U.S. House approves bid to add 8,000 visas for at-risk AfghansThe U.S. House of Representatives approved a plan on Thursday to allow an extra 8,000 special immigration visas for Afghans who helped the United States and are at risk of retaliation as U.S. troops complete their pullout from Afghanistan after a 20 year war.
The bipartisan bill, which passed with a vote of 407 to 16, will now be considered by the Senate. It also aims to speed up the processing of the visas.
Representative Jason Crow, a Democrat who led the group that sponsored the bill, said the additional visas would cover all potentially eligible applicants in the pipeline. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged last month that there were about 18,000 possible applicants.
The Special Immigrant Visa program is available to Afghans who worked with the U.S. government or U.S. military. The United States has granted 26,500 such visas since December 2014.
President Joe Biden's administration has been under pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups to begin evacuating thousands applicants and their families after Biden said the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan would formally end on Aug. 31............
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-approves-bid-add-8000-visas-at-risk-afghans-2021-07-22/
