Enduring Welcome Act Creates Permanent Office to Streamline Afghan Ally Relocation, Sets Five-Year Expiration

The Enduring Welcome Act of 2025 is all about making good on a promise. It formalizes and permanently establishes the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) inside the State Department. Essentially, it takes what was a temporary, ad-hoc effort to relocate Afghan allies who helped the U.S. military and turns it into a structured, permanent operation with clear marching orders, though the entire program is set to automatically end five years after the law is enacted (Sec. 6).

The New Permanent Point Person: Who’s in Charge?

This bill designates the Coordinator as the central authority for managing the entire relocation pipeline (Sec. 3). Think of this Coordinator as the ultimate project manager for one of the most complex, multi-agency tasks the government currently handles. Their job now includes leading interagency efforts (like vetting and security checks), coordinating all logistics for resettlement, and, critically, tackling roadblocks that prevent family members—especially those related to U.S. active-duty service members and veterans—from reuniting (Sec. 3). For a veteran trying to bring their Afghan interpreter’s family over, this means there should be one clear, accountable office responsible for cutting through the red tape.

Building the Database of Accountability

One of the most significant changes for transparency is the mandate to create a secure, central database (Sec. 4). This isn't just about counting people; it's about tracking the process. The Coordinator must track how many Afghan nationals are applying under Special Immigrant Visas (SIV), as refugees, or as parolees, broken down by whether they are in Afghanistan, the U.S., or a third country. They must also track the average processing time from application to final settlement and document every denial or administratively closed case, including the specific reasons why (Sec. 4). This level of detail means Congress—and the public—will have a much clearer picture of where the bottlenecks are and how long people are waiting. The catch here is that the Coordinator is given broad authority to collect “any other information” they deem necessary, which gives them significant discretion over the scope of data collected.

Who Counts as a “Covered Person”?

The bill spends a lot of time defining exactly who is eligible for this streamlined assistance under the new office. The list of “covered persons” is extensive, including U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), the main SIV applicant, and their immediate families (spouse and unmarried children under 21) (Sec. 5). It also covers refugees and their families, and even the families of those who came through the earlier Operation Allies Welcome program. While the intent is clearly to ensure no one who helped the U.S. is left behind, the sheer complexity of these definitions—especially for family members of LPRs and SIV applicants who require approved petitions and current priority dates—could create administrative headaches and disputes over eligibility, despite the bill's goal of simplification.

The Five-Year Clock

All of this new authority, including the permanent office and the mandatory reporting, is set to sunset—meaning it expires automatically—five years after the bill becomes law (Sec. 6). This effectively makes the whole program a five-year commitment, requiring Congress to re-evaluate and re-authorize the effort if the resettlement process is not completed by that time. This short lifespan ensures the program doesn't become an entrenched bureaucracy, but it also creates a hard deadline for the massive task of fulfilling these commitments.