U.S. setting up expedited processing hub in Qatar for some at-risk Afghans

The Biden administration is establishing a system based in Qatar designed to fast-track the processing of at-risk Afghans overseas and ensure they can arrive in the U.S. with permanent legal status and a resettlement destination already selected, senior government officials announced Tuesday.

The U.S. has already received and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans who were deemed to be at risk of being harmed by the Taliban following the rapid collapse of the U.S.-aligned government in Kabul last summer.

But most of those evacuees entered the U.S. through a temporary humanitarian process known as parole that could leave them in legal limbo unless they qualify for asylum or visas for those who assisted American forces — or Congress legalizes them. Most also spent weeks or months at U.S. military sites undergoing immigration processing and vaccination while officials worked to resettle them.