MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has agreed to a request from the United States for a temporary US Immigrant Visa Processing a center for a limited number of Afghan citizens who want to settle in America, the allies announced Tuesday.
The Philippine government’s approval of the request, which was initially met with local concerns over potential security and legal issues, reflects how relations between manila and washington were deepened under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in 2022.
The Foreign Ministry in Manila said the agreement was undergoing final domestic procedures and would need to be finally ratified by Marcos before it could take effect. It gave no other details, including how many Afghans would be allowed to stay temporarily in the Philippines while their special immigrant visas for U.S. resettlement were finalized.
However, a senior Philippine official told The Associated Press that only 150 to 300 applicants would be accommodated in the Philippines under the “one-time” deal. The official briefed on the negotiations agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Assistant Secretary Teresita Daza said Afghan nationals must obtain a visa to enter the Philippines and are subject to “full security screening.” Each visa applicant is not allowed to stay longer than 59 days.
The U.S. government will cover the costs of the Afghan nationals’ stay, including food, housing, security, medical and transportation expenses, Daza said. She added that the U.S. government and the International Organization for Migration, as the administrator of the unspecified facility where the Afghan visa applicants would be housed, would ensure that they receive adequate social, educational, religious and other support.
The US thanked the Philippines in a statement from the State Department “for its support of the United States’ Afghan allies,” adding that it “appreciates the long and positive history of bilateral cooperation with the Philippines.”
The Afghan nationals eligible for resettlement primarily worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan or were eligible for special U.S. immigrant visas but were left behind when Washington withdrew from the country when Taliban militants regained power during a chaotic period in 2021.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken first made the request to his Philippine counterpart in 2022, and President Joe Biden discussed the request when Marcos visited the United States last year, Philippine officials said.
Marcos said last year that US officials had told him that a maximum of 1,000 Afghan nationals would be allowed to stay in the Philippines at a time while their special immigrant visas were being processed.
He said at the time that difficult legal and logistical issues needed to be resolved for the program to proceed as hoped.
Some Philippine officials have expressed fear that Afghan nationals could be targeted for attacks while in the Philippines. Others have raised legal questions about a provision that would give U.S. officials a say in screening who is allowed to enter the Philippines.
One potential issue is what to do with Afghan nationals whose applications for special immigrant visas in the U.S. have been indefinitely delayed or denied, Marcos said. He expressed concern that thousands of Afghan nationals could be stranded in the country while they wait to be transferred to the U.S.
Marcos revived ties with the US after winning the presidential election by a landslide two years ago.
In February last year he left a expansion of the US military presence under a 2014 defense deal that China warned would allow U.S. forces to seize a way station for interventions in the South China Sea and Taiwan issues, and endanger regional stability.