Biden Offers Protected Status to Afghans Already in the United States

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is allowing Afghans who have been residing in the United States to remain in the country legally for at least another 18 months, an attempt to provide them more stability as gaining permanent residency could take years.

The benefit, known as temporary protected status, will be extended to more than 74,000 Afghans who were living in the United States as of March 15, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which makes such designations. Most immediately, it will affect roughly 2,000 Afghans who were not among those evacuated during the tumultuous U.S. military pullout from their country last year. Each applicant has to pass a background check.

The program does not provide a path to a green card or citizenship, which many advocates say is warranted for Afghans who were brought to the country after risking their lives to assist American forces. Many served as combat interpreters, as drivers and in other supportive roles over the two decades that U.S. troops fought in their country.

Most Afghans who were evacuated to the United States last year have already been granted another status, known as humanitarian parole, which allows them to stay for two years. But many have had trouble navigating an immigration system that U.S. officials concede was unprepared to help them. The process to reapply for humanitarian parole after two years can be cumbersome for applicants, but temporary protected status is frequently extended for designated countries by the Department of Homeland Security.

Wednesday’s designation appears to be an acknowledgment that it will take years for Afghan evacuees to gain permanent residency through the clogged U.S. immigration system.

“Our nation’s moral obligation to our Afghan allies and friends demands the stability that only a pathway to permanent residence can provide,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said on Wednesday.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.