For Afghan allies and their families, the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) picture has two parts that are easy to confuse — and the difference between them can affect critical decisions about your case.
First, the program is now closed to new applicants. The deadline to file an application for Chief of Mission (COM) approval — the first step in the Afghan SIV process — was December 31, 2025. No new Afghan SIV applications can be filed after that date unless Congress acts to extend the program.
Second, cases already in the pipeline must continue to be processed. On February 6, 2026, a federal court ruled in Afghan & Iraqi Allies v. Rubio that the government must resume processing COM applications and follow the court-approved plan for adjudicating SIV cases on a reasonable timeline. The court held that officials have no authority to unilaterally suspend processes that Congress has required them to expedite, and it placed SIV processing under continuing judicial supervision.
If you have a pending case, two deadlines are important. For a pending COM application, the government set June 5, 2026 as the deadline to submit any outstanding documents. And if you receive a COM denial, you generally have 120 days from the date of the denial letter to file an appeal — even if that 120-day window extends past the program’s other deadlines.
The limit on these rulings — processing is not the same as entry. The court orders require the government to adjudicate pending cases. They do not compel the immediate issuance of visas, and they do not reopen entry to the United States. Under the current travel ban, consular officers have stopped issuing visas — including SIVs — to applicants traveling on an Afghan passport, and a visa that has been approved but not yet issued can be refused under INA § 212(f). Afghans who already hold an issued SIV or other valid visa can still travel to the United States.
Attend the interview, or postpone? Because going forward with a visa interview now can result in a 212(f) refusal under the travel ban, many applicants are weighing whether to proceed or wait. Postponing carries its own risk: under INA § 203(g), an immigrant visa case can be terminated if a year passes without action, so maintaining contact with the post at least once a year is generally advisable to keep a case active. This is a fact-specific judgment that should be made with experienced counsel.
The Anwari Law Firm has more than eighteen years of experience handling Afghan SIV matters — including COM withdrawals and appeals and federal court litigation. If you have a pending SIV case or are weighing the attend-versus-postpone decision, contact our office and we will set up a call to assess your options.
Posted in: Immigration
posted on: June 30, 2026