{"id":2019775,"date":"2023-09-01T18:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T22:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/afghan-special-visa-program-overwhelmed-two-years-after-us-withdrawal-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T18:56:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T22:56:45","slug":"afghan-special-visa-program-overwhelmed-two-years-after-us-withdrawal-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/afghan-special-visa-program-overwhelmed-two-years-after-us-withdrawal-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghan special visa program swamped post-US withdrawal: Watchdog."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fafghan-special-visa-program-overwhelmed-two-years-after-us-withdrawal-watchdog%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2019775&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The State Department&#8217;s Efforts to Process Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Applications Fall Short, Inspector General Report Finds<\/h2>\n<p>The State Department&#8217;s efforts to \u2063swiftly process hundreds of thousands \u200dof Afghan Special \u200bImmigrant Visa applications have not been enough to significantly decrease the waiting list, according to a new\u200b report from the inspector general&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p>Despite dedicating more resources \u200bto the program and attempting to streamline the process\u200d in early 2021, the department was still unable to handle the\u2064 overwhelming increase in \u2064demand caused\u2063 by the Taliban&#8217;s takeover at \u200dthe end of the United States&#8217;s 20 years in Afghanistan, \u2062the IG said in the\u2062 report.<\/p>\n<h3>Challenges in the Visa Program<\/h3>\n<p>Afghans who worked alongside \u200cU.S. military personnel or contractors are eligible for these visas. However, Congress has only approved the allocation of 38,500 principal visas since 2004, which are for individuals \u200bwho worked with the military. The State Department\u2063 stated\u2064 that their families can submit &#8220;derivative&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcauliffe-fundraises-with-real-estate-exec-who-pushed-controversial-visa-program-to-attract-chinese-investment\/\" title=\"McAuliffe Fundraises With Real Estate Exec Who Pushed Controversial Visa Program To Attract Chinese Investment\">visa applications<\/a> for spouses\u200b or minor children of principal\u200c applicants. \u2062As\u2064 of April 2023, only \u206215,377 of\u200d those visas were still available, according to the Congressional Quarterly report.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200c report detailed the department&#8217;s efforts to streamline the Afghan SIV applicant process,\u2063 including increasing staffing, coordinating with\u2064 the Department of Defense for\u2064 employment\u200d verification, \u200cand \u2064eliminating certain application requirements.\u2063 However, these actions did not successfully \u200creduce \u200dthe \u2064Afghan SIV \u200bapplicant\u200d backlog as of December 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The backlog of principal Afghan SIV applicants reached nearly 155,000 by December 2022. \u200bWhen considering\u2063 their family members, \u2062the State Department estimated that\u2062 over 840,000 principal applicants and \u2062family members\u200c remained in Afghanistan as of April 2023, approximately 20 months after the end of the war. The current status of their visa applications is unclear.<\/p>\n<h3>Efforts to Improve the Program<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;At \u200dthe\u2063 President&#8217;s direction,\u2064 we have\u200b undertaken substantial efforts to improve the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program\u200d to streamline the application and \u2063adjudication \u200bprocesses, while safeguarding our national security,&#8221; a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. The \u200bdepartment has increased resources and staff dedicated to the program and continuously reviews the application\u200b process for areas of improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the Biden administration through August 1,\u2063 2023, the department has issued nearly 34,000 SIVs to principal applicants \u2062and their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-state-dept-taliban-shows-little-regard-for-human-life\/\" title=\"U.S. State Dept.: Taliban shows little regard for human life\">eligible family members<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/afghan-special-visa-program-overwhelmed-two-years-after-us-withdrawal-watchdog\/\" title=\"Afghan special visa program swamped post-US withdrawal: Watchdog.\">representing significant yearly increases compared<\/a> to \u2063previous\u2064 years.<\/p>\n<h3>Concerns and Calls for Action<\/h3>\n<p>The\u200d IG report highlighted that SIV applicants leaving the country are dependent \u2062on\u200b Taliban cooperation and freedom of movement. Andrew Sullivan,\u200d director of advocacy at No \u2064One\u200b Left Behind, emphasized that the promise was\u200c not limited to the first 38,500 applicants but extended to \u2062all eligible partners. He urged Congress to take action and increase the number of available visas.<\/p>\n<p>Legislation to address \u2063this \u200dissue is currently being considered on Capitol Hill \u2064but has not yet passed\u2063 both chambers.<\/p>\n<p>A recent report from \u2063the United Nations Assistance\u200c Mission in Afghanistan documented numerous human rights violations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-official-qaddafis-son-and-rogue-warlord-contest-libyan-presidential-election\/\" title=\"It\u2019s Official: Qaddafi\u2019s Son and Rogue Warlord Contest Libyan Presidential Election\">including extrajudicial killings<\/a> and arbitrary\u200d arrests, committed by the Taliban. Sullivan argued that this report\u200b demonstrates the\u2062 lack of urgency in providing support to Afghan allies.<\/p>\n<p>It is clear that more \u2063needs to be done to \u200caddress the \u200cchallenges\u2064 faced by Afghan SIV applicants and ensure that those who have worked alongside the U.S. military are not left behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State Department&#8217;s efforts to expedite Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applications fell short, per inspector general&#8217;s report. Despite allocating more resources and streamlining the process earlier this year, the waiting list remains largely unaffected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2019776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}