[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 76 (Monday, April 21, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19221-19222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10140]


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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY

22 CFR Part 514


Exchange Visitor Program

AGENCY: United States Information Agency.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Agency hereby adopts as final, part of the proposed rule 
published in the Federal Register on September 5, 1996 (61 FR 46745). 
This rule specifically adopts the proposed amendment of existing 
regulations governing the Agency's internal Exchange Visitor Waiver 
Review Board set forth at 22 CFR 514.44(g). These changes are necessary 
to streamline Waiver Board procedures by no longer requiring mandatory 
referral of certain cases to the Waiver Board. The Agency anticipates 
that the number of cases afforded Waiver Board review will be 
significantly reduced.

DATES: This rule is effective April 21, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stanley S. Colvin, Assistant General Counsel, United States Information 
Agency, 301 4th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20547; Telephone, (202) 
619-6829.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Agency received nine comments in 
response to its Federal Register notice published September 5, 1996 (61 
FR 46745). This notice proposed amendment of existing regulations set 
forth at 22 CFR 514.44(c) that govern the

[[Page 19222]]

Agency's administrative processing of requests for the waiver of the 
two-year return home requirement to which some exchange visitors are 
subject, pursuant to the provisions of Section 212(e) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act. Specifically, these proposed 
amendments would change the processing of waiver requests submitted to 
the Agency by interested government agencies on behalf of foreign 
medical graduates subject to the two-year return home requirement due 
to their pursuit of graduate medical education or training in the 
United States.
    The General Accounting Office published a report titled ``Foreign 
Physicians: Exchange Visitor Program Becoming Major Route to Practicing 
in U.S. Underserved Areas'' on December 30, 1996. USIA, along with 
those U.S. Government agencies that request waivers of the two-year 
home country presence requirement on behalf of foreign physicians, is 
reviewing this report and the policy implications presented therein. 
The Agency is also continuing with its review of the legal and policy 
questions that arise from Section 622 of the recently enacted Illegal 
Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Accordingly, the 
Agency is delaying publication of a final rule regarding foreign 
physician waivers but anticipates such publication in the near future.
    The nature, composition, and duties of the Waiver Review Board were 
critiqued extensively in the public comment submitted by the American 
Immigration Lawyers Association. In part, this comment suggests that 
the Board should be viewed as an ``appeals court'' to which all 
disappointed waiver applicants can resort. The Agency does not agree 
with this suggestion and believes such a structure would cripple the 
waiver process. This comment also focused on the role of pure legal 
issues that arise in the waiver process and the manner in which such 
issues are identified and resolved. The Agency has considered this 
comment but believes that existing procedures provide adequate 
procedural safeguards.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. Sec. 605(b), the Agency certifies that 
this rule does not have a significant adverse economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. This rule is not considered to be 
a major rule within the meaning of Section 1(b) of E.O. 12291, nor does 
it have federal implications warranting the preparation of a Federalism 
Assessment in accordance with E.O. 12612.

List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 514

    Cultural exchange programs.

    Dated: April 15, 1997.
Les Jin,
General Counsel.

    Accordingly, 22 CFR part 514 is amended as follows:

PART 514--EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM

    1. The authority citation for part 514 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J), 1182, 1258, 22 U.S.C. 1431-
1421 2451-2460: Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977, 42 FR 62461, 3 
CFR, 1977 Comp. p. 200; E.O. 12048 43 FR 13361, 3 CFR, 1978 Comp. p. 
168; USIA Delegation Order No. 85-5 (50 FR 27393).

    2. Section 514.44 is amended by removing paragraph (h) and revising 
paragraph (g) to read as follows:


Sec. 514.44  Two-year home-country physical presence requirement.

* * * * *
    (g) The Exchange Visitor Waiver Review Board.--(1) The Exchange 
Visitor Waiver Review Board (``Board'') shall consist of the following 
Agency officers:
    (i) The Associate Director of the Bureau of Educational and 
Cultural Affairs, or his or her designee;
    (ii) The Director of the geographic area office responsible for the 
geographical area of the waiver applicant, or his or her designee;
    (iii) The Director of the office of Congressional and 
Intergovernmental Affairs, or his or her designee;
    (iv) The Director of the Office of Academic Exchange, or his or her 
designee; and
    (v) The Director of the Office of Research, or his or her designee.
    (2) A person who has had substantial prior involvement in a 
particular case referred to the Board may not be appointed to, or serve 
on, the Board for that particular case unless the General Counsel 
determines that the individual's inclusion on the Board is otherwise 
necessary or practicably unavoidable.
    (3) The Associate Director of the Bureau of Educational and 
Cultural Affairs, or his or her designee, shall serve as Board 
Chairman. No designee under paragraph (g)(3) shall serve for more than 
2 years.
    (4) Cases will be referred to the Board at the discretion of the 
Branch Chief, Waiver Review Branch, of the Agency's office of Exchange 
Visitor Program Services. The Waiver Review Branch shall prepare a 
summary of the particular case referred and forward it along with copy 
of the relevant file to the Board Chairman. The Chief, Waiver Review 
Branch, or his or her designee, may, at the Chairman's discretion, 
appear and present facts related to the case but shall not participate 
in Board deliberations.
    (5) The Chairman of the Board shall be responsible for convening 
the Board and distributing all necessary information to its members. 
Upon being convened, the Board shall review the case file and weight 
the request against the program, policy, and foreign relations aspects 
of the case.
    (6) The General Counsel shall appoint, on a case-by-case basis, 
from among the attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel, one 
attorney to serve as legal advisor to the Board.
    (7) At the conclusion of its review of the case, the Board shall 
make a written recommendation either to grant or to deny the waiver 
application. The written recommendation of a majority of the Board 
shall constitute the recommendation of the Board. Such recommendation 
shall be promptly transmitted by the Chairman to the Branch Chief, 
Waiver Review Branch.
    (8) The recommendation of the Board in any case reviewed by it 
shall constitute the recommendation of the Agency and such 
recommendation shall be forwarded to the Commissioner by the Branch 
Chief, Waiver Review Branch.

[FR Doc. 97-10140 Filed 4-18-97; 8:45 am]
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