H.R. 4895: Afghan Adjustment Act

Afghan Adjustment Act

This bill: 

• Requires the State Department to designate an office in lieu of an embassy to focus on responding to Afghan alien requests for visas and required interviews. 
• Provides conditional permanent resident status for Afghan citizens and nationals and others who last habitually resided in the country, who were inspected or admitted before the enactment of the legislation, or paroled in the United States, or are otherwise admissible (including through eligibility for waivers of grounds of inadmissibility). 
• Offers Afghans with conditional permanent resident status access to assistance in applying for government benefits from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). 
• Prohibits fees for Afghans related to the initial issuance of employment authorization documents.
• Exempts Afghan conditional permanent residents from numerical limitations for naturalization.
• Designates Afghans as refugees of special humanitarian concern. 
• Requires the State Department to conduct remote refugee processing where possible.
• Defines Afghan citizens or nationals who are the parent or sibling of a member of the Armed Services or a veteran as special immigrants under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27). 
  • The number of special immigrant visas issued is capped at 2,500 per year, with a maximum of 10,000 total over the life of the program.