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Over 76,000 Afghans have been admitted to the US since the Taliban take over in Afghanistan last year and, for many who were admitted based on the assistance that they gave to the US and their fear of retribution by the Taliban, their status in the US remains in limbo.
The two citizenship avenues to them, asylum and the Special Immigrant Visa Process (SIV) remain seriously backlogged. The SIV process provides permanent residency to foreign nationals who aided the US government and normally takes about nine months to process. The process is currently backlogged at about three years.
The Afghan Adjustment Act, which is currently before Congress, has been designed to help Afghans currently living in the US by proposing to allow those refugees to apply for permanent residency and open up a path to citizenship. The Biden Administration has announced changes to the filing process, which can be complicated, in addition to an increase in the number of personnel adjudicating these cases.