WASHINGTON // An extra 2,500 visas for Afghans who assisted American forces during the war in their country will be granted under the US government funding deal reached on Sunday, preserving a programme that had been at risk of shutting down.
The $1 trillion (Dh3.67bn) spending deal agreed by congressional negotiators continued the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programme, which allows Afghans who worked for the US government, often risking their lives, to move to the United States after a rigorous vetting process.
A recent bipartisan push by US legislators for more SIV visas came against the backdrop of efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to clamp down on immigration from majority Muslim countries, an effort that has been blocked by the courts.
In March, the US embassy in Kabul said it had stopped scheduling interviews for SIV applicants because it had nearly run out of visas, even though 1,500 more were included in the National Defence Authorisation Act passed in late 2016.
That helped prompt a group of senators, including Republican Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain, to seek more.
As of April 20, only 780 SIV visas remained available, while more than 14,000 Afghans had already begun the application process, according to the US State Department.
Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen, a long-time advocate for the SIV programme, said letting it lapse would have sent a message that the United States was willing to abandon its supporters.
“It’s both a moral and practical imperative that Congress approve additional visas. Thousands of Afghans have put themselves, and their families, at risk to help our soldiers and diplomats accomplish the US mission and return home safely,” Ms Shaheen said.
Afghanistan is not one of the six countries whose citizens would have been barred under Mr Trump’s executive order, but some of the president’s fellow Republicans in Congress have resisted expanding the SIV programme out of concern that militants could use it to enter the United States.
Supporters of the programme say such concerns are overblown, noting the intensity of the screening to which applicants are subjected.
* Reuters