S.744 Immigration bill - Sec. 2318: EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE AFGHAN SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM
Posted Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 4:56 pm · short link
- Section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note) is amended--
- (1) in paragraph (2)--
- (A) in subparagraph (A)--
- (i) by amending clause (ii) to read as follows:
- `(ii) was or is employed in Afghanistan on or after October 7, 2001, for not less than 1 year, by, or on behalf of--
- `(I) the United States Government;
- `(II) a media or nongovernmental organization headquartered in the United States; or
- `(III) an organization or entity closely
associated with the United States mission in Afghanistan that has
received United States Government funding through an official and
documented contract, award, grant, or cooperative agreement;';
- (ii) in clause (iii), by striking `United
States Government' and inserting `an entity or organization described in
clause (ii)'; and
- (iii) in clause (iv), by striking by striking `United States Government.' and inserting `such entity or organization.';
- (B) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows:
- `(B) FAMILY MEMBERS- An alien is described in this subparagraph if the alien is--
- `(i) the spouse or minor child of a principal
alien described in subparagraph (A) who is accompanying or following to
join the principal alien in the United States; or
- `(ii)(I) the spouse, child, parent or sibling
of a principal alien described in subparagraph (A), whether or not
accompanying or following to join; and
- `(II) has experienced or is experiencing an
ongoing serious threat as a consequence of the qualifying employment of a
principal alien described in subparagraph (A).'; and
- (C) in subparagraph (D)--
- (i) by striking `A recommendation' and inserting the following:
- `(i) IN GENERAL- Except as provided under clause (ii), a recommendation';
- (ii) by striking `United States Government
prior' and inserting `an entity or organization described in paragraph
(2)(A)(ii) prior'; and
- (iii) by adding at the end the following:
- `(ii) REVIEW PROCESS FOR DENIAL BY CHIEF OF MISSION-
- `(I) IN GENERAL- An applicant who has been denied Chief of Mission approval shall--
- `(II) SENIOR COORDINATOR- The Secretary
of State shall designate, in the Embassy of the United States in Kabul,
Afghanistan, a senior coordinator responsible for overseeing the
efficiency and integrity of the processing of special immigrant visas
under this section, who shall be given--
- (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by amending clause (iii) to read as follows:
- `(iii) FISCAL YEARS 2014 THROUGH 2018- For each
of the fiscal years 2014 through 2018, the total number of principal
aliens who may be provided special immigrant status under this section
may not exceed the sum of--
- `(I) 5,000;
- `(II) the difference between the number of
special immigrant visas allocated under this section for fiscal years
2009 through 2013 and the number of such allocated visas that were
issued; and
- `(III) any unused balance of the total
number of principal aliens who may be provided special immigrant status
in fiscal years 2014 through 2018 that have been carried forward.';
- (3) in paragraph (4)--
- (A) in the heading, by striking `PROHIBITION ON FEES- 'and inserting `APPLICATION PROCESS- ';
- (B) by striking `The Secretary' and inserting the following:
- `(A) IN GENERAL- Not later than 120 days after the
date of enactment of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and
Immigration Modernization Act, the Secretary of State and the Secretary
of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense,
shall improve the efficiency by which applications for special immigrant
visas under paragraph (1) are processed so that all steps incidental to
the issuance of such visas, including required screenings and
background checks, are completed not later than 6 months after the date
on which an eligible alien applies for such visa.
- `(B) PROHIBITION ON FEES- The Secretary'; and
- (4) by adding at the end the following:
- `(12) REPORT ON IMPROVEMENTS- Not later than 120 days
after the date of the enactment of the Border Security, Economic
Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, the Secretary of State
and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, shall submit to the appropriate committees a
report, with a classified annex, if necessary, that describes the
implementation of improvements to the processing of applications for
special immigrant visas under this subsection, including information
relating to--
- `(A) enhancing existing systems for conducting
background and security checks of persons applying for special immigrant
status, which shall--
- `(i) support immigration security; and
- `(ii) provide for the orderly processing of such applications without delay;
- `(B) the financial, security, and personnel considerations and resources necessary to carry out this section;
- `(C) the number of aliens who have applied for
special immigrant visas under this subsection during each month of the
preceding fiscal year;
- `(D) the reasons for the failure to expeditiously process any applications that have been pending for longer than 9 months;
- `(E) the total number of applications that are pending due to the failure--
- `(i) to receive approval from the Chief of Mission;
- `(ii) for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to complete the adjudication of the Form I-360;
- `(iii) to conduct a visa interview; or
- `(iv) to issue the visa to an eligible alien;
- `(F) the average wait times for an applicant at each of the stages described in subparagraph (E);
- `(G) the number of denials or rejections at each of the stages described in subparagraph (E); and
- `(H) a breakdown of reasons for denials by the
Chief of Mission based on the categories already made available to
denied special immigrant visa applicants in the denial letter sent to
them by the Chief of Mission.
- `(13) PUBLIC QUARTERLY REPORTS - Not later than 120
days after the date of the enactment of the Border Security, Economic
Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, and every 3 months
thereafter, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland
Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall publish a
report on the website of the Department of State that describes the
efficiency improvements made in the process by which applications for
special immigrant visas under this subsection are processed, including
information described in subparagraph (C) through (H) of paragraph
(12).'.
2318
EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE AFGHAN SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM