The State Department’s efforts to swiftly process hundreds of thousands of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applications have not been enough to significantly decrease the waiting list, according to a new report from the inspector general’s office.
Even though the department dedicated more resources to the program and attempted to streamline the process in early 2021, the department was still unable to handle the astronomical increase in demand due to the Taliban’s takeover at the end of the United States’s 20 years in Afghanistan, the IG said in the report.
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Afghans who worked alongside U.S. military personnel or contractors are eligible for these visas, though Congress has only approved the allocation of 38,500 principal visas since 2004, which are for the people who worked with the military, according to the State Department, though their families can submit “derivative” visa applications, which are for a spouse or minor child of principal applicants. Only 15,377 of those visas were still available, according to the April 2023 Congressional Quarterly report.
“The Department implemented changes to streamline the Afghan SIV applicant process and mitigate some processing issues; however, these actions had not been successful in reducing the Afghan SIV applicant backlog as of December 2022,” the report detailed, explaining how the department increased staffing, coordinated with the Department of Defense to verify employment, and got rid of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Form I-360 from the application process for the qualifying applicant, among other changes.
The backlog of principal Afghan SIV applicants was up to nearly 155,000 by December 2022. When factoring in their family members as well, the State Department estimated that as of April 2023, more than 840,000 principal applicants and family members remained in Afghanistan, roughly 20 months after the end of the war. It’s unclear where in the visa process they are at currently.
“At the President’s direction, we have undertaken substantial efforts to improve the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program to streamline the application and adjudication processes, while safeguarding our national security,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We have surged resources to this vital program, significantly increasing the number of staff dedicated to it. We have reviewed every stage of the multiple step application process to streamline it wherever possible, consistent with U.S. law, and continue to look for areas to improve.”
From the start of the Biden administration through August 1, 2023, the department has issued nearly 34,000 SIVs to principal applicants and their eligible family members, the official noted, saying it “represented substantial yearly increases from the previous several years.”
The IG report noted that SIV applicants who are leaving the country are “dependent on Taliban cooperation and freedom of movement to leave Afghanistan.”
“We didn’t make a promise to the first 38,500 Afghans to apply, we made a promise to all of our partners, right? It was not the first 38,500 interpreters get a SIV and everybody else too bad, so sad,” Andrew Sullivan, director of advocacy at No One Left Behind, a charitable organization supporting Afghans and Iraqis who worked alongside U.S. troops during both wars, told the Washington Examiner. “We made a promise to everybody and if you’re SIV eligible, [you] ought to be able to apply and receive a SIV.”
There is legislation on Capitol Hill to increase this number but it hasn’t passed both chambers yet.
“Congress really needs to take action on this. We certainly hope this will be a wake-up call. And you know, these allies are deserving that they’ve earned their SIV eligibility. They ought to get it, they should not be denied because of a false ceiling that we put on it,” he added.
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A report from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan released last week detailed at least 218 extrajudicial killings that took place from the time the Taliban assumed power through the end of June 2023, among more than 800 alleged offenses, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and ill-treatment and enforced disappearances against former government officials and Afghan military members.
The report, Sullivan said, demonstrates there’s “not the urgency that our allies deserve” from Capitol Hill.
