Last month marked two years since President Joe Biden withdrew American troops from Afghanistan takeover of the nation by the Taliban. According to the Biden Administration, 70,000 Afghans were evacuated by the U.S. military in August. In addition, The Biden Administration added staffing and expanded the budget of the for the Special Immigrant Visa program that relocates Afghans who aided American soldiers and diplomats in Afghanistan.
However, a recent report released by the US Department of State reveals that these reforms have fallen disastrously short.
The report found that efforts to improve the SIV process in anticipation of the Afghan withdrawal began in February 2021 – in addition to the expanded staff, email processing software was employed, and a new consular was established in Doha, Qatar,. These improvements, however, were no match for the influx of SIV applicants that followed the fall of Kabul in August 2021. “The number of Afghan SIV principal applicants awaiting COM approval increased by 1,416 percent from October 2021 through December 2022, from 4,029 to 61,114, respectively,” the report notes. Applications were spiking as the Taliban crackdown intensified in Afghanistan, but there were no additional personnel hired to deal with this increase in applications after February. As of August 1st, 2023, nearly 35,000 SIVs had been issued – but more than an estimated 152,000 SIV-eligible applicants remain stuck in Afghanistan or otherwise in limbo waiting for their visa to be processed.
Belonging to the latter group is Muhammad Idrees Ghairat, a scholar at the SPIA Afghan Policy Lab at Princeton University and an Afghan refugee. Ghairat, a former employee of the United States Institue of Peace in Kabul, applied for his SIV in April 2021 – four months before the US withdrawal. In May, he was given a case number and asked to submit a supervisor letter of recommendation, but he did not receive any further updates on his case. On August 15, 2021, when Kabul fell, Ghairat was among the 70,000 immediately evacuated, aided by the fact that he had a case number in hand—but he still did not have a visa. In December of 2022, after arriving in the US, he found out via the online SIV portal that he had been denied for an SIV because his recommendation letter was “not verifiable.” “My supervisor stopped working for the US Institute of Peace when Kabul fell,” he explained. “When they contacted her by email, it was to an email that is now not working.”
Ghairat has appealed the decision, but it has been pending for more than 8 months. In the interim, he is in the US on humanitarian parole, a visa that only allows you to be here for two years. His parents and disabled sister are still stuck in Afghanistan. “You don’t know what’s next, or what’s happening,” Ghairat says. “The Taliban are threatening family members. The emotional and psychological stress – my family has insurance but no access to healthcare in the Taliban government. It is very frustrating.”
Despite these circumstances, Ghairat is hopeful about his future. “I am still confident in my case because my office is still functioning; my employers know me personally. They can send in any verification evidence that the process requires. But what if you don’t have a direct supervisor or if you are a subcontractor?” he asks.
Ghairat strikes at a crucial point. “The Afghan immigrant visa process is incredibly layered,” says Jenna Jaffe, Congressional Immigration Specialist. “I have yet to see a program category with a higher threshold to meet – and you must meet every criterion 100%.”
Jaffe explains that after an SIV application is submitted, the most significant hurdle is clearing the first step: obtaining Chief of Mission (COM) approval. COM approval is the Department of State’s process of applicant employment verification and letter of recommendation review. Ghairat is currently awaiting COM approval as well. “60% of applications get stalled or do not pass this phase, and in many cases, not because of any fault of the applicant,” Jaffe says.
Jaffe gives the examples that it is not always possible to get a letter of recommendation from an applicant’s supervisor. “I’ve worked on cases where the applicant’s supervisor has passed away. What then? You would think the government would keep a list of its contractors – they don’t, or they won’t share it.”
The COM approval is part of the “enhanced vetting” process touted by elected officials and even the secretary of Homeland Security as a way to stop “bad actors” from entering the country. “But there is no data to support that enhanced vetting is catching any bad actors.” Jaffe says, “For example, many of our security systems are not built for non-European names, whether in spelling, length, or naming conventions.”
Jaffe explains that there are many ways that there could be multile acceptable transliterations of the same Arabic name – “but if there is an inconsistency in our system, the applicant is denied.” Jaffe says that enhanced vetting doesn’t really work, and ultimately, it only makes life impossible for both Americans and Afghans.
Looking forward, the Department of State’s report outlines plans to hire a hundred additional personnel to support SIV processing. They estimate that this has the potential to allow the government to process all the applications currently stalled in the COM phase within the next three to five years.
Jaffe appreciates any extra help but does not see a way forward in this system long-term without greater reform. “The Department of Homeland Security needs to be meaningfully restructured,” she says. “The government has no vested interest in people understanding the immigration system, and the vast majority of the public points their anger and fury at people who have nothing rather than at Congress for failing to create a functional immigration system.”
