Continued Support for Afghan Allies Act
Bill: H.R.6198 | Sponsor: Rep. Slotkin, Elissa (D-MI)
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Continued Support for Afghan Allies Act
This bill requires the Department of State to take various actions to support special immigrant visa and refugee applicants from Afghanistan.
Specifically, the State Department must take certain actions, such as (1) prioritize, in the evacuation of Afghanistan, bona fide special immigrant applicants and referrals to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program; (2) provide letters of support and other related documents to ease the transit of such individuals; (3) engage with the governments of relevant countries to better facilitate the evacuation; and (4) further surge capacity to reduce application processing times for such individuals.
Furthermore, the State Department must report to Congress a strategy for safely processing such applicants from Afghanistan and a plan for carrying out the actions required by this bill. The State Department must also periodically report to Congress on the progress in implementing the strategy and processing the applicants.

To increase support for Afghan special immigrant visa and refugee 
                  applicants, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Continued Support for Afghan Allies 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR AFGHAN SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA AND REFUGEE 
              APPLICANTS.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States should increase support for nationals of Afghanistan who aided 
the United States mission in Afghanistan during the past twenty years 
and are now under threat from the Taliban, specifically special 
immigrant visa applicants who are nationals of Afghanistan and 
referrals of nationals of Afghanistan to the United States Refugee 
Admissions Program, including through the Priority 2 Designation for 
nationals of Afghanistan, who remain in Afghanistan or are in third 
countries.
    (b) Requirements.--The Secretary of State, in coordination with the 
Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of other relevant Federal 
departments and agencies, shall--
            (1) prioritize for evacuation from Afghanistan bona fide 
        special immigrant visa applicants who are nationals of 
        Afghanistan and referrals of nationals of Afghanistan to the 
        United States Refugee Admissions Program, including through the 
        Priority 2 Designation for nationals of Afghanistan;
            (2) facilitate the rapid departure of such individuals from 
        Afghanistan by air charter and land passage;
            (3) provide letters of support, diplomatic notes and other 
        documentation, as appropriate, to ease transit of such 
        individuals;
            (4) engage governments of relevant countries to better 
        facilitate evacuation;
            (5) disseminate frequent updates to such individuals and 
        relevant nongovernmental organizations;
            (6) identify or establish sufficient locations outside of 
        Afghanistan that will accept such individuals during 
        application processing; and
            (7) further surge capacity to better support such 
        individuals and reduce their application processing times, 
        while ensuring strict and necessary security vetting, 
        including, to the extent practicable, enabling refugee 
        referrals to initiate application processes while still in 
        Afghanistan.
    (c) Strategy and Reporting.--The Secretary of State, in 
coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of 
other relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to the 
committees on Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Armed 
Services of the House of Representatives and the committees on Foreign 
Relations, Judiciary, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and 
Armed Services of the Senate the following:
            (1) Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, a strategy, with a classified annex if necessary, 
        to safely process nationals of Afghanistan abroad who have 
        pending special immigrant visa applications and refugee 
        referrals, which strategy shall include steps by the United 
        States Government to carry out each of paragraphs (1) through 
        (7) of subsection (b).
            (2) Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, and every month thereafter until December 31, 
        2022, a report, with a classified annex if necessary, that 
        includes the following:
                    (A) The number of nationals of Afghanistan--
                            (i) referred to the United States Refugee 
                        Admissions Program through Priority 1 and 
                        Priority 2 referrals, including whether such 
                        individuals remain in Afghanistan or outside 
                        Afghanistan, and the number of refugee 
                        applications for such individuals that are 
                        approved, denied, and pending; and
                            (ii) who have pending special immigrant 
                        visa applications who remain in Afghanistan or 
                        in a third country, disaggregated by the 
                        special immigrant visa processing steps 
                        completed with respect to such individuals.
                    (B) Steps taken to implement each element of the 
                strategy described in paragraph (1).
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