Page 14 - Immigrant Visa Program News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Jane, walk us through the special immigrant visa program. how exactly does it work for the people who are trying to leave afghanistan? >> yeah. the special immigrant visa program is commonly referred to as the siv program. that program has been around for decades. the applications for the siv program originate in the country of origin. so in this case afghan citizens who are living in afghanistan, many of them in kabul, are applying in the u.s. embassy to relocate and qualify for the siv program. one challenge with that program, unfortunately, is that there are many security checks, health che...

>> the special immigrant visa program, it is commonly referred to as the sid sid program. it's been around for decades. the application for the program, originate in the country of origin. so in this case, afghan citizens, who are living in many in kabul, are playing through the u.s. embassy, to relocate, into qualified for the program. one challenge with that program, unfortunately, is that there are many security checks, health checks that people have to clear, before they get the status. and that's been taking up to four years. there is been 1100 people, that have arrived, through that prog...

Expedite the siv, the special immigrant visa program? it's been held up, frankly, for years. and neither the obama nor the trump nor the biden administration has been particularly good at speeding up the process. does that need to happen? >> yes, it absolutely does. and senator jeanne shaheen of new hampshire and i were the lead sponsors of the siv bill in the united states senate. it is something we are extremely concerned about. the state department has been dragging its feet for months now on this issue. it is time that they expedite this. they need to get as many of our friends and our all...

0 that they are the ones that have protected our nation for the past two decades by taking the fight to the terrorists in iraq and afghanistan, and not allowing them to attack our homeland. and, unfortunately, we see the resurgence of the taliban and the reconstitution of al qaeda in afghanistan. so i worry about the homeland. but that is the very first thing that our president needs to communicate is to these brave men and women, a heartfelt thank you. the second thing is how are we going to evacuate all of these americans, all these afghans, and then, third, how are we going to contain the t...

We still saw many afghan civilians and professionals trying to help the americans conduct their mission, ultimately draw down the force presence there in afghanistan. there is a program right now, it's a special immigrant visa program that the united states is offering to many of those u.s. allies on the ground but reports indicate there are upwards of 80,000 applicants and only one or 2% of them have been flown out of the country. we're seeing images in kabul of streets filled with people, cars blocked in traffic jams. many heading to the airport hoping to find a way out of afghanistan before...