If you’re a U.S. citizen in Lebanon – or know someone who is – keep reading for more information on what assistance the U.S. State Department is offering, from facilitating travel to providing financial aid.
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What assistance is available for U.S. citizens in Lebanon?
The State Department is providing departure and relocation assistance – but has not yet labeled it as an “evacuation” on its disclaimers.
Be sure to also consult the State’s Department’s update page as well as the State Department’s FAQ for the latest information about what the U.S. government can do in a crisis.
Travel out of Lebanon
The State Department’s Bitter stressed that U.S. citizens in the country should immediately fill out a crisis intake form on the State Department’s website, which acts as a request for assistance.
Bitter said the U.S. government is “working with commercial airlines to block seats for U.S. citizens to be able to depart,” she said.
Commercial flights are still open in Lebanon, said Bitter, and the U.S. government has made 4,000 seats available on flights out of Lebanon to U.S. citizens and their families since September 27 . Currently, “we really do have a lot of capacity left on those flights,” said Bitter. “Most of those flights that the U.S. government has organized are not full.”
According to the State Department’s FAQ, a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation is usually to “a neighboring country or a different part of the same country. This nearby safe location is rarely the United States.” The U.S. government has, however, not yet directly characterized this assistance as an evacuation.
“We will do our best to provide you with information about hotel options [in the new location], but cannot guarantee hotel rates or room availability,” the State Department’s website reads. “Nor can we guarantee that immigration officials will allow you to stay in the country for any length of time.”
The government also emphasizes that people should only travel to the airport when it is safe to do so, and that the U.S. cannot guarantee travel within the country, like trying to drive to the airport. When leaving, people will likely have to fill out a form for evacuees.
Who is eligible for assistance
The U.S. government says it’s “able to assist U.S. citizens and their immediate family traveling with them to depart the country. Immediate family members include: spouses, children under 21-years old, and parents with a means to enter the United States or Schengen Area. We can also assist lawful permanent residents (LPRs) with valid green cards to depart Lebanon.”
What if a family is mixed status, and includes non-U.S. citizens as well as citizens? In this case, Bitter said that a family should still get in touch through the crisis intake form, and the U.S. government can assist in blocking out seats on commercial carriers – like Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines – that go to places that allow both U.S. citizens and Lebanese nationals. Families can also directly book such a flight themselves.
Bitter stressed that the U.S. embassy in Lebanon is still open, and can assist with documentation needs like passport renewals. U.S. citizens can contact the embassy via email (BeirutACS@state.gov) and by telephone: (961) 4 542600 and (961) 4 543600. Be aware that the embassy is not providing routine visa services during this time.
Financial assistance with loans
In some circumstances, the U.S. government can offer citizens a loan to help them leave a country, or navigate staying in it – and Bitter said the U.S. government is providing such loan assistance to citizens in Lebanon.
“We recognize that some may choose to stay,” Bitter said. “So we’ve been offering loans to those families just to help them get through these difficult times.”
To potentially receive loan assistance, Bitter said people can reach out using the crisis intake form, which is closely monitored. The U.S. embassy can also help with loan assistance.
If one is not able to access the internet in Lebanon, Bitter said family members in the United States should fill it out on their behalf.
Even prior to the war, tickets within the Middle East or from the United States to Lebanon can be pricey.
“When we make these loans to people, we’re not really inquiring too deeply on what they’re going to use them for,” Bitter said. “[They] can use them for medicine. They can use them to move within Lebanon.”
“We know some people have used them to buy seats on the commercial carriers as well,” she said.
Fear in the Lebanese American community
American citizen Kamel Ahmad Jawad of Michigan was one of the hundreds killed in Lebanon over the last two weeks.
“We are honored by his sacrifice,” Jawad’s daughter Nadine, a Stanford alumna, wrote in a statement on Instagram. “In his last days, he chose to stay near the main hospital in Nabatieh to help the elderly, disabled, injured, and those who couldn’t financially afford to flee … he repeatedly told me we should not be scared because he is doing what he loves the most: helping others live in the land he loved the most.”
According to the 2020 U.S. census, there are over 320,000 American residents who are Lebanese and they are the second-largest group in the Middle Eastern North African community, after Iranians. There are approximately 5,000 Lebanese Americans in the Bay Area, according to the West Coast’s Honorary Consulate of Lebanon.
Stanford student MJ Azzi, who came to the United States six years ago, is one of them. Last month, she told KQED that she is in constant communication with her parents in Lebanon, who “are very scared.”
“They say that whatever it is that they have been dreading to happen for the past many months is happening right now,” Azzi said.
