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- Afghans are still required to pay $575 each to apply for humanitarian parole in the United States.
- For large families, the costs could exceed $10,000.
- Roughly 70,000 Afghans have come to the US since the Taliban seized power.
The Biden administration will not require people who have fled Afghanistan to pay fees in order to apply for the right to work in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday.
Like refugees, Afghans on humanitarian parole have been vetted and granted admission to the US based on a credible fear of persecution. But they do not enjoy access to the full suite of services available to those who have formal refugee status – the US has asked volunteers to help fund their resettlement – due to the fact they were evacuated directly from Afghanistan.
They have also been asked to pay fees to obtain working permits. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that this will no longer be the case for anyone from Afghanistan who sought parole after July 30, a fact that will “help them begin to rebuild their lives in our communities across our country more quickly.”
But parolees have not been exempted from coming up with $575 per person in filing fees, the equivalent of an average year’s salary in Afghanistan. And those fees could add up fast: For a family of 22, whose case was highlighted by one aid group, was asked to pay $12,650.
The application fee-waiver was a key demand of refugee advocates, such as Cathryn Miller-Wilson, executive director of HIAS Pennsylvania, a resettlement agency, who told Insider it was one of the largest burdens on Afghans coming to the US, often with no more than the clothes they were wearing at the time of their departure.
While the application fee remains, Matthew Bourke, a spokesperson for DHS, noted there is "a separate process through which applicants submitting a request for humanitarian parole can seek a fee waiver." US Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to its website, may agree to eliminate fees "based on a demonstrated inability to pay."
Monday's announcement, meanwhile, also said the US would begin "streamlining the processing of requests for work authorization" and permanent residency.
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said that was especially welcome.
"Many of our refugee clients have expressed their frustration with the bureaucratic inefficiency that has prevented them from accessing the dignity of a job and the financial security that comes with it," she told Insider. Eliminating fees, she added, would also remove an additional source of "stress and anxiety."
Since the collapse of Afghanistan's civilian government in August, some 70,000 Afghans have come to the US. The majority are still living on US military bases.
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