rajen Giri, president of Youth Organization of Bhutan, who reached the US in 2002 and is the recipient of the UGC, asylees are eligible to apply for the UGC a year after the date of approval of asylum whereas fellow-countrymen under TCR program can apply after one year from the date of their arrival in the US. The validity of this card for asylees and refugees is at least 10 years.

The exact number is unknown but Giri says that almost all who arrived in the US before 2005 have already obtained the UGC. After 5 years from the date of the green card issuance, one is eligible to apply for the US citizenship card. The US motivation is such that within the time frame of 10 years, usually but not necessarily, the government expects one to obtain citizenship card by passing exclusive citizenship interviews.

Open choices
There are no hard and fast rules for refugees to get the US citizenship. If they choose to stay as a refugee or with the UGC only- they can do that. It really depends on refugee individuals. People who have the UGC or the US citizenship are more likely to get better opportunity and easy travel outside the country. Most of the Federal States and even some city jobs require the employee to have these cards to be eligible. The intention of the US government is not only to shelter refugees there but also to make the use of their manpower in the US, which has vast geography, discouraging people to leave the country after they are granted the legal status.

It is an undeniable fact that in order to utilize the manpower, the US encourages these refugees to obtain the UGC and citizenship certificates to make them more responsible towards the country they live in. The interesting fact is that new comers are less likely to stay as an asylee or refugee in the US forever- it is how they design the resettlement plans and systems.

Conclusion
Actually, under the US laws one can have dual citizenship. Bhutanese refugees, who are moving from Nepal to the US, very well know that Bhutan doesn’t entertain its citizens to have this opportunity. On this regard, those who will obtain the US citizenship and want to repatriate to Bhutan when it accepts them, will have to surrender the US citizenship certificates. But, resettling refugees should never forget that they are resettled in such development countries simply because they are Bhutanese citizens. So, it is neither the US systems nor the Bhutanese government to preserve the Bhutanese identity but it is the resettling refugees themselves.