What the Digital Gateway offers
Our goal is to offer a set of digital services and a smooth and unified communication experience, empowering forcibly displaced and stateless people through:
- Accessible protection services tailored for each operational context.
- Greater control of personal data, enabling users to digitally exercise their rights as data subjects.
- Multi-channel communication through websites, messaging apps, contact centres, and kiosks.
- Effective feedback mechanisms to ensure forcibly displaced and stateless people’s voices are heard and can be acted upon.
- Enhanced access to solutions by enabling forcibly displaced and stateless people to proactively learn about opportunities and solutions available and applicable to them.
The Gateway reflects UNHCR’s commitments on Accountability to Affected People (AAP), in line with the organization’s Age, Gender, and Diversity Policy.
These services are being delivered with inclusivity at the forefront, ensuring that they are appropriate and accessible to all groups in a community while building upon existing in-person services.
Demo of MyServices portal overview
Our journey so far
The Digital Gateway is built on extensive consultations with forcibly displaced and stateless communities since 2021. Research has shown strong demand for digital self-service tools, important feedback on usability, security, identity, and data privacy challenges across regions.
As development of the Digital Gateway progressed, UNHCR also deployed some country-specific portals to meet urgent operational needs. These initiatives provided a valuable opportunity to test digital self-service solutions in real-world contexts. They not only helped address immediate challenges but also generated critical insights into user behaviour, design preferences, and operational feasibility—directly informing and strengthening the design of the Gateway. Each implementation served as both a learning experience and a building block towards a more unified, scalable global platform:
- Update contact details,
- Request appointments for newborn registration,
- Check the status of their resettlement cases.
“I find the online self-service portal very useful for me and for many refugees. [Now] we don’t have to come all the way from where we live to find the latest update on our cases. It also helps us to upload important documents without having to personally submit them to the UNHCR office.”
– User in Indonesia
An asylum-seeker creating her Movilidad Segura account. UNHCR/Ana Carolina Tome Pires
As part of the Safe Mobility initiative in the Americas, UNHCR and IOM launched the Movilidad Segura portal in 2023. It allowed refugees and migrants to create accounts, complete questionnaires, and be considered for humanitarian and other regular pathways to third countries. A regional contact centre supported users throughout. The portal and contact centre closed in early 2025 with the end of the initiative.
The design of the Digital Gateway builds on the strengths and lessons learned from existing portals, transforming these insights into a more integrated, intuitive, and globally scalable solution. The first pilot launch is planned in Iraq for the last quarter of 2025, marking a major milestone in UNHCR’s digital transformation. At the same time, the portals in Indonesia and Egypt will transition to the new platform. Deployments will expand to additional countries in 2026, expanding the Gateway’s reach and impact.
Tracking impact through the Digital Gateway
UNHCR staff briefing a refugee on the Indonesia self-service portal. UNHCR/ Mitra Salima Suryono
Driving change together: Transforming humanitarian response
For Donors
Supporting the Digital Gateway means joining a movement that is reshaping humanitarian response for the digital age. Your contribution will help us deliver faster, more efficient services, empower communities to rebuild their lives with dignity, and promote transparency and accountability through better data and reduced risk of fraud. By investing in the Gateway, you will drive innovation, foster lasting impact, and contribute to a more stable, secure world where forcibly displaced and stateless people can thrive.
For Governments
Supporting the Digital Gateway will strengthen administrative efficiency and data accuracy, easing pressure on government agencies and enabling fairer, more transparent resource allocation. The platform reduces fraud, promotes social cohesion, and supports the integration of forcibly displaced and stateless people—helping build stronger, more resilient societies.
For Humanitarian Partners
Using the Digital Gateway brings improved coordination and communication, enhancing operational efficiency so you can focus on delivering vital support. The platform enables personalized assistance and better access to services for forcibly displaced and stateless people, while boosting transparency and accountability. It reduces errors and fraud, improves resource management, and positions you as a leader in humanitarian innovation—amplifying your impact and reach.
One of the UNHCR staff testing the new onboarding tool with a Sudanese refugee. This tool will enable new arrivals from Sudan to request a registration appointment with UNHCR on any digital device. UNHCR/Pedro Costa Gomes.
For more information, please contact:
Lea Bardakgi, Digital Gateway Project Coordinator, [email protected]
Isil Goksel, Communications and Change Management Focal Point, [email protected]
