Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of S. 2829. an act to make technical corrections to section 1244 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2008. which provides special immigrant status for certain Iraqis. and for other purposes. This bill addresses two problems with our ability to protect those who deserve our protection. In January. we enacted a new Special Immigrant Visa. SIV. program for Iraqis whose lives are at risk because of their valuable service to our government. The SIVs were supposed to be available beginning this fiscal year. But a drafting error rendered the SIVs unavailable until the next fiscal year. The bill fixes these errors. The bill also helps out a few hundred Iraqi and Afghan translators who. because of the error. continued to apply for visas under an older program. Although many of their applications have been processed and approved. they cannot come to the U.S. because of the 500 visa cap in that program has already been reached. This bill would create a 4month transition period under which the Administration can allow persons with approved petitions in the older program to use one of the 5.000 visas in the new program. We owe a duty to protect foreign nationals who provide valuable services to our soldiers. diplomats. and other government officials overseas. These individuals risk their lives and that of their families. to assist and to protect our endeavors and our people.
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visas visa immigrant Visa Immigrant