Only about 2% of the tens of thousands of migrants who have poured into the Big Apple since the asylum seeker crisis started have actually applied for work authorization permits, the latest data shows.
Roughly 3,200 asylum seekers in New York City have filed the required paperwork needed to start earning a legal paycheck — some 18 months after the relentless migrant influx first began, according to figures provided by City Hall.
1,495 of those work authorization applications have been filed through the city’s Asylum Application Help Center since the facility opened back in June, the figures show.
Meanwhile, another 1,700 work applications were submitted last month when the Biden administration sent Department of Homeland Security staffers to Gotham for a two-week stretch to help speed through the bureaucratic process.
It isn’t clear how many of them, if any, have since been granted approval.
Still, it’s just about a 2% fraction of the 139,500 asylum seekers who have come through the city’s intake system since spring 2022 — though that number also accounts for migrants who aren’t eligible to work, including children.
While the city knows there are more than 42,000 adult migrants in its care, the number who are actually work-eligible is a mystery because the city, state or feds haven’t been fully tracking the asylum seekers after they cross the border.
More than 2,800 new migrants arrived last week alone, according to City Hall’s figures — down from the record weekly high of 3,900 asylum seekers that was recorded early last month.
Since then, the weekly pace of arrivals has been hovering around the 2,500 mark, but officials within the Adams administration have cautioned the reprieve may only be temporary.
Meanwhile, the city opened its help center, which is funded by the state, four months ago as a way to help migrants with the streams of paperwork associated with filing asylum claims and work authorization applications.
Operating out of the Roosevelt Hotel-turned-migrant shelter in Midtown, the help center is staffed by 75 people who handle the paperwork and 20 immigration lawyers.
In addition to the 1,495 work permits applications filed, the center has also helped submit 6,768 asylum applications and 1,265 Temporary Protected Status — or TPS — applications since opening.
Migrants aren’t eligible to apply for the work permits until they’ve lodged their asylum application papers — and even then the wait time can be up to another six months.
Roughly 3,200 asylum seekers in New York City have filed the required paperwork needed to start earning a legal paycheck — some 18 months after the relentless migrant influx first began, according to figures provided by City Hall.
1,495 of those work authorization applications have been filed through the city’s Asylum Application Help Center since the facility opened back in June, the figures show.
Meanwhile, another 1,700 work applications were submitted last month when the Biden administration sent Department of Homeland Security staffers to Gotham for a two-week stretch to help speed through the bureaucratic process.
It isn’t clear how many of them, if any, have since been granted approval.
Still, it’s just about a 2% fraction of the 139,500 asylum seekers who have come through the city’s intake system since spring 2022 — though that number also accounts for migrants who aren’t eligible to work, including children.
While the city knows there are more than 42,000 adult migrants in its care, the number who are actually work-eligible is a mystery because the city, state or feds haven’t been fully tracking the asylum seekers after they cross the border.
Currently, there are 65,500 asylum seekers being put up in the more than 200 Big Apple-run shelter sites scattered across the five boroughs.
More than 2,800 new migrants arrived last week alone, according to City Hall’s figures — down from the record weekly high of 3,900 asylum seekers that was recorded early last month.
Since then, the weekly pace of arrivals has been hovering around the 2,500 mark, but officials within the Adams administration have cautioned the reprieve may only be temporary.
Meanwhile, the city opened its help center, which is funded by the state, four months ago as a way to help migrants with the streams of paperwork associated with filing asylum claims and work authorization applications.
Operating out of the Roosevelt Hotel-turned-migrant shelter in Midtown, the help center is staffed by 75 people who handle the paperwork and 20 immigration lawyers.
In addition to the 1,495 work permits applications filed, the center has also helped submit 6,768 asylum applications and 1,265 Temporary Protected Status — or TPS — applications since opening.
Migrants aren’t eligible to apply for the work permits until they’ve lodged their asylum application papers — and even then the wait time can be up to another six months.
