“Please save my life.” This was the opening line of a message from Abdul (his name changed to protect his safety), an Afghan man who spent 10 years helping US military forces fight Al Qaeda in his native country. Abdul is one of over 70,000 applicants in Afghanistan currently seeking a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). His circumstances are so bad that he believes receiving an SIV will save his life. Abdul’s message continues:
“Dear Sir, I hope you find a way to manifest us from this hell. Since the government collapse, we are totally depressed and broken because of my father’s job as a National army colonel and my duty for one decade in multiple US projects in 34 provinces of Afghanistan. We are suffering high security threats and no one is hearing our voice.
We are experiencing the most horrible and depressed time of our life as a SIV applicant. Every minute I think someone is coming to capture me or my father from the night. I never sleep, especially when I hear police alarm. Me and my wife are shock that someone is coming to capture me.
We change our home five times since Aug 2021.
We are not feeling secure anywhere. We are identified by most people in our village and in our duty environment. That’s why we are always suffering grave danger. The most painful is we are witness of torturing our colleagues and other people in our area.
We never eat food, we just try to stay alive. This winter is the most hard winter for me and my family with no food, no heating, no security, and no peace to sleep. We are totally lost and broken and don’t know what to do”
Abdul’s situation is a dire one. His work, and his family’s connections to the Afghan military, make him a target. For Afghan allies in this situation, there are unfortunately few options. The special immigrant visas, the primary avenue to safety the US created for them, is in need of dramatic adjustments to help Abdul and others like him.
The SIV process was adopted in 2008 in anticipation of the heightened threat native translators, military service members, and contractors would face for supporting US military operations in Afghanistan. However, the program was plagued with challenges from the start. We accurately predicted the level of threat these workers would face, but failed to create a solution that matched the scale of the US’s Afghan operations.
The current SIV application process takes too long and is in need of fundamental reforms to meet the needs of the US military and its allies. The US is well-positioned to make these changes and will save many lives by doing so.
Where the SIV system is today
From its beginnings in 2008, the SIV program has been too slow. Despite a congressional requirement that each application be processed within nine months, the process often took at least 17 months. According to the most recent quarterly report, it is taking more than 20 months.
These problems existed before the 2021 US military withdrawal. Noah Coburn, a researcher at Brown University’s Watson Institute explained that in 2019 “there was a backlog of almost 19,000 applications, a number greater than the total number of Afghans who have received visas in almost 20 years of war.” Following the withdrawal, this backlog increased to somewhere between 60,000 and 75,000.
The scale of the SIV program never matched the US’s actual involvement in Afghanistan. The US’s involvement spanned 20 years. The International Rescue Committee estimates that between 263,000 and 300,000 Afghan civilians were affiliated with the US military, though not all would qualify for the SIV program. But they also estimate that only 16,000 SIVs have been issued since 2014—a clear mismatch of scale even if only half of those civilians could qualify.
Numbers on SIV applicants left behind during the US withdrawal are hard to find and difficult to verify when they exist. However, an August 2022 report by the Association of Wartime Allies suggested that 78,000 people were left behind. According to the Association, that is more than nine out of 10 of the SIV applicants.
Attempts to revise the broken program and reduce processing time have largely failed, squandered by security discussions despite bipartisan support.
There have been marginal process improvements driven by internal investigations by the Office of the Inspector General. In May of 2022, the OIG found “the [SIV] email account had over 325,000 unread messages, and OIG observed that NVC staff were still opening unread emails dated from August 2021.” Today, “NVC is now current with all email correspondence and is responding to emails received in 10 business days or fewer”.
These improvements from the executive branch are a good start, but they are far from enough. The SIV process isn't just a headache or a drain on resources. It is nearly impossible for most of the applicants to complete. In the meantime, they live in daily fear of torture and death.
The intensive 12 step SIV process overview can be found by navigating through the State Department’s website. This process took us, native English speakers with subject knowledge and high speed internet, about 40 minutes to find.
A recent internal review conducted by the State Department reports the following 13 steps in the process. In total, these steps take at least 628 days, or about 20 months. That is more than twice the 9-month timeline required by Congress.
In reality, some steps of the application add more days, but the State Department did not publish the data on how long those processes took. This is partly because these are steps that the applicant must take, not the State Department. These also reflect more complicated steps that require availability for an interview appointment or action from the private sector employers of Afghans. For example, the SIV application process requires two letters to be obtained, one letter verifying employment by an HR official and a second letter of endorsement by a supervisor. These are sometimes frustrating for applicants to obtain because there are detailed requirements that must be met and add time to the application that is not directly because of delays by the government officials processing applications.
Unfortunately for most Afghan Allies waiting in the queue, these 628 days are a minimum, not a maximum. The State Department only counts the days where they are acting on a step in the process, not the days spent figuring out how to apply. With the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, the current SIV system is unsuitable and dangerous.
The current SIV system is inoperable for applicants
Many, including Abdul, are stuck on step 11—an interview and biometrics appointment. This is because step 11 must be done at a US embassy and Afghanistan’s embassy is closed. Because of this closure, thousands of Afghans have no ability to move forward without leaving Afghanistan.
Beginning August 31, 2021, the State Department determined that it would transfer SIV cases from Afghanistan to other embassies, the closest open embassies being Qatar and Pakistan. Due to this, Abdul and many others without a passport or the means to travel will never advance beyond step 11. In Abdul’s case, the responsibilities of caring for his family, his lack of money and a passport, and the inability to travel because of the threats against his life by Al-Qaeda combine to make rescheduling and relocating his interview in another country nearly impossible.
Expecting people to travel internationally to apply or complete their application is unreasonable given the realities of life in Afghanistan. Further, instead of waiting almost two years in a country occupied by the US, applicants must now apply in secret while in an area controlled by a group that the US government does not recognize as a legitimate government.
There is a clear need for extensive reform of the SIV program that addresses initial capacity issues and changing applicant needs. However, since the US withdrawal, policies have not been updated to reflect new realities nor to bring the system in line with the scale of US involvement.
Proactive reform to the program before the withdrawal could have saved countless lives in Afghanistan, but the government still has time to act today.
How to update and improve the SIV system
1. President Biden can use authority granted in the Immigration and Naturalization Act to create a categorical parole program for SIV applicants who meet certain criteria.
President Biden can create a parole program for SIV applicants. In January, Loren Voss, a lawyer and defense policy expert at No One Left Behind, proposed a simple parole program well within the executive branch’s authority. Many applicants already meet the Chief of Mission (COM) approval requirement in SIV applications, meaning the supervisor of the military operation they supported has signed their application. The parole program could authorize those with COM approval and their families to enter the US as a parolee, thereby leveraging the positive aspects of the existing SIV program. In the US, they could then finalize their SIV applications where the delays become annoyances instead of serious safety threats.
Under a new program like this, about 10,000 Afghans would qualify and enter the United States much easier and quicker. This will also allow them to enter the US with the support of nonprofit groups like No One Left Behind (where Voss serves on the board), or Project Dynamo.
This new parole program would reduce backlog and provide safety and security for SIV applicants without exposing the US to additional security risks. Whenever security concerns about refugees emerge, policymakers should be clear that research overwhelmingly suggests that refugees are not public safety threats. The SIV application process adequately responds to all public safety fears regarding immigration.
2. Use the $7 billion frozen Afghan reserves to assist Afghan applicants.
An important question of any policy is who will pay for it. In this case, the US has $7 billion sitting in a bank account from Afghanistan before Kabul fell. These dollars are in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Half of that amount is devoted to the Afghan Fund. The Fund was created in September of 2022 to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in Afghanistan and aid those under the Taliban’s rule. It involves the Swiss government providing assistance to Afghans via nonprofits.
The challenge for SIV applicants is that they are stuck in place. Even though they have been approved by their Chief of Mission, they can’t travel to an embassy to complete their applications. The US could use the Afghan Fund to fund travel to embassies. Getting the money to applicants is an obvious challenge. But the US could continue to work with nonprofits through the Afghan Fund and even US-based nonprofits like No One Left Behind and Project Dynamo (both of which actually provide evacuation assistance).
Money from the Afghan Fund could also be used to pay for additional humanitarian parole application processing for Afghans.
3. The SIV system should create a prioritization system for those who face the most danger and match the number of SIV’s available to the number eligible.
The current SIV process has no prioritization of cases, meaning that those who may have served longer, in a higher capacity, or are enduring the most life threatening circumstances are often stuck in queue behind other applicants with minimal threat.
President Biden’s February 2021 Executive Order on the SIV program could be updated to reflect this criteria and improve the coordination between the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security. This order predates the US withdrawal and may be largely “obsolete” considering the changes to the Afghan political environment since August of 2021.
For applicants facing the most serious risk, such as those with direct threats against themselves or their families, the US may need to create a program that temporarily moves the applicants out of Afghanistan while the application is in process. If the parole program (and future SIV program) are designed well, then this should be necessary only in rare cases.
Going forward, the expanded SIV program can be immune to the challenges that emerged in Afghanistan. Offering a dynamic volume of admissions adaptable to the situation and an efficient and established application process will make this possible.
4. In the future, the Department of Defense can maintain Afghan employment information.
This change could eliminate the need for signatures from former employers. Having DOD provide a backstop of records would remove the single largest disqualifying factor for applicants: being unable to prove that an applicant met employment requirements.
The requirement for employment verification has created unavoidable problems for some applicants. In at least one case, an applicant’s supervisor provided verification during an early stage of the application. That supervisor was later tragically kidnapped and was unable to provide a second verification. This resulted in a denial for the applicant.
This step involves transferring the burden of maintaining employment information from the employee to the employer, in this case the United States Department of Defense. By encouraging the DOD to maintain all employment records, the time and burden placed on applicants will be reduced dramatically and allows the largest security concern with SIV applicants to be verified at the beginning of the application process.
5. Continue to improve and expand the US’s refugee program.
The US should continue to improve and expand its refugee resettlement programs. The SIV program is limited in that many of the program’s resources focus entirely on the application process. This can mean that those who make it through the steps are left with little besides a “Welcome to the United States” pamphlet and limited funding or direction.
Refugees resettled through the formal process receive support and assistance, but SIV applicants do not because they are not considered refugees. The US refugee program is in need of its own reforms, but attention should be given to the ways that SIVs may be able to leverage existing support infrastructure.
A promising option is to continue expanding and formalizing private refugee sponsorship. This is the area where individuals concerned for immigrant’s wellbeing can have the largest and most immediate impact. The launch of the Welcome Corps and Sponsor Circles is an opportunity for US citizens to assist in resettling immigrants, reduce the burden on the State Department and provide a more welcoming and comfortable transition for newcomers by providing coordination and support. Similar programs for Ukrainian and Venezuelan immigrants demonstrate tremendous public support for incoming Americans.
As part of this, Congress should provide a pathway to permanent status. There are about 80,000 Afghan allies already in the US. But their legal status is tenuous because they were brought in through temporary, two-year programs. These expire in July—just three months away, as of this writing.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez reported that, as of February, only 5,000 Afghans were able to adjust to a permanent status in the US. That’s about one in 20 of those here. We are approaching the expiration of existing protections for Afghans. President Biden should extend these as well. Ultimately, however, Congress needs to take action. Proposals like the Afghan Adjustment Act are promising options with bipartisan support because they provide long-term stability (and the bill would streamline SIV applications).
Final takeaway: We can save lives by cutting red tape.
Reforming the SIV process is both daunting and demanding, but stands apart from immigration policy as a whole as an urgent priority. We must strive to repay those who have accepted our call and worked to ensure our national safety and security. Simple reform efforts will assist SIV applicants currently waiting and make a tremendous difference to US military support in future conflicts.
Abdul and others like him have taken great risks, many have sacrificed their lives. While our SIV program may have been snared in challenges from the outset, there are simple fixes to streamline applications and create new pathways for those who supported the US military. It’s a case where cutting red tape will mean saving lives. Prompt and thoughtful improvements to the program will provide a lifeline to US supporters who remain in Afghanistan.