US set to extend Iraqi visa program

A measure to provide special visas for Iraqis who risked their lives to help the United States in the Iraq war is one step closer to securing President Barack Obama's signature.

The House of Representatives passed the measure via voice vote late Wednesday and sent it to the Senate, which was expected to approve it Thursday.

Since 2007, the Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa Program has allowed more than 12,000 Iraqi contractors, interpreters and others who aided U.S. troops to move to the United States with their families. The program expired earlier this week, with an estimated 2,000 applications still in the bureaucratic process, but the Senate extended it by unanimous consent a half-hour ahead of Monday night's deadline.

"It's really hard for us to continue living in such a country that half of the population, or even more, consider you a traitor," a fearful interpreter, not named for his own safety, told Al Jazeera. The interpreter, who helped Americans in Iraq and hopes to emigrate to the U.S., said that continuing to work with American forces "will put our lives in jeopardy along with our families."

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who worked on the measure with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill demonstrates that "we will not abandon our Iraqi partners."

"We have a moral obligation to stand with Iraqis who stood with us during a time of war," she told The Associated Press.

The program was created during the worst years of the Iraq war, as Iraqis who helped U.S. forces faced targeted killings, death threats and other forms of harassment. The goal was to resettle them in the U.S. faster than the often protracted general refugee process. More than 90,000 Iraqis have moved to the U.S. as refugees, though the process can take months or years.

Related: Iraq's refugees: Reborn in the USA

The House has voted several times previously to reauthorize the special visa, which entails its own set of sometimes complicated requirements for applicants, including paperwork or certificates from the U.S. military, Iraqi police and other bodies.

Of the 25,000 visas created for Iraqi interpreters, only 8,000 have been approved.

Afghans who support U.S. forces in the Afghanistan war are facing a similar dilemma. A U.S. program that offers them refuge is set to expire in September 2014. Among the 8,750 visas created for interpreters in that program, only 1,114 have been approved.

Like some Iraqi interpreters and other contractors, their Afghan counterparts have not only risked their lives in many instances, but in some cases also saved Americans with whom they were working.

Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan war veteran and fellow at the Truman National Security Project, credits his interpreter Janis for saving his life during a firefight.

"We were surrounded by the Taliban. Janis jumped in my foxhole and ended up killing two Taliban fighters, saving my life in the process," Zeller told Al Jazeera.

The interpreter and his family were initially approved by the State Department to emigrate to the U.S., only to have the approval revoked two weeks later, according to Zeller.

"Based on information the State Department will not release or acknowledge, they took away his visa after they had told him to sell his house, quit his job and sell every possession he had," Zeller said. "He's now hiding in Kabul, desperate that our country will honor the commitment we made to him for his last seven years of faithful, incredible service to our military."

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press