The government has failed to comply with a 2013 law requiring it to decide on visas for the Special Immigrant Visa program (SIV) within nine months. Many Afghan and Iraqi applicants, who risked their lives assisting U.S. troops, have been waiting years on visa decisions. A judge ruled in federal court that the U.S. broke the law and has 30 days to make a plan to fix the application delays. Despite large backlogs, fewer and fewer people have been admitted under the SIV program in recent years, partly because Iraqis could no longer apply after 2014 and partly due to increased immigration restrictions.
– Weekly Immigration Briefing by Olivia Hester, Immigration Law Analyst at Docketwise
Posted in: Immigration
posted on: September 30, 2019