Brazil’s Migration Law represents progress in humanitarian reception and has advanced through the Solidarity Resettlement Program, prioritizing vulnerable groups in partnership with civil society. Nevertheless, refugees continue to encounter discrimination and limited access to autonomy-building opportunities. This work reports the experience of a health-care student in a teaching-and-extension project under family medicine tutoring, examining how social determinants shape the vulnerability of refugees in Brazil and highlighting primary care as a human-rights-based entry point to community health.Experience report from a teaching and extension project addressing neglected populations for undergraduate health students. One pedagogical axis focused on theoretical and practical training on migration, refugee health, and human rights. The study was co-constructed by a student and family physicians, examining gaps that hinder effective reception of refugees in Brazil. It proposes practical strategies for confronting systemic barriers and reframing public health management to address the roots of persistent neglect beyond theoretical ideals.Over six months, students engaged in theoretical classes and weekly article discussions on migration, refugee health, and the health system challenges.Primary care emerged as a strategic space to identify and map migrant populations, requiring flexibility beyond rigid territorial logic. Community leaders can facilitate access and registration. Persistent institutional resistance underscores the need for reinforced training in migrant and refugee health during undergraduate education and ongoing professional development.Over six months, students engaged in theoretical classes and weekly article discussions on migration, refugee health, and the health system challenges. Four undergraduates (three in medicine, one in speech therapy) participated in hybrid meetings and field activities. Topics included geopolitics of migration, refugee rights, primary care challenges, and barriers faced by migrant women, children, and Indigenous refugees. Field immersion revealed linguistic barriers, lack of cultural competence, limited professional knowledge of refugee family dynamics, and insufficient preparation of primary care teams for equitable, longitudinal care.Primary care must act as an adaptive, equity-driven level of care capable of responding to contemporary migratory flows. Despite limitations, it holds significant potential to reduce gaps, provided that training on migrants and neglected populations is expanded within health curricula and family and community medicine practice.