[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 177 (Thursday, September 16, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51643-51644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20020]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

22 CFR Parts 40, 41, and 42

[Public Notice: 11459]
RIN 1400-AF30


Visas: Immigrant Visas

AGENCY: Department of State.

ACTION: Request for public input.

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SUMMARY: The Department of State (``Department'') seeks public comments 
identifying barriers that impede access to, and fair, efficient 
adjudication of, immigration benefits, and recommendations on how to 
remove those barriers, and identifying any Department actions that fail 
to promote access to the legal immigration system.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 18, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 1400-AF30, by 
either of the following methods:
     Internet (preferred): At www.regulations.gov, you can 
search for the document using Docket Number DOS-2021-0017 or using the 
notice RIN 1400-AF30.
     Email: Claire Kelly, Office of Visa Services, Bureau of 
Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State, [email protected]. Please 
include the RIN or Docket Number in the Subject Line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claire Kelly, Office of Visa Services, 
Bureau of Consular Affairs, Department of State, 600 19th St. NW, 
Washington, DC 20006, (202) 485-7586.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation

    All interested parties are invited to respond to this Request for 
Public Input by submitting written views and comments on all aspects of 
the Department of State's implementation and execution of its 
authorities relating to the immigrant visa function, including existing 
regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other 
similar agency actions. Comments must be submitted in English or 
commenters must submit an English translation. Comments that will 
provide the most assistance to the Department in considering 
recommendations will reference a specific existing regulation, order, 
guidance, policy, or any other similar agency action, explain the 
reason for any recommended change, and include information that 
supports the recommended change.

II. Background

    Executive Order (E.O.) 14012 describes a policy of the 
Administration to restore faith in our legal immigration system and to 
strengthen integration and inclusion efforts for new Americans. As a 
first step to advance this policy, section 3 of the E.O. tasked the 
Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland 
Security with identifying:

     Barriers that impede access to immigration benefits and 
fair, efficient adjudications of these benefits and make 
recommendations on how to remove these barriers, as appropriate and 
consistent with applicable law; and
     any agency actions that fail to promote access to the 
legal immigration system . . . and recommend steps, as appropriate 
and consistent with applicable law, to revise or rescind those 
agency actions.\1\
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    \1\ E.O. 14012, 86 FR 8277 (February 5, 2021).

    The Department of State's role in facilitating access to the U.S. 
immigration system includes the issuance of immigrant visas to eligible 
individuals outside of the United States. The Department welcomes 
comments on: (1) Any existing barriers that impede access to, and fair, 
efficient adjudication of, immigrant visas, and (2) recommendations on 
actions the Department could take to improve access to adjudication of 
immigrant visas; however the Department is not soliciting comments on 
administrative processing or communication surrounding administrative 
processing as the Department at this time is unable to alter or improve 
communication surrounding administrative processing. Additionally, as 
the Department is already undertaking efforts to address the Immigrant 
Visa (including Diversity Visa) backlog caused by Presidential 
Proclamation 10014 \2\ and the global pandemic's effect on visa 
operations, comments on this area are less useful than comments on 
perceived systemic barriers pre-pandemic. This Request for Public Input 
is not soliciting comments on areas outside the Department's 
responsibility, including the functions, roles and responsibilities 
vested in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, 
or Department of Justice, though the Department is interested in 
learning whether there are areas of overlap between any of the policies 
of these agencies and the Department of State that create such 
barriers, inefficiencies, or that impede access to, fair and efficient 
adjudication of immigrant visas. The Department is not obligated to 
respond in any way to comments received in response to this Request for 
Public Input; however, the Department intends to consider all comments 
in developing the report to the President required under section 3(c) 
of E.O. 14012, describing its progress towards implementing a plan to 
advance the policy set forth in section 1 of E.O. 14012. This Request 
for Public Input does not create any right for members of the public 
who submit comments or any obligations for the Department of State.
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    \2\ Proclamation No. 10014, 85 FR 23441 (April 27, 2020).
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III. Request for Input

A. Maximizing the Value of Public Feedback

    This notice contains a list of questions, the answers to which may 
assist the Department in identifying aspects of immigrant visa-related 
processes that may benefit from the Department's review with the goals 
of eliminating any undue burdens on the public, saving costs for both 
the public and the Department, increasing navigability, saving time, 
reducing perceived confusion, promoting simplification, improving 
efficiency, and/or removing barriers that unnecessarily impede access 
to immigrant visas. The Department encourages public comment on these 
questions and seeks any other information or data commenters believe 
are relevant to this notice. The type of feedback that is most useful 
to the Department will identify specific regulations and/or processes 
and include actionable information and/or data and/or provide viable 
alternatives, that meet statutory obligations and regulatory objectives 
and requirements. Public feedback that simply states that a stakeholder 
feels strongly that the

[[Page 51644]]

Department should change its processes but does not contain specific 
information on what change should be considered or how a proposed 
change will reduce barriers, or otherwise improve existing processes, 
is less useful to the Department.
    We highlight a few of those points here, noting that the comments 
that will be most useful to the Department are those that are guided by 
the below principles. Commenters should consider these principles as 
they answer and respond to the questions in this Request for Public 
Input:
     Commenters should identify, with specificity, the 
regulation, order, guidance document, policy, or other similar agency 
action at issue, providing the relevant Code of Federal Regulation 
(CFR) citation if the comment recommends revising a current Department 
regulation. If a new regulation is being suggested addressing a subject 
matter that is not currently codified in regulations, it should be 
identified with as much specificity as possible and with references to 
the program/process and statutory authority.
     Commenters should provide, in as much detail as possible, 
an explanation why a Department regulation, order, guidance document, 
policy, other similar agency action should be modified, streamlined, 
expanded, or repealed, as well as specific suggestions about how the 
Department can better achieve its objectives and reduce unnecessary 
burdens on the public.
     To the extent feasible, commenters are invited to provide 
specific information on the costs, burdens, and benefits of existing 
requirements and/or how proposed changes would reduce costs and 
burdens, and/or increase benefits to the Department or the public. 
Commenters also are invited to address how the Department can address 
procedural obstacles to fair and efficient adjudications related to 
immigrant visas attributable to existing regulations, orders, guidance 
documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions, and whether 
there are existing sources of data that the Department can use to 
identify and evaluate inefficiencies and unwarranted barriers to 
accessing the Department's visa-related services.
     Comments should emphasize any unduly burdensome processes 
that have been in effect for enough time to warrant a fair evaluation, 
in most cases for more than one year.
     Comments that reiterate substantive issues already raised 
in public comments submitted on recently issued rules will be less 
useful, unless they provide new information--by, for example, pointing 
to new studies or data, or offering novel alternatives.

B. List of Questions for Commenters

    The below non-exhaustive list of questions is meant to assist 
members of the public in formulating input, and is not intended to 
restrict the input that members of the public may provide:
    (1) Are there any immigrant visa related regulations, orders, 
guidance documents, policies, or other similar agency actions that you 
consider to be unjustified or excessive barriers that impede easy 
access to immigrant visa-related services and fair, efficient 
adjudication of immigrant visas? For any identified barrier, is the 
perceived barrier created by duplication, overlap, or inconsistency of 
requirements?
    (2) Are there any immigrant visa regulations, orders, guidance 
documents, policies, or other similar agency actions that impose undue 
burdens on applicants that are not tailored to achieving the 
Department's objectives?
    (3) Are there any immigrant visa regulations, orders, guidance 
documents, policies, or other similar agency actions that 
disproportionally and unreasonably burden disadvantaged, vulnerable, or 
marginalized communities? If so, please specify the regulations, 
orders, guidance documents, policies, or other similar agency actions 
to include citations of any applicable Department regulations, 
providing a description of the specific burden and the relevant 
communities.
    (4) Are there immigrant visa regulations, orders, guidance 
documents, policies, or other similar agency actions for which 
implementation could be modified to reduce unnecessary administrative 
burdens? For example, are there regulations, orders, guidance 
documents, policies, or other similar agency actions, specifically that 
could be modernized, streamlined, or otherwise improved?
    (5) Is there information you believe the Department currently 
collects from immigrant visa applicants that it does not need or that 
is not effectively scoped to information relevant to the adjudication 
of an immigrant visa application? Are there immigrant visa regulations, 
forms or other information collections that have been overtaken by 
technological developments?
    (6) Are there new technologies that the Department should consider 
leveraging to modify, streamline, or do away with existing immigrant 
visa regulatory or form requirements?
    Additionally, the Department is interested feedback on the 
following:
(1) Communication--
a. How could the immigrant visa application system (Consular Electronic 
Application Center) be improved to make the required steps in the 
immigrant visa application process clearer? How can the Department 
better communicate information regarding the status of active immigrant 
visa cases, what steps the applicant may need to take to advance the 
case, and when the case will be scheduled for interview?
(2) Websites--
    a. If you consulted nvc.state.gov to learn about the immigrant visa 
process, what could be improved about it?
    b. If you have used the country-specific document finder tool 
(reciprocity),\3\ how could it be improved? If you have used post-
specific interview instructions found on individual post's websites, 
what could be improved about them?
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    \3\ https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country.html.
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    c. Are there aspects of visa appointment scheduling the Department 
should consider modernizing, streamlining, or otherwise improving? 
Detailed suggestions are most helpful.
    Instructions: If you submit a comment, you must include the agency 
name, Department of State, and RIN 1400-AF30 for this request for 
public input in the title or body of the comment. Regardless of the 
method used for submitting comments or material, all submissions will 
be posted, without change, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, and therefore will include any personal 
information you provide. Therefore, because all submissions will be 
public, you may wish to consider limiting the amount of personal 
information that you provide. The Department of State may withhold from 
public viewing information provided in comments that it determines may 
infringe privacy rights of an individual or is offensive. For 
additional information, please read the Privacy Act notice available in 
the footer at http://www.regulations.gov.

Zachary A. Parker,
Director, Office of Directives Management, Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2021-20020 Filed 9-15-21; 8:45 am]
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