US Visa Freeze Leaves Thousands of Afghan Allies Waiting, Veterans Argue

Visa issuance to Afghan nationals has been suspended since 1 January under Presidential Proclamation 10998, which also removed an exemption that had covered Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs). Two US Army veterans — an Iraqi SIV holder and a former Army writer — argue the government should resume issuing the visas to Afghans who worked for the United States.

Key facts

• Presidential Proclamation 10998 suspended visa issuance to Afghan nationals and removed the exemption covering Afghan SIVs.
• A separate SIV programme exists for Afghans who worked for or on behalf of the US government.
• The State Department issued 18,319 of those visas in fiscal year 2025, counting family members.
• From January through March it issued three.
• As of 31 January, more than 23,000 Afghans whose service the State Department had confirmed were still waiting, excluding their families.
• At the end of March, 5,978 visas remained.

What has changed?

Since 1 January, Presidential Proclamation 10998 has halted visa issuance to Afghan nationals and stripped out the exemption that previously kept Afghan SIVs moving under an earlier proclamation. The proclamation cites deficient screening and vetting information from the countries it covers.

The United States runs a dedicated SIV programme for Afghans who worked for or on behalf of the US government. Mohammed Karaghool, who served eight years with the Iraqi Special Operations Forces alongside the US Army's 5th and 10th Special Forces Groups, came to the United States through the separate Iraqi translator and interpreter SIV programme.

Who is still waiting?

According to the two authors, many Afghans and Iraqis who carried out the same work for US forces are still awaiting visas. Karaghool applied in April 2021 and waited two and a half years before arriving in Denver with his family in October 2023. He is now a combat engineer in the Utah Army National Guard.

Co-author Matthew Marcellus, who served in Army public affairs from 2017 to 2023 and is director of communications at No One Left Behind, a nonprofit serving Afghan and Iraqi wartime allies, writes that the backlog numbers show the effect of the suspension: 18,319 visas issued in fiscal year 2025 against three between January and March.

What are the authors calling for?

The authors argue that a process designed to protect Americans should assess individuals on the evidence rather than apply a blanket rule based on nationality. They urge the administration to restore the exemption for Afghan SIV applicants while keeping individual security screening in place, and ask Congress, which sets the number of visas, to authorise enough additional visas for applicants whose qualifying service has already been verified.

What this means for travellers

Afghans in the SIV pipeline cannot currently have visas issued under the suspension, and family members are not counted in the waiting figures. Iraqis apply through a separate programme, as Karaghool did. No start date for resuming Afghan visa issuance has been announced.

Both authors write in a personal capacity; Karaghool states his views do not represent the US Army or the Utah National Guard. The views in the article are their own.