ATLANTA (Pajhwok): Lots of of Afghan refugees dealing with excessive delays within the approval of U.S. visas protested in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Sunday.
The U.S. authorities’s Precedence 1 and Precedence 2, generally known as P1 and P2 refugee packages have been meant to fast-track visas for at-risk Afghans together with journalists and rights activists after the Taliban takeover of their homeland.
These eligible should have labored for the U.S. authorities, a U.S.-based media group, or a company in Afghanistan, and have to be referred by the U.S.-based employer. AP reported.
Candidates have been ready in Pakistan for a couple of and a half years for U.S. officers to course of their visa functions. The delay in approving visas and resettlement has left Afghan candidates in a extremely susceptible place as they cope with financial hardship and lack of entry to well being, schooling and different providers in Pakistan.
Mohammad Baqir Ahmadi, who mentioned he’d helped to arrange the protest outdoors of Pakistan’s Nationwide Press Membership in Islamabad, mentioned lots of the Afghans current have been dealing with issues in extending visas to attend out the appliance course of in Pakistan.
Protesters mentioned that candidates had but to obtain the preliminary interview needed to start the visa utility course of.
“We, the holders of P1/P2 circumstances, your allies, and colleagues, performed vital position towards growth of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression. We’re at present asking on your assist and companionship within the dangerous days of life,” learn one banner held by Afghan demonstrators.
Hesamuddin, an Afghan who’s ready on the processing of his P2 case, mentioned authorities ought to evacuate Afghan P1 and P2 candidates to a rustic the place the mandatory resettlement assist facilities (RSC) are open and in a position to conduct interviews. “They have to evacuate us to a different nation the place RSCs are functioning and may course of there,” he mentioned.
Beneath U.S. guidelines, candidates should first relocate to a 3rd nation for his or her circumstances to be processed, the place it initially can take as much as 14 to 18 months and circumstances are processed via the resettlement assist facilities.
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