US Government to waive immigration application fee, streamline process for Afghan Migrants

A press release by the Department of Homeland Security announced that the Joe Biden administration intends to waive immigration-related fees for up to 70,000 Afghan migrants who are resettled in the United States. Since the frenzied evacuation from Afghanistan in August, the US immigration process has faced the challenge of resettling tens of thousands of people, many of whom worked with or on behalf of the US, in a matter of weeks or months. The administration will now exempt Afghan migrants from paying a hefty fee for the application in order to obtain authorisation to work for lawful permanent residence. 

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, said in the press release, “by providing these evacuees with access to streamlined processing and fee exemptions, we will open doors of opportunity for our Afghan allies and help them begin to rebuild their lives in communities across our country more quickly. These actions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to Afghan nationals who provided valuable assistance to the United States over the past two decades as well as other Afghans at risk.”

Afghans paroled into US on or after July 30 eligible for fee exemptions

The filing fee for work permit applications, which Afghans must have in order to legally work in the United States, is $410, and fees for obtaining lawful permanent residence can range up to $1,225. According to DHS, Afghans who were paroled into the US on or after July 30 are eligible for fee exemptions. Last month, a group of Democratic senators urged DHS and US Citizenship and Immigration Services to waive application fees for Afghans seeking humanitarian parole to enter the United States, claiming that the burden of application fees is weighing heavily on communities here in the United States.

According to DHS, approximately 51,000 people work at eight Department of Defence sites in the United States, and approximately 2,500 work at sites in Europe and the Middle East. Since August 17, a total of 68,000 Afghans have arrived in the United States, just before the US military withdraws from their country at the end of the month. According to DHS, over 14,000 of them have been resettled in the United States.

Image: AP