RASC News Agency: The White House has struck a deal with Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to boost the number of residency visas for Afghanistanis who have collaborated with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. International sources report that today, Wednesday, Mar 20, the U.S. Congress announced that Mike McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that under the new agreement, an additional 12,000 Afghanistanis will be granted U.S. visas.
It is reported that Congress had previously allocated 38,500 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to eligible Afghanistanis, with expectations that this visa quota would be fulfilled by the anniversary of the U.S. forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in the upcoming month of August. Meanwhile, the Biden administration and Democrats in the Senate had requested an additional twenty thousand visas.
It is noteworthy that Reuters, citing a senior official from the U.S. State Department who wished to remain anonymous, reported that nearly eighty thousand Afghanistanis have applied for U.S. visas.
