The administration of U.S President Joe Biden has announced it is giving temporary legal status to Afghan migrants who have already been living in the country for a little over a year.
According to officials, the status does not permit long-term residency but does shield Afghan asylum applicants from deportation and grant them the freedom to work within the nation.
The Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that the decision to give Temporary Protected Status to Afghans who arrived after March 15, 2022, and before Sept. 20, 2023, would affect roughly 14,600 Afghans.
“This status doesn’t give affected Afghans a long-term right to stay in the country or a path to citizenship. It’s good until 2025, when it would have to be renewed again. But it does protect them from deportation and give them the ability to work in the country”.
Many Afghans who would benefit from the new protections took enormous risks in getting to the US, often after exhausting all other options to flee the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Supporters have argued that they are deserving of protection.
Thursday’s decision would not affect tens of thousands of other Afghans who came to the country during the August 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan or Afghans who have come over the years on special immigrant visas intended for people who worked closely with the US military or government.
