The White House has reached an agreement with House Republicans to increase the number of resettlement visas for Afghans who worked for the United States, according to US legislators.
It was anticipated that the original 38,500 Special Immigration Visas (SIVs), which provide a route to U.S. citizenship and were granted by Congress, would be reached somewhere around the August anniversary of the departure of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that the arrangement will provide 12,000 additional visas, whereas Senate Republicans and the Biden administration had previously asked for 20,000.
McCaul declared during a hearing that “the White House and Congressional leaders have agreed to grant 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan nationals who assisted the United States,” and that the announcement will be included in the measure supporting the State Department’s overseas activities.
The declaration was made during a hearing when two former senior U.S. generals testified that, following the U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban had launched a systematic campaign of retaliation against Afghans who had assisted the American troops.
Nevertheless, the deal is not nearly enough to meet the demand for visas from Afghans. According to a State Department source who spoke on condition of anonymity, as of March 1, more than 80,000 Afghans were undergoing the visa application process; around 25% of them had already been cleared for final interviews and vetting outside of Afghanistan. The program will run out in 2026.
