Philippines agrees to host US visa processing centre for Afghans

Manila, Aug 20 (IANS) The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday that the country has agreed to a request by the US to temporarily host a US immigrant visa processing centre for "a limited number" of Afghan nationals.

"The Philippines and the US have agreed on allowing a limited number of Afghan nationals to transit to the Philippines to complete their visa processing for special immigrant visas and resettlement to the US," the DFA said in a statement as reported by Xinhua news agency.

It added that the US government "is supporting necessary services for those Afghans temporarily in the Philippines, including food, housing, security, medical, and transportation to complete visa processing".

"The agreement is currently undergoing the final domestic procedures required for effectivity," the statement added.

US President Joe Biden discussed the request with Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos when they met in Washington in May 2023.

The US request, since it was made public, has faced local concerns over potential security and other grounds.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken first relayed the request to his Philippine counterpart in 2022, and President Joe Biden discussed the request when Marcos visited the US last year, Philippine officials said.

Marcos said last year that he was told by American officials that a maximum of 1,000 Afghan nationals would be allowed to stay in the Philippines at any one time while their special immigrant visas are being processed.

He said at the time there were difficult legal and logistical issues to address for the program to run as hoped.

Some Filipino officials have expressed fears that Afghan nationals could become targets of attacks while in the Philippines. Others raised legal questions about an arrangement where US authorities would have a say in vetting who could enter the Philippines.

One prospective problem is what to do with Afghan nationals whose US special visa immigrant application is indefinitely stalled or rejected, Marcos said and expressed concern that thousands of Afghan nationals could be stranded in the country while awaiting relocation to the US.

Marcos has rekindled relations with the US since winning the presidency with a landslide margin two years ago.

In February last year, he allowed an expansion of the American military presence under a 2014 defence agreement in a decision that China warned would allow American forces to gain a staging ground to intervene in the South China Sea and Taiwan issues and threaten regional stability.

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