On November 1^st the Federal Register published a presidential determination on refugee admissions numbers. The President announced that up to 70,000 refugees may be admitted to the United States in FY 2006, provided that these refugees follow the Amerasian refugee resettlement program with federal assistance. The following allocations will be made, provided that refugees from East Asia shall include those admitted during FY 2006 with Federal refugee resettlement assistance under the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1988, and that the number allocated to the former Soviet Union will include residents of the former Soviet Union or those without nationality who habitually lived in the Soviet Union prior to September 2, 1991.  Of the 70,000 refugees, the following allocations will be made:

Africa: 20,000

East Asia: 15,000

Europe and Central Asia: 15,000

Latin America/Caribbean: 5,000

Near East/South Asia: 5,000

Unallocated Reserve: 10,000

The unallocated reserve will be allocated as the need arises, after notification to the Judiciary Committee of Congress. Unused numbers allocated to any region may be transferred to another region if the need arises. The following persons may be considered refugees within their countries of residence: persons in Vietnam, persons in Cuba, persons in the former Soviet Union, and persons identified in exceptional circumstances by a US Embassy in any location.