STATEMENT
OF
STEPHEN
A. “TONY” EDSON
DEPUTY
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
BEFORE
THE
HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEES ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND
AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, HUMAN
RIGHTS, AND OVERSIGHT
MARCH 11, 2008
Thank you, Chairmen Ackerman and Delahunt and
distinguished members of the Committees for providing me this opportunity to
appear before you to discuss the Special Immigrant Visa programs that the
Bureau of Consular Affairs oversees on behalf of the Department of State. These are visa programs and are therefore, separate
from the refugee programs managed by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and
Migration and covered in the testimony presented by Ambassador Foley.
The Department appreciates the consideration
that Congress has shown for the men and women who have assisted the U.S. Government with our efforts in
The
SIV programs for Iraqis and Afghans provide immigrant status, and in an
unprecedented development for visa programs, resettlement assistance to the
recipients. The Bureau of Consular
Affairs has moved quickly to work out procedures with the Bureau of Population,
Refugees and Migration (PRM), which administers resettlement benefit programs
for refugees, to allow these SIV recipients access to benefits.
The
initial SIV program for Iraqis and Afghans, already in operation for a year, is
based on Section 1059 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2006, Public Law 109-163, (“Section 1059”), which was enacted in January 2006
and originally authorized up to 50 Iraqi and Afghan interpreters and translators
working for the U.S. military to receive SIVs each fiscal year
Last year, Congress amended the program,
allowing 500 principal applicants in FY 2007 and FY 2008 and expanding it to
cover interpreters and translators beyond those working for the Military to
those working for the US Government under Chief of Mission authority. State
Department efforts to issue SIV visas to translators and interpreters
accelerated immediately with changes to the law that shifted the scale of the
effort from 50 to 500 visas in June of 2007.
We quickly built a robust system to meet the additional workload through
the coordinated efforts of our domestic and overseas operations. The domestic role falls to the
The
Department of State, working closely with DHS, issued all of the visas Congress
had authorized for FY 2007. We carefully monitored issuance of the 500 available
visas and accelerated appointments so that all of the numbers would be
used. In the final days of the fiscal year we knew we would be very close
to the goal, but issuing all 500 was not a certainty. Using the best
estimates we could devise we scheduled sufficient appointments to ensure that
all would be used. Domestic operations in
the Bureau of Consular Affairs were continued throughout the final weekend of
the fiscal year, as our Middle East posts operate on the
Given the extraordinary work on SIV issuances
last fiscal year, I can report with confidence that we now have in place an
operation that has experience with applicants, sponsors and stakeholders and
which is ready to take on the new challenges posed by the newly adopted SIV legislation. As
stated earlier, we met the statutory quota for visas under this program in FY
2007, and we will meet it again this Fiscal Year. As a result, the National Visa Center (NVC)
expects that we will reach the 500 limit with the currently scheduled cases
very soon. Unfortunately, NVC also has
received approved cases under this translator and interpreter SIV program that
cannot be scheduled for visa interviews this fiscal year under the
Congressionally-established cap of 500.
For those admitted after December 26, 2007, refugee benefits are
available and we are attempting to make this information available to them even
if they have already arrived in the
The
second SIV program was enacted as part of the Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2008, Public Law 110-181, which was signed into law six weeks ago,
on January 28, 2008. Section 1244 of
this legislation (“Section 1244”) authorizes 5,000 special immigrant visas for
Iraqi employees and contractors each year for the next five years and provides
refugee resettlement benefits to Iraqis who are granted SIV status and their
families refugee resettlement benefits.
This provision creates a new category of SIVs, separate from the interpreter
and translator program, for Iraqi nationals who have provided faithful and
valuable service to the USG while employed by or on behalf of the USG in Iraq
for not less than one year after March 20, 2003, and who have experienced
ongoing serious threat as a consequence of that employment.
We
are working closely with DHS to implement Section 1244 provisions as quickly as
possible while meeting the security screening requirements it imposes and we
are determined to achieve the goal Congress has set. Implementation of the new SIV program is complex
because the environment in which this work must be done is challenging and
changing. NVC and several U.S. Embassies
in the Middle East where Iraqi applicants may apply, including
Risks for the applicants and our staff who process
these cases are real. Constant attention
to changing political and security realities is needed to keep these programs
on track. We have adjusted to changes in
the availability of travel documents, and pushed the Iraqis to make changes in
that area which have made them more widely available. We have monitored the ability of Iraqis to
travel to nearby countries and intervened with concerned governments to keep
opportunities open. We have responded to
calls from our Embassy in
Thank you again for holding this hearing and allowing
me to speak to you today. These are important programs and issues. I am happy
to answer your questions.