The Department of State has a difficult time keeping locals in Afghanistan employed because as soon as they’ve worked long enough to earn visas, they quit and move to America.
From 2010 to 2015, 378 Afghan local staff resigned their positions after they received special immigrant visas (SIVs). In 2014 alone, 243 resigned. Since the program kicked off, Congress has boosted the maximum allotted SIVs from 1,500 for fiscal years 2009-2013 to 7,000 for fiscal years 2015-2017.
The number of SIVs granted has accelerated since 2013 and peaked in 2014.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) fins local Afghan staff jump at the chance to fill out the SIV, resulting in an incredibly high resignation rate at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“A high rate of Afghan staff resigning after receiving an SIV could diminish the U.S. government’s capacity to carry out its mission,” the GAO report states.
The SIV is available to local staff serving as part of U.S. diplomatic missions after they’ve served 15 years with the U.S. government, but in 2009, Congress established a program through the Afghan Allies Protection Act to allow Afghan nationals to fill out the SIV after just one year of service, so long as they’ve received a credible and specific death threat because of their work.
It’s unclear how many of these claimed threats are legitimate. The Associated Press recently reported Afghans regularly purchase fake death threat letters supposedly written by the Taliban in order to trick European immigration authorities into accepting their claim for refugee status.
These letters can sell for as much as $1,000 each. According to one forger, only about 1 percent of the death threats are legitimate. Afghans are the second largest group hoping for asylum in Europe. (RELATED: Afghans Buy Fake Death Threat Letters To Sneak Into Europe Under Asylum)
As of 2013, however, sworn statements by Afghans testifying to the dangerous conditions of their country suffice. No death threat letters from the Taliban are needed.
“According to State officials, this enabled all Afghans who met U.S. government employment requirements to be considered eligible,” says the GAO report. “State officials noted that this change allowed the broad threat environment to be used to consider individual cases, alleviating the need for applicants to demonstrate any specific threat incident to determine eligibility. State officials said that these changes helped speed up SIV processing.”
There are several problems with attrition, as highlighted by GAO. First, it may affect the training of Afghan locals. Second, it may affect productivity levels. Training at the State Department takes about two years, but Afghans are eligible for the SIV after just one year of service.
“When these Afghan staff resign, USAID fills the vacancies and goes through the process of recertifying replacement staff,” the GAO reads. “Embassy managers have reported hesitation about investing in training because they may not see an adequate return on their investment.”
Both USAID and the State Department have taken some actions to reduce the problem, but haven’t evaluated the costs or effectiveness of the actions.
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