The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans program honors the contributions of immigrants and children of immigrants to the United States. Each year, we invest in the graduate education of 30 new Americans — immigrants and children of immigrants — who are poised to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture, or their academic field. Each Fellow receives up to $90,000 in financial support over two years, and they join a lifelong community of New American Fellows.

The competition is merit-based. Selection criteria emphasize creativity, originality, initiative, and sustained accomplishment. The program values a commitment to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The program does not have any quotas for types of degrees, universities or programs, countries of origin, or gender, etc. Unsuccessful applicants are welcome to reapply in subsequent years if they are still eligible.

Eligibility
To be eligible for the 2019 Fellowship, you must meet the following requirements as of the November 1, 2018, application deadline:

New American Status • Your birth parents must have both been born outside of the United States as non-U.S. citizens, and both parents must not have been eligible for U.S. citizenship at the time of their births. In addition, you must be a U.S. citizen (by birth or naturalized), possess a valid green card, were born outside of the U.S. or one of its territories and were subsequently adopted by American parent(s), and were awarded U.S. citizenship as a result of your adoption, or have been granted or have previously been granted DACA status.
Academic Standing • You should be planning to be enrolled full time in an eligible graduate degree program at a U.S. university for the full 2019–20 academic year. In addition, you must not have begun the third year of the program you are seeking funding for as of the November 1, 2018, deadline. Applicants who have a previous graduate degree or who are in a joint-degree program are eligible. Ineligible programs: Online programs, executive graduate programs, joint bachelors/master’s programs, certificate programs, post-baccalaureate programs, graduate programs that are not in the United States, and graduate programs that are not fully accredited.
Age • You must not have reached or passed your 31st birthday as of the application deadline. There is no minimum age requirement.

The deadline to apply is November 1, 2018, at 2 p.m. ET. Visit the Paul and Daisy Soros website for more information.

Paul and Daisy Soros, Hungarian immigrants and American philanthropists, established their fellowship program for New Americans in 1997. Their goal was to assist these individuals at critical points in their education, as well as to call the attention of all Americans to the extensive and diverse contributions of New Americans to the quality of life in the U.S. See Huffington Post blog article “Big Thanks to Paul and Daisy Soros for Reminding Me About What Makes America Great!“