The resettlement challenge has plagued the administration since the frenzied evacuation from Afghanistan in August: resettling thousands of people – many of whom worked with or on behalf of the US – within just weeks or months.
The administration will now exempt Afghan evacuees – many of whom arrived in the United States with little or nothing – from paying costly application fees to obtain authorization to work or apply for lawful permanent residency.
The filing fee for work permit applications – which Afghans need to work legally in the US – is $410 and the fee can be up to $1,225 to obtain lawful permanent residency.
“By providing streamlined processing of these withdrawals and access to duty waivers, we will open doors of opportunity for our Afghan allies and help them begin rebuilding their lives in communities across our country,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Meyerkas said in a statement. will help.” Statement.
Last month, a group of Democratic senators urged DHS and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to waive fees for Afghans applying for humanitarian parole in the US, arguing that “the burden of application fees is heavy on communities here”. is falling.”
According to the DHS, there are about 51,000 people at eight Department of Defense sites in the US and about 2,500 at sites in Europe and the Middle East.
A total of 68,000 Afghans have arrived in the US since August 17, shortly before the withdrawal of US forces from their country later that month. More than 14,000 of them have been resettled in the US, per DHS.
This story has been updated with the response on Monday.
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