Afghans who helped U.S. forces get more visas under funding bill
Source: Reuters
POLITICS | Mon May 1, 2017 | 1:06pm EDT
Afghans who helped U.S. forces get more visas under funding bill
By Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON
An extra 2,500 visas for Afghans who assisted American forces during the war in their country will be granted under the $1 trillion U.S. government funding deal reached on Sunday, preserving a program that had been at risk of shutting down.
The spending deal agreed by congressional negotiators continued the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which allows Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, often risking their lives, to move to the United States after a rigorous vetting process.
A recent bi-partisan push by U.S. lawmakers for more SIV visas came against the backdrop of efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to clamp down on immigration from majority Muslim countries, an effort that has been blocked by the courts.
In March, the U.S. embassy in Kabul said it had stopped scheduling interviews for SIV applicants because it had nearly run out of visas, even though 1,500 more were included in the National Defense Authorization Act passed in late 2016.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-visas-idUSKBN17X220