Only a small percentage of the tens of thousands of Afghans who were evacuated and taken to the United States possess special immigrant visas.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill that only about 3%, or approximately 1,800, have SIVs of the roughly 60,000 Afghan evacuees who have landed in the U.S. already. Additionally, 7% of them are U.S. citizens, and 6% are lawful permanent residents.
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“The balance of that population are individuals whose applications have not yet been processed for approval who may qualify as SIVs and have not yet applied, who qualify, or would qualify, I should say, as P1 or P2 refugees who have been employed by the United States government in Afghanistan and are otherwise vulnerable Afghan nationals, such as journalists, human rights advocates, etc.,” he explained during the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing.
The U.S. and coalition forces evacuated more than 110,000 people during the final two weeks in August after the Taliban overthrew the government during a military offensive as the U.S. military was embarking on the final stretches of the 20-year war.
Many of the people who were evacuated were Americans who lived in Afghanistan, third-country nationals, and Afghans who would be at-risk under the Taliban, but “the majority” of Afghans who worked with the U.S. government were left behind, a State Department official said earlier this month.
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“It involved some really painful trade-offs and choices for everyone involved,” a senior State Department official told reporters. “Everybody who lived it is haunted by the choices we had to make and by the people we were not able to help depart in this first phase of the operation.”
Special Immigrant Visas are awarded after a 14-step process, and applicants must have helped the U.S. during the 20-year war on terror, though the State Department in late July broadened the visa pool.
The “majority” of the Afghans who will be resettled in the U.S. worked “directly” with the U.S. on the mission in Afghanistan, according to a National Security Council spokesperson. The representative noted that working with the U.S. does not make one eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa on its own and that some who are eligible have not yet applied.
