The Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services Agency announced on Monday their plans to exempt up to 70,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. in a turbulent evacuation following the White House's decision to pull out the U.S. military from the nation amid its falling to the Taliban in August.
"By providing these evacuees with access to streamlined processing and fee exemptions, we will open doors of opportunity for our Afghan allies and help them begin to rebuild their lives in communities across our country more quickly," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. "These actions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to Afghan nationals who provided valuable assistance to the United States over the past two decades as well as other Afghans at risk."
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The 70,000 Afghans were released into the U.S. for humanitarian visas and were eligible to appeal for documents that would allow them to work legally. The $495 application fee is waived.
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Afghans who ask for immigration benefits, including the Special Immigrant Visa, lawful permanent residence, or asylum, will not have to pay the standard fees when they apply. Only 40% of the 70,000 that the Biden Administration carried out of Afghanistan are considered qualified for the Special Immigrant Visa program due to assisting the U.S. military during the war.
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This summer, the Biden Administration claimed that it was evacuating primarily people from this category, but chaos at the airport evacuation sites led to tens of thousands more unverified Afghans boarding the planes.
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, President of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine national refugee resettlement agencies, welcomed Monday's announcement, saying many of the Afghan families her group serves face financial insecurity and are eager to find jobs.
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"This policy decision is an economic win-win; we can get these families on the road to self-sufficiency, and we can unleash their potential for employers desperate for talented workers amid a labor shortage," Vignarajah said.
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Approximately 50,000 evacuees are currently staying at eight domestic U.S. military sites while they finish their legal paperwork, the latest DHS figures show. They have also received vaccinations against coronavirus, measles, and other infectious diseases.
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Up until last week, 14,000 Afghan evacuees had left the military installations to resettle in communities across America. While nonprofit organizations have largely overseen this stage of the resettlement process, the Biden Administration uncovered an initiative last month to allow groups of private U.S. citizens to sponsor Afghan families.
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Another 2,000 Afghan evacuees remain at bases in the Middle East and Europe, where U.S. officials have been conducting security screenings and background checks, according to the DHS.
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