Statement by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas
The United States continues to demonstrate its commitment to the thousands of brave Afghans who have stood side by side with us over the past two decades. We have already taken substantial steps to improve the Afghanistan Special Immigrant Visa (IAS) program and today’s announcement reflects our commitment to do so.
Today the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a change to the SIV program that would streamline and streamline the application process for Afghan candidates. Starting this week, new candidates for the Afghan SIV program will only have to submit one form, a revised DS-157 form, as their SIV petition. New candidates no longer need to file Form I-360, Petition for Special Immigrant Status, with DHS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This new simplified process, which is part of our ongoing efforts to make the program more efficient, will help remove barriers for candidates and reduce application times. This change does not reduce or eliminate any of the robust security verification processes required before granting the benefit.
This is one of the many steps we have taken to improve the SIV process while safeguarding national security. Since the beginning of the Administration, we have increased resources to this vital program and have reviewed every step of the statutory application process necessary to simplify it where possible.
