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The Department of State issued an official cable yesterday amending the agency’s regulations to limit a Consular Officer’s discretion to waive the personal appearance and interview of nonimmigrant visa applicants to certain limited situations. In other words, almost all (90% or greater) of NIV applicants are going to be required to be interviewed, with very few exceptions. This is indeed a very bad development. It has the potential to slow the visa issuance process to a crawl.
The cable reads, in part,
"22 CFR part 41.102 and 9 FAM 41.102 have been revised so that the requirement for personal appearance for nonimmigrant visa applicants can in general be waived by a consular officer only for a person who the consular officer concludes presents no national security concerns requiring an interview and who:
(1) Is a child 16 years of age or under;
(2) Is a person 60 years of age or older;
(3) Is within a class of nonimmigrants classifiable under the visa symbols A-1, A-2, C-2, C-3, G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1, NATO-2, NATO-3, NATO-4, NATO-5, or NATO-6 and who is seeking a visa in such classification;
(4) Is an applicant for a diplomatic or official visa as described in sections 41.26 and 41.27, respectively;
(5) Is an applicant who within twelve months of the expiration of the applicant's previously issued visa is seeking re-issuance of a nonimmigrant visa in the same classification at the consular post of the alien's usual residence, and for whom the consular officer has no indication of visa ineligibility or noncompliance with U.S. immigration laws and regulations;
(6) Is an alien for whom a waiver of personal appearance is warranted in the national interest or because of unusual circumstances.
The regulation also permits the Department to direct an interview notwithstanding these waiver provisions."
The cable goes on to note that:
"The Department realizes that the new regulation will necessitate substantial changes in how posts handle NIV applications. Some posts may find that personnel and/or facility resources are not adequate to handle the additional number of interviews. Workload management will become more important than ever and posts that do not already have appointment systems should immediately explore implementing them. The Department appreciates that many posts will face interview backlogs. As posts grapple with resource issues post management should inform the Department of the anticipated impact on post's processing, including potential for interview backlogs. Requests for any additional personnel should be directed to CA/EX and the executive office of the regional bureau. Facility related issues should be addressed to OBO, CA, and the regional bureau.
10. To reiterate, however, posts must implement the new interview guidelines using existing resources. Posts should not, repeat not, use overtime to deal with additional workload requirements but should develop appointment systems and public relations strategies to mitigate as much as possible the impact of these changes.
11. Posts should implement these new regulations as soon as possible, but no later than August 1, 2003. This should allow sufficient time to notify the public and to process non-interview cases already in the pipeline."
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David Bryan Clubb
Director
Office of International Services
University of Pittsburgh
708 William Pitt Union
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412.624.7120
Facsimile: 412.624.7105
E-Mail: dclubb@pitt.edu
Internet: http://www.ois.pitt.edu