The Emergency Afghan Allies Extension Act of 2014 (; ) is a

United States federal law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...

that authorizes an additional 1,000 emergency Special Immigrant Visas that the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

could issue to Afghan translators who served with U.S. troops during the War in Afghanistan. The bill was introduced into the

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during the

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. It was signed into law on August 8, 2014 by President

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Background

During the War in Afghanistan, the United States promised some Afghans protection in exchange for being translators for the U.S. In 2009, the United States began issuing 3,000 visas each year to Afghans, and their families, who helped the United States during the war, usually by being an interpreter or a guide.

Provisions of the bill

''This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the

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, a

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source.'' The bill would amend the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to increase by 1,000 the number of Afghan special immigrant

visas Visa most commonly refers to: * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allo ...

available in FY2014. The bill would require, with regard to such visas, that: :*the period during which an

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

must have been employed must terminate by December 31, 2014, :*the principal alien seeking special immigrant status shall apply to the Chief of Mission by December 31, 2014, and :*the authority to provide such status shall terminate on December 31, 2014. The bill would direct the

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, by January 1, 2015, to increase temporarily the fee or surcharge (by $1) for processing machine-readable nonimmigrant visas and machine-readable combined border crossing identification cards and nonimmigrant visas.

Procedural history

The Emergency Afghan Allies Extension Act of 2014 was introduced into the

on July 24, 2014 by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). The bill was referred to the

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and the

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...

. On July 30, 2014, the House voted to pass the bill in a

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

. The Senate passed the bill on August 1, 2014 and President

signed it into law on August 8, 2014.

Debate and discussion

According to Rep. Blumenauer, who sponsored the bill, there was "need for immediate action because the State Department has confirmed they have completely exhausted all visas Congress authorized in December." Blumenauer argued that "a failure to provide these additional visas ensures the many brave translators the U.S. promised to protect in exchange for their services would be left in Afghanistan, hiding, their lives still threatened daily by the Taliban."

References

External links