[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7263 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7263

    To authorize amounts collected in certain visa fees to be made 
      available to reduce visa wait times, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2024

Ms. Titus (for herself, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mrs. Gonzalez-
    Colon, and Ms. Norton) introduced the following bill; which was 
  referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
 Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Appropriations, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize amounts collected in certain visa fees to be made 
      available to reduce visa wait times, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Visa Improvement, Streamlined 
Investment, and Tourism Optimization Reform Act'' or the ``VISITOR 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO USE COLLECTED FEES TO REDUCE VISA WAIT TIMES.

    (a) Amendment to the Passport Act.--Section 1(b) of the Passport 
Act of June 4, 1920 (22 U.S.C. 214(b)), is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``such costs'' and 
        inserting ``the costs of providing consular services'';
            (2) by striking paragraph (2); and
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2).
    (b) Authority To Use Collected Fees for the Purposes of Reducing 
Visa Wait Times.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, the following passport and immigrant visa surcharges 
        collected in any fiscal year are authorized to be made 
        available for the costs of providing general consular services, 
        including the consular protection of United States citizens and 
        their interests overseas:
                    (A) Surcharges collected pursuant to the fourth 
                paragraph under the heading ``Diplomatic and Consular 
                Programs'' in the Department of State and Related 
                Agency Appropriations Act, 2005 (title IV of division B 
                of Public Law 108-447; 8 U.S.C. 1714).
                    (B) Fees deposited into the Fraud Prevention and 
                Detection Account and made available for the purposes 
                described in section 286(v)(2)(A) of the Immigration 
                and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(v)(2)(A)).
            (2) Authority to transfer unobligated fee balances.--
                    (A) Transfer of existing fee collection.--The 
                unobligated balances of each amount available from fees 
                listed in section 7081(h) of the Department of State, 
                Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations 
                Act, 2017 (division J of Public Law 115-31) are 
                authorized to be transferred to the Consular and Border 
                Security Programs account and between accounts of the 
                Department of State under the heading ``Administration 
                of Foreign Affairs'' for the purposes described in 
                paragraph (1) of this subsection.
                    (B) Transfer of other amounts made available for 
                administration of foreign affairs.--The unobligated 
                balances of any amounts made available to the 
                Department of State under the heading ``Administration 
                of Foreign Affairs'' by any Act are authorized to be 
                transferred to the Consular and Border Security 
                Programs Account if the Secretary of State determines 
                and reports to the Committees on Appropriations of the 
                House of Representatives and the Senate that to do so 
                is necessary to sustain consular operations, following 
                consultation with such Committees.
            (3) Conforming amendment.--Section 6 of the Department of 
        State Authorities Act of 2006 (8 U.S.C. 1714 note) is amended 
        by inserting ``and the provision of other general consular 
        services'' after ``in support of enhanced border security'' 
        each place it appears.
    (c) Goal of Reduced Visa Wait Time.--The Secretary of State is 
authorized to take such steps as may be necessary for the goal of 
ensuring that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa applicants are 
interviewed within 3 weeks of receipt and application, recognizing that 
resource and security considerations and the need to ensure provision 
of consular services to United States citizens may dictate specific 
exceptions to this goal.
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