Airmen at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, watch as evacuees from Afghanistan board a commercial flight to the United States on Aug. 26, 2021. Two senators introduced legislation June 1, 2023, that would increase the number of visas available for people from Afghanistan who worked with the U.S. before the withdrawal of American forces in 2021. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Bipartisan legislation introduced Thursday in the Senate seeks to increase the number of visas available for Afghan interpreters and others who worked with American forces during the 20 years of war before the Taliban retook power in 2021.
The bill would extend the Special Immigrant Visa program to 2029 and authorize an additional 20,000 visas. It is sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
The legislation, known as the Afghan Allies Protection Act, also aims to streamline the application process for the program, which has seen yearslong delays and a backlog of more than 100,000 cases.
“Every day our allies remain in Afghanistan under Taliban rule is another day that their lives and the lives of their families hang in the balance,” Shaheen said in a statement Thursday.
The program’s extension in 2022 faced objections from some Republican lawmakers, and it was removed from the annual defense bill that year.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., speaks at a hearing in 2019. A bill introduced this week by Shaheen and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., would extend the Special Immigrant Visa program for Afghans to 2029 and authorize an additional 20,000 visas. (EJ Hersom/Defense Department)
Lawmakers swung a last-minute deal afterward and agreed to extend the program through another spending bill, the omnibus.
The Afghan Allies Protection Act would remove the need for Congress to reauthorize the program each year and instead place an end date on the program of 2029.
Shaheen and Wicker said in the statement the fixed time period would provide stability for applicants.
“The U.S. has a moral obligation to follow through and help these supporters who have given invaluable assistance to our forces for over 20 years,” Wicker said.
The five-year extension adds 20,000 visas to the program’s total, in line with previous reauthorizations, which have typically averaged around 4,000 a year since 2017.
The Special Immigrant Visa program, which is run by the State Department, has been plagued by delays since its creation in 2009. It allows Afghan interpreters, contractors and other personnel to reach the U.S. and gain a path to citizenship.
The fall of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan in 2021 led to a surge in applications as well as reports of retribution against those seen as being collaborators with the U.S.
A backlog of more than 125,000 applicants remained as of October 2022, according to numbers recently released by the New York-based International Refugee Assistance Program.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, will introduce companion legislation in the House, Thursday’s statement said.
“This legislation breaks down the bureaucratic blockades so many of our Afghan partners have faced,” Crow said.
