A new immigration law extended the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program through the end of calendar year 2014. The Afghan Allies Protection Act was initially enacted in 2009 to permit Afghan nationals, most of whom served as translators for the U.S. military, to be granted United States immigrant visas. After being plagued by extensive backlogs, the program has resulted in the issuance of thousands of visas over the past year. The new immigration law authorizes an additional 1,000 visas to supplement the 3,000 visas already issued in 2014.  The deadline to file is December 31, 2014.