Where refugees in North Carolina are arriving from

Featured photo: LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images

Within the first five months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early February 2022, the U.S. admitted more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Most of these refugees were admitted through a special program called humanitarian parole, which falls outside the scope of the data tracking carried out by the Refugee Processing Center. Humanitarian parole allows refugees who meet certain criteria to gain temporary legal status in the U.S. and applications are processed differently than traditional refugee resettlement applications.

In November 2022, the greatest number of refugees admitted by the U.S. came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Ukraine. Each nation struggles with a unique set of circumstances that can make their citizens unsafe if they stay in their home country.

For the last three decades, the DRC has been struggling with a vast humanitarian crisis that has left millions of people displaced, both internally and externally, with many people fleeing to neighboring countries. Myanmar’s sitting government is currently engaged in a war against its people, and the country is expected to have approximately 1.2 million refugees seeking asylum by the end of 2022.

Stacker referenced data from The Refugee Processing Center to compile statistics on the number of refugees and their countries of origin resettled in North Carolina in November 2022.

November refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in November
North Carolina
#1. Syria: 20
#2. Burma: 17
#3. Guatemala: 13
#4. El Salvador: 12
#5. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 8
#6. Eritrea: 7
#7. Afghanistan: 6
#7. Honduras: 6
#7. Sudan: 6
#7. Ukraine: 6
#11. Colombia: 4
#11. Republic of South Sudan: 4
#13. Venezuela: 1

National
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 414
#2. Burma: 366
#3. Ukraine: 227
#4. Syria: 199
#5. Afghanistan: 169

States that accepted the most refugees in November
#1. California: 145
#2. New York: 136
#3. Texas: 132
#4. Pennsylvania: 131
#5. Washington: 123

Read on to see the countries that North Carolina has accepted the most refugees from since November 2022

Katja Tsvetkova // Shutterstock

#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since November 2022
North Carolina: 39

National: 1,032
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 93
#2. Ohio: 89
#3. Wisconsin: 60
#4. Pennsylvania: 54
#5. Michigan: 53

Kellys Portillo/APHOTOGRAFIA //Getty Images

#2. El Salvador

Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since November 2022
North Carolina: 27

National: 194
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 27
#2. Texas: 24
#3. Florida: 20
#4. Maryland: 19
#5. California: 14

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#3. Syria

Refugees that arrived from Syria since November 2022
North Carolina: 25

National: 469
Top states
#1. Michigan: 64
#2. Washington: 35
#3. Ohio: 28
#3. Illinois: 28
#3. Kentucky: 28

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#4. Burma

Refugees that arrived from Burma since November 2022
North Carolina: 22

National: 582
Top states
#1. Wisconsin: 133
#2. Texas: 66
#3. Indiana: 56
#4. Georgia: 48
#5. New York: 42

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#5. Guatemala

Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since November 2022
North Carolina: 18

National: 267
Top states
#1. California: 34
#2. New York: 26
#3. Florida: 23
#4. Georgia: 18
#4. North Carolina: 18

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#6. Colombia

Refugees that arrived from Colombia since November 2022
North Carolina: 13

National: 95
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 15
#2. Texas: 13
#2. South Carolina: 13
#2. North Carolina: 13
#5. Kentucky: 9

Ruslan Lytvyn // Shutterstock

#7. Ukraine

Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since November 2022
North Carolina: 11

National: 299
Top states
#1. Washington: 102
#2. California: 58
#3. Pennsylvania: 25
#4. South Carolina: 24
#5. Ohio: 14

Canva

#8. Afghanistan

Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since November 2022
North Carolina: 10

National: 540
Top states
#1. California: 128
#2. Texas: 72
#3. Washington: 44
#4. New York: 43
#5. Virginia: 41

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#8. Eritrea

Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since November 2022
North Carolina: 10

National: 86
Top states
#1. Colorado: 11
#2. Tennessee: 10
#2. North Carolina: 10
#4. Indiana: 8
#5. lowa: 7

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#10. Honduras

Refugees that arrived from Honduras since November 2022
North Carolina: 8

National: 95
Top states
#1. Texas: 15
#1. Washington: 15
#3. California: 10
#4. Maryland: 9
#5. North Carolina: 8

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#11. Rwanda

Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since November 2022
North Carolina: 6

National: 7
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 6
#2. Texas: 1

Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock

#11. Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Sudan since November 2022
North Carolina: 6

National: 115
Top states
#1. Idaho: 25
#2. Utah: 15
#3. Kansas: 11
#3. New York: 11
#5. California: 9

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#13. Iraq

Refugees that arrived from Iraq since November 2022
North Carolina: 5

National: 73
Top states
#1. Michigan: 19
#2. Ohio: 9
#3. Texas: 8
#4. North Dakota: 6
#4. Massachusetts: 6

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#14. Republic of South Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since November 2022
North Carolina: 4

National: 42
Top states
#1. Utah: 10
#1. Kansas: 10
#3. Nevada: 6
#4. Georgia: 5
#5. North Carolina: 4

LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images

#15. Venezuela

Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since November 2022
North Carolina: 2

National: 64
Top states
#1. Florida: 14
#2. Kentucky: 8
#2. Georgia: 8
#4. Texas: 7
#5. Illinois: 6

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#16. Iran

Refugees that arrived from Iran since November 2022
North Carolina: 1

National: 30
Top states
#1. California: 10
#2. Illinois: 5
#3. New Jersey: 4
#4. Virginia: 3
#5. Colorado: 2