# Understanding the RETURN Act

During Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. State Department helped evacuate American citizens and permanent residents who were trapped in the country. Normally, when the government pays for emergency transportation to bring people home, those individuals are expected to pay back the cost of their travel. The RETURN Act changes this by saying the government cannot ask people evacuated from Ukraine to reimburse any of those travel expenses.

The bill does three specific things. First, it requires the Secretary of State to forgive any repayment obligations for travel costs incurred during the Ukraine evacuation. Second, it cancels any promissory notes or loan agreements that evacuees may have already signed promising to repay the government for their transportation home. Third, it explicitly prohibits any federal official from asking evacuees to pay money back or from making payment a condition of getting on the evacuation flights. Essentially, if you were an American citizen or permanent resident evacuated from Ukraine during this crisis, the government is covering your travel costs as a gift rather than a loan.

The bill also includes a provision about COVID-19 testing requirements. It says that people on these evacuation flights cannot be denied boarding just because they don't have proof of a negative COVID test, even though such tests were normally required for people entering the United States at that time. This was meant to ensure that people fleeing a war zone wouldn't be stranded because of testing requirements they couldn't meet. The entire act was set to expire six months after being signed into law, making it a temporary measure specific to the Ukraine crisis rather than a permanent change to how the government handles evacuations.

RETURN Act

Barr, Andy

Russians Engaged in Threating Ukraine Refuge Now Act or the RETURN Act This bill prohibits the U.S. government from charging U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents for their evacuation related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Specifically, the Department of State must waive repayment for travel expenses incurred on behalf of such an individual as part of the evacuation from Ukraine. Similarly, no federal employee may solicit or accept funds from such an individual as a condition of using government-provided transportation to repatriate the individual to the United States. No traveler may be denied State Department-sponsored air travel related to such an evacuation due to a failure to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test or recovery from COVID-19.