The Biden administration next week will launch a direct sponsorship program for Ukrainian refugees called Uniting for Ukraine, a major piece of the president’s promise to accept up to 100,000 in the United States. The program will also mean shutting down an informal process at the southwest border that led to the admission of thousands of Ukrainians.

A new online portal will begin accepting applications Monday, when both individual Americans and private and public organizations can apply to financially sponsor a Ukrainian for travel from Europe.

Once their sponsor is approved, Ukrainians will then be allowed to apply for travel authorization to come to the U.S. and be considered for humanitarian parole for up to two years. Ukrainians must have a sponsor to qualify for the program, and they'll need to undergo a security screening as well as get vaccinated for a range of diseases.

“This program will be fast, it will be streamlined, and will ensure the United States honors its commitment to the people of Ukraine and need not go through our southern border,” President Joe Biden said in a speech from the White House on Thursday.

Senior administration officials detailed the new pipeline to reporters Thursday morning, noting it was a “novel process” for the U.S. to use but that they expect it to account for the majority of Ukrainian arrivals.

Advocates have urged the Biden administration to consider options other than parole, since it only gives temporary protection, a fact that has left thousands of Afghans in legal limbo this year. 

Officials said temporary status may be appropriate because they expect many Ukrainians to stay close to home in Europe or return to Ukraine eventually.

“Everyone wants to be home. But it may not be possible for a long time,” said Melanie Nezer, senior vice president for global affairs for HIAS, which was founded to aid Jewish refugees.

“There's no downside to giving Ukrainian refugees a choice to either go home or to make their lives here if this is the safer place for them.”

Parole also does not guarantee resettlement benefits, which would have to be granted through legislation from Congress.

"With the onus on sponsors to take financial responsibility, however, we are disappointed to see the administration outsource its moral obligation to support newly arrived Ukrainians," said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. 

Sponsors can be family or friends, but officials said they also expect sponsorship from business organizations, nonprofits and resettlement initiatives like Welcome.US.

Any sponsor will be vetted and must submit an affidavit of support, a process that would ideally take about a week, one official said.

Meanwhile, the new program will supersede admissions of Ukrainians at the southwest border, a process that has accounted for 15,000 arrivals in recent weeks, with an average of 800 people reaching Tijuana, Mexico daily as of early April.

Any Ukrainian who arrives at the border after next week without a visa or without approved sponsorship “may be refused entry under our existing laws,” one senior administration official said.

The U.S. is continuing to enforce Title 42 until at least May 23, a public health authority that has led to the immediate deportation of hundreds of thousands of migrants who reach the border seeking asylum.

Ukrainians had been deemed an exception under the law due to the Russian invasion, but officials now say that will end, unless they have another factor to “merit a humanitarian exception for a different reason, not just because they’re a national of Ukraine,” the official added.

Border agents would make that call on a case-by-case basis, they said.