Legal Fellow

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) • Full-time • Washington, District of Columbia, United States • $70.95k - $122.52k / year • 2h ago

Deadline for Applications

October 27, 2026

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

H (no hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Family

Staff Member / Affiliate Type

Fellow

Target Start Date

2027-09-01

Terms of Reference

UNHCR 2027-2028 Legal Fellowships in the United States

Background
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, seeks several post-graduate Legal Fellows to work full-time in the Protection and Solutions Unit (PSU) at UNHCR’s Multi-Country Office in Washington, D.C. The fellowship has a duration of one year, starting in September 2027. UNHCR will work with each selected fellow to craft a portfolio of work that will provide considerable opportunity for professional development while contributing to UNHCR’s strategic objectives. Each fellow is required to obtain external funding for the full duration of their fellowship (see details under Terms of Fellowship below), and should indicate in their initial application how they intend to seek that funding.
UNHCR’s PSU team serves asylum-seekers, refugees, and stateless persons who are in the United States or the northern Caribbean or seeking to access protection in these countries and territories. PSU seeks to ensure that law and policy in these locations are aligned with international refugee law and works with stakeholders to ensure protection for forcibly displaced and stateless persons in the area that it covers.
UNHCR Legal Fellows during the 2027-2028 cycle will be based in Washington D.C.

PSU Legal Fellowships
The Legal Fellows’ work will support PSU’s overall protection and solutions strategy, with a particular focus on the United States and its engagement in the region. UNHCR advises governments on how best to align their domestic asylum system with international standards. To this end, PSU provides comments on proposed legislation and regulations, submits amicus briefs on select international legal issues, and shares information on displacement trends, both globally and regionally. In addition, PSU focuses on regional protection issues, i.e. in the Americas, following U.S. diplomatic engagement with other asylum countries throughout the hemisphere, as well as related bilateral and multilateral initiatives. In the realm of statelessness, PSU conducts trainings and presentations on statelessness and nationality to a range of audiences and provides guidance on the potential stateless status of individuals who contact the office. PSU also gathers information on the protection situation of forcibly displaced and stateless persons at different stages of the asylum process, including at land borders and ports of entry, in detention, and in U.S. immigration courts, and works to develop pragmatic policy and practice options for the relevant authorities. Additionally, PSU provides information on the laws, policies, and procedures for seeking asylum and related protection in the United States to persons of concern to UNHCR.
The Legal Fellows’ areas of potential engagement include law and policy analysis at the intersection of international and domestic law, regional protection policy, monitoring of protection conditions, and individual case support.

Qualifications and Experience Required
When submitting an application, prospective fellows are encouraged to detail their experience in the immigration and refugee field as well as which skills and substantive areas of knowledge they wish to develop during their fellowship period. Fellows:

Must be a 2027 degree candidate or recent graduate from a U.S. law school.
Must have completed coursework in international law; refugee law; and/or human rights; additional coursework in U.S. immigration law preferable.
Preference for experience in U.S. asylum; refugee law; and/or other topics related to refugees, asylum-seekers, and statelessness.
Experience with legal clinics in law school, or other forms of direct service experience with asylum-seekers or statelessness would be particularly helpful.
Fluent Spanish is essential for fellows working on US southern border and protection policy issues in the Americas, and is highly desirable for other areas of work.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Detail-oriented, with strong research and legal analysis skills.
Self-directed, with ability to multi-task and prioritize with minimal supervision.

Terms of Fellowship

Candidates must demonstrate a guaranteed funding source for the one-year period of the fellowship in their cover letters. If funding is conditioned to being selected for the fellowship, candidates should indicate that in their cover letters. Candidates will not receive any form of funding or financial support from UNHCR. In recent years, many successful fellows have obtained funding through public interest post-graduate fellowships offered by their respective law schools, though funding opportunities may also exist through other organizations.
Candidates are responsible for their housing, their legal stay in the United States, health insurance, and any other related documentation that will be required by UNHCR.
The fellowship will begin in September 2027 and last for 12 months.
A fellowship does not create any expectation or entitlement to employment with UNHCR at the conclusion of the fellowship.
In their cover letters, candidates may indicate their preference for a fellowship that focuses on one thematic area, or that encompasses several different thematic focus areas. Candidates may also signal in their cover letter if they have no preference and prefer UNHCR to match them with specific needs of the PSU team according to their background. Candidates who do not specify a preference will be evaluated for all fellowship positions.

How to Apply
To be considered for any one of these positions, candidates must complete their application through the UNHCR jobs portal. The portal includes a place to upload required documentation, including a cover letter and writing sample.

All vacancies are posted to UNHCR’s careers portal (https://unhcr.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External). Filter by location country and select “United States.” Select the Fellowship job announcement, and then click “Apply” to complete your application. If you have never submitted an application via our new career portal, you will be requested to register as a new user and create an account. Applications will not be accepted by email. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Where prompted in the application, candidates must:

Complete their profile making sure to indicate their education background, professional experience, any language skills, and contact information for three references.
Attach a cover letter that explains (i) their interest in any specific fellowship(s), (ii) describes what sort of work they seek to do, (iii) mentions the funding source to be secured that will enable their engagement as a Legal Fellow, and (iv) confirms their ability to work full-time and make a one-year commitment with UNHCR.
Attach a writing sample of 5-10 pages.
If candidates have any problems attaching the cover letter or writing sample to their application, they can email the cover letter and writing sample to usawafel@unhcr.org. No applications will be received through this email, only attachments that were not successfully uploaded to the careers portal will be received at this email.

IMPORTANT: Applications will be accepted until 27 October 2026 at 5:59 p.m. EDT.

Please note that persons interested in applying should have work authorization in the United States for the full duration of the fellowship period.

UNHCR encourages applications from all qualified candidates without distinction on the grounds of race, color, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The agency values diversity, inclusiveness, and gender equity and strives to achieve full adherence to these principles in its policies and organizational culture. For more information on UNHCR’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, please see the page at this https://www.unhcr.org/us/get-involved/work-us/careers-unhcr/diverse-workforce.

For more information on UNHCR’s work, please visit our website https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/unhcr-united-states-and-northern-caribbean