Explainer: The Afghan SIV Program — Legally Required, Improperly Halted

How to read this explainer

Throughout this document, “suspended” refers to limits on visa issuance and physical entry into the United States.

“Paused” refers to the slowing or stopping of case adjudication and operational processing steps, such as Chief of Mission approval and Form I-360 adjudication.

As of February 6, 2026, a federal court ruled that an indefinite pause of adjudication violates federal law and a standing court order. While entry restrictions remain in place, adjudication of Afghan SIV cases already in the pipeline is a legal obligation and must continue.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This explainer relates ONLY to the Afghan SIV program, not to the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) P1/P2 program or any other pathways through which Afghan allies were reaching the United States.

You may have seen The New York Times piece on February 5, 2026, highlighting bipartisan frustration in Congress over the stalled Afghan visa program. What readers should understand is that the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program remains legally intact, but it is not operating in a meaningful way right now. This is not a technical backlog or bureaucratic delay. It represents a pause imposed by executive policy and sustained by congressional inaction. Congress did not repeal the Afghan SIV program. It declined to authorize additional visas and failed to compel implementation of existing law.

1. The Program Remains Lawful, Entry Is Restricted, Processing Is Court-Ordered

A State Department notice confirms that, effective January 1, 2026, the administration fully suspended visa issuance to nationals of Afghanistan, including Afghan Special Immigrant Visas, under a broader travel suspension tied to national security proclamations. 

These entry restrictions affect visa issuance and physical movement, but a federal court ruled on February 6, 2026 that they do not eliminate the government’s obligation to continue processing Afghan SIV cases already in the system.

The court explicitly distinguished between processing and entry and limited its ruling to adjudication steps that occur before visa issuance or travel.

Additionally, as of December 1, 2025, the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Unit within the Department has paused the issuance of decisions on applications for COM approval. This means that, between December 1st and the February 6, 2026 court order, even new approvals were not being finalized or moved forward into interview, travel, or visa issuance.

These policies do not repeal the SIV law itself. Afghan SIV authority, including application deadlines and the statutory structure, still exists, but it is not being operationalized. That means the program is paused, not dead.

It is also important to note that the Afghan SIV program has partially sunset, but not fully closed. The statutory deadline to submit new SIV applications has passed, meaning no new cases can be filed. However, under the law, the U.S. government remains obligated to review and adjudicate all existing applications in the pipeline, and to exhaust all appeals and review processes before the program can be fully closed. That legal responsibility continues even while visa issuance and movement are paused.

Implications of the February 6, 2026 Court Ruling

The February 6, 2026 court ruling has important limits.

What it does:

• Requires the government to immediately resume processing Afghan SIV cases already in the pipeline.

• Prohibits indefinite, blanket pauses of adjudication.

• Places Afghan SIV processing under active judicial supervision.

What it does not do:

• It does not reopen entry into the United States.

• It does not compel immediate visa issuance.

• It does not override existing travel or entry proclamations.

Processing and entry are legally distinct. The court addressed the former, not the latter.

2. Approved at Scale, Issued at a Fraction

As of August 2025, U.S. government data shows that 178,110 individuals have already received Chief of Mission approval, the formal determination that they qualify for an Afghan SIV, but had not yet been interviewed nor had their visas issued.

• 33,883 are principal applicants

• 144,227 are spouses and children

Since September 2021, the United States has issued 77,232 SIVs total, including:

• 17,473 principal applicants

• 59,759 family members

Tens of thousands of fully vetted Afghan allies remain approved but unable to move.

Even if processing and interviews resumed tomorrow, current statutory visa caps would still prevent the United States from issuing visas to all approved principal applicants. The problem is not merely operational delay, but a structural mismatch between approvals already granted and visas authorized by Congress.

This is not a vetting failure. It is a visa scarcity and policy choice problem.

3. The Trump Administration Paused Key Operational Elements

Two executive actions are central to the current paralysis:

• Enduring Welcome was stopped on Day One. The relocation mechanism and interagency coordination architecture designed to move approved Afghan allies to safety was suspended as part of early administration actions.

• Following the shooting of two Guardsmen in Washington, DC, all Afghan visa movement and processing, including SIV cases, was further frozen. This includes cases with interviews scheduled or approved but without physical visas issued yet.

These are policy choices, not legal necessities, and the court has ruled they cannot justify an indefinite halt to adjudication.

4. Congress Has Failed to Do Four Things Necessary to Keep the Program Alive

While the New York Times story captures frustration with congressional inaction, it is critical to focus on exactly what Congress has not done. Those failures created the conditions for today’s impasse.

a. Failed to authorize enough visas.Congress has authorized only a fraction of the visas needed to serve nearly 35,000 already COM approved principal applicants, despite clear warnings from the State Department that tens of thousands of additional visas would be required.

b. Failed to compel a restart of relocations.Congress did not pass the Enduring Welcome Act, which would have required the executive branch to resume and sustain relocation operations for eligible Afghan allies.

c. Failed to provide adjustment of status for those already here.Congress has not passed the Afghan Adjustment Act, leaving tens of thousands of Afghans who arrived during the 2021 withdrawal in prolonged legal limbo.

d. Allowed the program to end before the job was complete.In 2024, the State Department formally submitted a plan to Congress outlining how the Afghan SIV program would be wound down given an appropriate number of visas, sustained relocation capacity, and legislative action. Congress did not intervene to ensure those things happened.

5. What This Means in Practical Terms

• The law still exists, but no new Afghan SIVs are being issued and very few are being used right now.

• Entry into the United States for Afghan SIV holders remains restricted, and visa issuance has not been compelled. Those with valid visas in their passports are still able to travel and enter.

• The government is legally required to continue processing Afghan SIV cases already in the pipeline, including adjudication steps that prepare cases for future issuance and entry

• Tens of thousands of vetted allies who have COM approval, which verified that they served the United States, remain stuck in danger either in Afghanistan with no durable safety, in third countries, or in legally unstable situations.

• Neither Congress nor the administration has taken the combined steps required to fulfill not just the letter of the law, but the promise it represents.

• The February 6, 2026 court ruling ensures that Afghan SIV cases cannot be left in indefinite administrative limbo while entry policies remain unresolved.

In practical terms, this paralysis has left Afghan allies stranded in third countries with expired legal status, separated from immediate family members, or stuck in Afghanistan exposed to retaliation because of their known association with the United States. Many have already been vetted, approved, and documented by the U.S. government, yet remain unable to move because the systems designed to honor those approvals are no longer functioning.

6. What You Should Watch Next

• Whether the administration complies with the federal court order (February 6, 2026) to resume and sustain Afghan SIV adjudication while entry restrictions remain in place.

• Whether Congress authorizes a large, realistic tranche of additional SIV visas.

• Whether legislation like the Enduring Welcome Act or Afghan Adjustment Act advances.

• Whether the administration issues exemptions to the current Travel Bans allowing Afghan allies to resume movement under existing authority.

Resolving this impasse requires four things to exist at the same time: sufficient visa authorizations, an operational relocation mechanism, policies that allow admission into the United States for Afghans, and political will. At present, those conditions do not overlap.

This is not merely a procedural story. It is a policy and moral story about people who were promised protection by the United States and are still waiting for that promise to be honored.

Additional information and resources are available through IRAP.