US resumes processing Afghan visas that will result in denials, says rights group

We are seeing Afghan applicants instructed to schedule visa interviews, travel across borders, and present themselves at US embassies, without being told that, under current policy, those applications are expected to be denied, Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, said in a statement on Wednesday. This is not speculative. It is reflected in sworn testimony from a senior State Department official, he added. On 30 March, Andrew Veprek, US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees, and migration, said in testimony provided to the federal court in Washington, DC, that SIV processing resumed in February of this year, per a court order. But processing, AfghanEvac noted, even if successful, is not the same as granting entry into the US. Veprek's testimony is part of the case Afghan and Iraqi Allies v Rubio, brought late last year. He acknowledged that the Afghan travel ban remains in effect, per the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump, and that consular officers are not required to inform applicants in advance whether they have grounds for inadmissibility. The timing is notable because the administration had set itself a deadline of 31 March to shut down Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, where more than 1,000 Afghans are in limbo, awaiting resettlement in the US. The State Department has said it is looking for third countries willing to accept them, and blamed the Biden administration for what it described as poor vetting. 'End in denial' Several Afghans at the camp have told Middle East Eye they already have their US visas, in some cases outside of the SIV category. The general protocol is also that they would not have been flown to the base to begin with without significant pre-screening. 'It's a prison': Afghans stranded in US camp in Qatar exposed to Iranian strikes Read More » As of 8 April, however, the camp remains operational, and those who have been able to leave it have accepted US government stipends to go back to Afghanistan - something the State Department previously told MEE that it was not going to do. In plain terms: people are being told to show up for a process that the government already expects to end in denial, without being told that upfront, VanDiver said. For many, that means spending scarce resources, crossing borders, and taking on real personal risk for an outcome that is effectively predetermined. Veprek said that this month, the US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, where thousands more Afghans also await their fate, will boost monthly scheduling of visa interviews by 25 percent. But he also indicated that the US cannot push much further, as doing so could negatively impact relations between Washington and Islamabad if the majority of visa interview slots are not allocated to Pakistani nationals. According to AfghanEvac, as of August 2025, US government data shows that 178,110 individuals have already received chief of mission approval, which is the formal determination that they qualify for an Afghan SIV. However, they had not yet been interviewed nor had their visas been issued, which means the current backlog could take several years, especially considering the staff cuts made under the Trump administration's Doge initiative last year. Afghanistan News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0