Afghan refugees protest delayed visas at US embassy

Rejected Afghans seeking entry. Since the U.S. evacuated Afghanistan last summer, 70,000 Afghans who aided the United State’s war due to the hurried and chaotic evacuation. Afghans who were eligible for U.S. leaving many people behind who began filing applications for parole. Since July 2021, USCIS has received 46,000 applications from Afghans hoping to come to the U.S. through parole. Due to the increase in parole applications from Afghans, many remain unresolved. Furthermore, over 90% of fewer than 5,000 fully adjudicated requests have been denied.

U.S. is rejecting over 90% of Afghans seeking to enter the country on humanitarian grounds

The U.S. last year resettled tens of thousands of Afghans following the Taliban takeover. But it left behind many at-risk Afghans, including family members of U.S. military translators.

The Crisis of Afghan Humanitarian Parole: Understanding the 90% Rejection Rate

Following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans were unable to reach evacuation flights. These included former U.S. allies and their families who were left behind. To seek safety, many filed applications for Humanitarian Parole, an immigration mechanism used to bring foreign nationals to the U.S. temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

However, the statistical reality of this process is stark: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has rejected over 90% of the fully adjudicated Afghan Humanitarian Parole applications. Despite receiving over 46,000 requests, USCIS has only approved a small fraction. This leaves the vast majority of applicants in legal limbo and facing imminent danger under Taliban rule.

The primary reason for this staggering denial rate is the strict eligibility standard applied by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While the initial evacuations used broad parole authority, the applications filed after the withdrawal are held to a much higher, narrower standard. Applicants must provide compelling evidence of “imminent severe harm” or “serious, targeted harm.” This threshold is difficult to meet without being able to gather documents safely.

Furthermore, critical logistical barriers compound the issue. With no U.S. consulate or embassy operating in Afghanistan, applicants who are tentatively eligible for parole must travel to a third country for a required interview. For most Afghans, this travel is prohibitively expensive, difficult to arrange, and dangerously risky. These factors effectively prevent the completion of their application.

This high denial rate has drawn criticism from human rights groups. They argue the U.S. is failing its allies and applying a discriminatory standard compared to more lenient parole programs offered to nationals from other conflict zones. For those relying on this process, the overwhelming rejection rate transforms a desperate bid for safety into a profound disappointment. It underscores the limitations of parole as a replacement for the formal refugee and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programs.