Without abrupt congressional intervention, Afghan allies who risked their lives to support U.S. personnel during nearly 20 years of operations in Afghanistan may soon lose access to the special immigrant visas they were promised.

A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that “approximately 8,000” SIVs remain as of Feb. 1. At the current rate of issuance, the spokesperson said that it will exhaust the remaining visas “by September 2024.” According to the most recent State Department quarterly SIV report, there are more than 147,000 SIV applicants at various stages of processing.