Up to 300 Afghans, many of them children, will be temporarily housed in the Philippines as their applications for special immigrant visas (SIVs) are processed by the US Embassy in Manila.
Up to 300 Afghan nationals, many of them children, were scheduled to fly to the Philippines Sunday on a special arrangement with the United States government to facilitate the processing of their applications for permanent residency in America. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued entry visas to these Afghans after Philippine intelligence agencies and the US State Department had conducted “full security vetting” of their profiles.
The Afghans were former employees of the US mission in Afghanistan during the 20-year US invasion of Afghanistan as an offshoot of the 911 attacks. A US State Department official said “many” of this Afghans are children. There are also Afghan journalists. The 300 Afghans will temporarily stay in the Philippines while the US Embassy in Manila processes their applications for special immigrant visas (SIVs). A senior DFA official said the Afghans are only allowed to stay in the Philippines for a maximum of 59 days. The US Embassy in Manila should finish the processing of SIV application within 59 days. If the visa application is approved or denied, the US is under obligation to fly them to the US or back to Afghanistan.Sources said the Afghans will be housed in a housing facility inside Clark Development Corporation in Pampanga. They will be restricted within the compound, except when they go to the US Embassy in Manila for interviews. The International Organization for Migration, as the facility manager, will ensure that the Afghan applicants, especially the children, get “adequate social, educational, religious and emotional support” during their stay. “The US government will bear the costs for the sustainment of the applicants while they are in the Philippines,” a DFA senior official said. The US Congress had earlier allowed a maximum of 38,000 former employees of the US Embassy in Kabul and their immediate family members to resettle in the US as permanent residents, and eventually become US citizen
AFGHANISTAN PHILIPPINES USA IMMIGRATION RESETTLEMENT
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