[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1653 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1653

To make minor modifications to the procedures relating to the issuance 
                               of visas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 4, 2011

  Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Heller, and Mr. Begich) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To make minor modifications to the procedures relating to the issuance 
                               of visas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``International Tourism Facilitation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FEE RETENTION.

    (a) In General.--The Department of State and Related Agency 
Appropriations Act, 2005 (title IV of division B of Public Law 108-447) 
is amended, in the fourth paragraph under the heading ``Diplomatic and 
Consular Programs'', by striking the second proviso and inserting 
``Provided further, That the Secretary of State is authorized to charge 
fees for consular services, which may be deposited in the appropriate 
Department of State account to the extent that the amount of such fees 
collected during a fiscal year, excluding any fees for consular 
services retained by the Department of State pursuant to any other 
authority, is greater than the amount of fees for consular services 
deposited in the Treasury during fiscal year 2011.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Passport act.--Section 1(a) of the Passport Act of June 
        4, 1920 (22 U.S.C. 214(a)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``and paid into the Treasury of the 
                United States''; and
                    (B) by striking ``except that the Secretary'' and 
                inserting ``. The Secretary''.
            (2) Authority to amend surcharges.--Section 6 of the 
        Department of State Authorities Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-
        472) is repealed.

SEC. 3. VISA EXTENSION INTERVIEW WAIVER.

    Section 222(h)(1)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1202(h)(1)(B)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking ``12 months'' and inserting 
        ``4 years'';
            (2) by striking clause (ii); and
            (3) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) as clauses (ii) 
        and (iii), respectively.

SEC. 4. VISA SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT.

    The Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives that includes--
            (1) an annual forecast of demand through 2020 for 
        nonimmigrant visas in the key high-growth markets of Brazil, 
        China, and India, including a description of the methodology 
        used to make such forecasts that--
                    (A) describes the internal and external studies 
                utilized to prepare such forecasts; and
                    (B) indicates whether such methodology utilizes the 
                Department of Commerce's analysis of visitor arrival 
                projections;
            (2) a comparison of the Department of State's nonimmigrant 
        visa demand projections and the Department of Commerce's yearly 
        visitor arrival projections for Brazil, China, and India 
        through 2020, including details on whether the Department of 
        State's workload projections for each such country align with 
        the Department of Commerce's yearly visitor arrival 
        projections;
            (3) a description of the practices and procedures currently 
        used by each United States diplomatic and consular mission in 
        Brazil, China, and India to manage nonimmigrant visa workload;
            (4) information on short- and long-term plans developed to 
        meet the forecasted demand for nonimmigrant visas through 2020 
        in Brazil, China, and India, including facility expansion 
        needs; and
            (5) information on the strategies that will be used by the 
        Department of State to maximize existing consular and embassy 
        space to accommodate new limited non-career appointment 
        consular officers.
                                 <all>