The
Special Immigrant Visa Program (SIV Program) was created as part of the Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, Public Law 110-181, which was signed
into law on January 28, 2008. The
legislation authorized 5,000 Special Immigrant Visas per year for Iraqis who provided
valuable service to the U.S. government while employed by or on behalf of the
U.S. government in Iraq, for not less than one year after March 20, 2003, and who
have experienced or are experiencing ongoing serious threat as a consequence of
that employment. Many translators fall
into this category.
The
program would have expired on September 30, 2013, but fortunately, Congress
approved a three-month extension of the program. This short-term solution was seen as a
significant accomplishment in the midst of the tumultuous government shutdown.
Unfortunately, the bill does not resolve the
substantial backlog that currently exists with this visa program. Thousands of applicants are still waiting for
adjudication of their applications.
For more information on this subject, check out
this recent article
in the New York Times, this wonderful podcast
from This American Life, and this website The
List Project.
