1. Required Documents
Four documents are required for the ASIV COM processing unit to review your file:
- A Human Resources (HR) employment letter from your employer that provides details about the employment that qualifies you for an Afghan SIV.
- A Letter of Recommendation from a direct supervisor.
- A DS-157 form completed and signed by you.
- A copy of your Afghan national identity information (Tazkera, passport, or National Identity Card).
If you have a badge from your employer(s), you should scan and send a copy of your badge(s) with the other required documents.
We may ask for additional documents during case processing.
2. Human Resources (HR) Employment Letter
Your employer's Human Resources (HR) department should write your HR employment letter. If there is no HR department, a company representative with access to employment records can write your HR employment letter. The company representative must state in the letter that the company no longer has an HR department and explain why they qualify to write your HR employment letter.
To meet the 12-month minimum qualification for time worked, you can add together days spent working for more than one employer. If you worked for more than one company, you should provide a separate HR employment letter from each company. If you have overlapping dates and/or locations of employment with different companies, you should explain how you worked for more than one employer at the same time.
- For each employer, your HR employment letter(s) should include:
- Your full name and date of birth as they appear in your Afghan national identity documents (Tazkera, passport, National Identity Card).
- The date you began work. Your starting employment date must be between October 7, 2001, and December 31, 2024.
- The date you stopped working. Time worked must total at least 12 months. Provide employment dates in the MM/DD/YEAR format. If exact dates are unknown a MM/YEAR format are acceptable.
- The place you worked (city, town, province, base).
- Your job title. A description of your work duties.
- If you served as an interpreter or translator your HR employment letter should include an example of how you translated for Department of State, USAID, or U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan, especially if you interpreted/translated away from the embassy or off-base.
- The reason your employment ended.
- The company name, and the name, signature, and contact information (including a corporate email) of the person writing your HR employment letter.
- If the corporate email no longer works, or the person writing your HR employment letter no longer has access to a company email, the person writing your HR employment letter should provide an alternative email address.
- It is acceptable, and often helpful, for the author of the HR employment letter to provide more than one email address.
- Contract information that shows you were employed by, or on behalf of, the U.S. government.
- Project name.
- Contract number.
- Time period the contract began and ended.
- Name of the contract's prime contractor.
- If available, scan and send a copy of the contract between your employer and the U.S. government, or a copy of your employer's subcontract to work with a company who had a prime contract with the U.S. government.
If you worked directly for the International Security Assistance Force {ISAF) and/or Resolute Support:
- Your HR employment letter should include all the items listed above PLUS:
- Confirmation of your employment dates between October 7, 2001, and December 31, 2024. Time worked must total at least 12 months.
- Your HR employment letter must be written by a representative from the ISAF Headquarters Human Resources department, or the Resolute Support Human Resources department, no matter where you were stationed in Afghanistan. If an ISAF member nation, or Resolute Support member nation, hired you directly, your HR letter must come from the department or agency that hired you.
- If you were hired under a Personal Services Agreement (PSA} or a Personal Services Contract (PSC}, you should submit an English language copy of the PSA or PSC.
3. Non-Qualifying Work
Work under a U.S. grant or cooperative agreement, for a contractor/subcontractor working for ISAF/Resolute Support, or for the Afghan military, security forces, police, or government, is not qualifying employment for Afghan SIV status under the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, as amended.
- You will not receive COM approval if you only worked under a U.S. grant or cooperative agreement.
- You will not receive COM approval if you were employed under a license (not a contract) from the U.S. government. You will not receive COM approval if you were an independent business owner, or worked for an independent business owner, on a U.S. military compound as a shopkeeper or bazaar vendor.
- You will not receive COM approval if you only worked for a contractor/subcontractor that worked for ISAF/Resolute Support.
- You will not receive COM approval if you only worked for Afghan security forces (military, police, or government).
- You will not receive COM approval if you only worked outside Afghanistan.
4. Letter of Recommendation
The person who directly supervised you should write a Letter of Recommendation for you, and sign and date the letter.
The person who writes your Letter of Recommendation or co-signs your Letter of Recommendation does not need to be a U.S. citizen.
A co-signer is no longer required. This is true even when the person who writes your Letter of Recommendation is not a U.S. citizen. A co-signer is still allowed.
If your direct supervisor is not able to write a Letter of Recommendation for you, someone higher up in your direct chain of command can write the Letter of Recommendation for you. That person must have been in the chain of command above your direct supervisor. For example:
- The company CEO or President can write your Letter of Recommendation.
- A company Vice President, if your direct supervisor worked under that Vice President in the same chain of command, can write your Letter of Recommendation.
- A corporate representative in the chain of command of your supervisor can write your Letter of Recommendation.
- A company senior Human Resources Officer, if you worked in the HR department or your supervisor was under their chain of command, can write your Letter of Recommendation.
- If the person who writes your Letter of Recommendation was not your direct supervisor and did not know you personally, they must describe their place in the chain of command and their connection to your direct supervisor.
If you were directly employed by ISAF/Resolute Support, a U.S. military member who personally worked with you should write your Letter of Recommendation.
There is no required template or format for a Letter of Recommendation. A Letter of Recommendation should include:
- Your full name and date of birth as it appears in your Tazkera, passport, or National Identity Card.
- Your job title and location.
- Your badge number (if available).
- A statement that the person writing your Letter of Recommendation was your supervisor and knew you personally.
- The date the person writing your Letter of Recommendation began supervising you, and the date the person writing your Letter of Recommendation stopped supervising you. These supervision dates must overlap at least one day with the dates of employment written in one of your HR employment letters.
- Your recommender's name, job title, company or U.S. government email address, and a personal email address.
- A description of your specific work duties, and where you performed those duties. Your recommender may wish to include their assessment of whether you provided faithful and valuable service to the U.S. government during your employment. This information can be helpful but is not required.
- If you worked as an interpreter or translator for Department of State, USAID, or U.S military personnel, the person writing your Letter of Recommendation should describe that work, and specifically note whether that work occurred away from the embassy or off-base.
- If the person writing your Letter of Recommendation is a U.S. citizen, they may provide their U.S. passport number, if they have one and wish to do so. This information can be helpful. However, the person writing your Letter of Recommendation is not required to provide their U.S. passport number.
If you worked directly for ISAF/Resolute Support:
- Your Letter of Recommendation should include all the items listed above,
PLUS:
- The person writing your Letter of Recommendation must be a U.S. military member who personally supervised you.
- The person writing your Letter or Recommendation must include their name, title, rank, U.S. government/military email address, and personal email address in the letter.
Letters of Recommendation are a very important part of the COM process. Please ask your supervisor to be as detailed and complete as possible in describing your work in the Letter of Recommendation. Ask them to write a letter that describes your specific accomplishments and responsibilities. Your supervisor's contact information must be active and correct.
5. Co-Signer on a Letter of Recommendation
A co-signer is no longer required but is allowed. A co-signer does not need to be a U.S. citizen.
- A co-signer on your Letter of Recommendation should state that, based on the co-signer's relationship with the person writing your Letter of Recommendation, the co-signer is confident that the information provided in your Letter of Recommendation is correct.
- A co-signer must include their full name and work and personal email addresses in the letter.
- If the co-signer is a U.S. citizen, they may provide their U.S. passport number, if they have one and wish to do so. This information can be helpful. However, the co-signer is not required to provide their U.S. passport number.
6. Statements of Unavailability for HR Employment and Recommendation Letters
If you believe you are eligible for Special Immigrant status, you may apply for COM approval even if you cannot get an HR employment letter and/or Letter of Recommendation. To do so, you should submit a Statement of Unavailability for your HR employment letter and/or Letter of Recommendation. In the Statement of Unavailability, you must explain why you cannot get an HR employment letter and/or Letter of Recommendation. In some limited circumstances, the COM-designee may be able to independently verify your employment and/or obtain a supervisor recommendation through an employment verification program.
This is especially true if you worked under a Department of Defense (DoD) contract or a Department of State, Embassy Kabul Annex contract. If you were employed under a DoD contract and your employer collaborates with DoD’s ASIV Support Team (DAS-T, formerly known as Project Rabbit), we may be able to confirm your employment and obtain a recommendation through DoD’s employment verification process. Information about employer verification processes is available at the following link: Afghan Frequently Asked Questions (state.gov), under COM Review – SIV Petition, Application Review, & Decision.
If you provide a Statement of Unavailability instead of an HR employment letter and/or a Letter of Recommendation, and the COM-designee cannot verify your employment and/or obtain a recommendation through an employer verification program, the COM-designee will NOT approve your application. Without verification of your employment and a recommendation, the COM-designee cannot positively determine whether you qualify for Special Immigrant status and grant COM approval. The COM-designee also cannot locate your employer/supervisor or get letters of employment or recommendation for you outside of an employment verification program.
Be sure to submit all the other required documents in support of your application for COM approval with the Statement(s) of Unavailability. The Statement(s) of Unavailability should clearly and briefly explain which document is unavailable – the HR employment letter and/or the Letter of Recommendation, and why. There is no specific format for a Statement of Unavailability.
7. Completing a DS-157 form (Petition for Special Immigrant Classification for Afghan SIV Applicants)
Pages 3, 4, and 5 of the DS-157 form contain instructions explaining how to complete the DS-157 form. You must complete the entire form by answering all questions and you must sign the form. Please read the instructions and be sure you understand them before you complete the form.
8. Proving your Afghan National Identity
There are three ways to prove your Afghan national identity:
- Provide a copy of your Tazkera with an English translation, OR
- Provide a copy of the biographic data page in your Afghan passport, OR
- Provide a copy of your Afghan National Identity Card (front and back).
Submit any one or more of these identity documents with your application.
