PBS NewsHour released a great video yesterday, detailing the hardships faced by Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants during their work with the United States. The piece also discusses the backlog in processing SIV’s at the State Department: approximately 8,000 Afghans currently applications in the pipeline.
Since 2007, when the first SIV program began, less than 25% of available visas have been awarded to our Afghan allies. Government officials and outside commentators alike have called the program’s backlog “disastrous,” like Kirk Johnson of the List Project, while others have simply termed it “an embarrassment.” Hopefully, with increased pressure from the press and supporters of the SIV program, the State Department will allocate more resources to its processing subdivision to ensure that more visa applications are processed.