The Biden administration has brokered a compromise agreement with Republicans in the House of Representatives to expand the number of resettlement visas available for Afghans who supported the United States, according to U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday.
The previously set limit of 38,500 Special Immigration Visas (SIVs), offering a pathway to U.S. citizenship, was projected to be exhausted around the August anniversary of the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Representative Michael McCaul, the leading Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, disclosed that the deal would permit an additional 12,000 visas, falling short of the 20,000 sought by both the Biden administration and Senate Republican lawmakers.
During a hearing, McCaul announced, “The White House and Congressional leaders have agreed to grant 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan nationals who assisted the United States,” clarifying that this provision would be included in the State Department’s foreign operations funding bill.
Democratic Representative Jason Crow, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and spearheaded the effort in the House to raise the SIV cap, corroborated the 12,000 figure to Reuters.
Nevertheless, the agreement remains below the demand for visas by Afghans, with the program scheduled to expire in 2026.
According to a State Department official speaking anonymously, as of March 1, over 80,000 Afghans were in the visa process, with approximately a quarter already cleared for final interviews and vetting outside of Afghanistan.
This announcement coincided with a hearing featuring testimony from two former top U.S. generals, who highlighted the systematic retribution faced by Afghans who supported the United States in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal, perpetrated by the Taliban.
The decision to allocate additional visas comes in the face of immigration opposition, exacerbated by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, and reports from the United Nations documenting the Taliban’s targeting of former officials and soldiers, resulting in killings, arrests, and torture since the group seized control of Kabul.
Crow described the compromise as a victory, stating, “It’s not what we originally asked for. That’s what the Senate had approved. But it gives us a lot more runway for a longer-term fix and allows us to save more lives.”