News: Kennedy Legislation Implementation

The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, which established in-country processing and 5,000 special visas for Iraqis working for US army or government, recently implemented the special visa program. Although the bill became law this past January, legal wrangling and the trademark turtle pace of change within the immigration bureaucracy had stalled the special visa program. The fact that it took about five months to implement the visa program and about four months to implement in-country processing reveals that our government does not recognize the immediacy of the threats against our Iraqi allies.

For an overview, The New York Times has the story:

The program will allow 5,000 Iraqis to go to the United States for each of the next five years. Each person can take immediate family members, who include spouses and children. More distant relatives, including siblings, parents and grandchildren, can apply under another program.

A second program, also established in January, whose rules were announced about six weeks ago, allows Iraqi employees of American nonprofit organizations, media companies and contractors to apply directly for refugee status instead of waiting for a referral from the United Nations. Like the special immigrant visa program, they can apply in Iraq and will be given support initially in the United States. Technically, anyone who qualifies will be accepted, State Department officials said.