[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 236 (Monday, December 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 97693-97700]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28718]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice: 12555]
RIN 1400-AF92
Public Notice of Revised Exchange Visitor Skills List
AGENCY: Department of State.
ACTION: Public notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of State (``Department'') is announcing an
update of the Exchange Visitors Skills List (``Skills List''). The
Skills List is a list of countries designated by the Secretary of State
as clearly requiring the services of persons engaged in certain fields
of specialized knowledge or skills. This list is used by the Department
of State and the Department of Homeland Security to determine whether
an individual who has been admitted into the United States as a ``J''
nonimmigrant exchange visitor, or who acquired such status, is subject
to the two-year foreign residence requirement under Section 212(e) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (``INA''), as amended.
DATES: The Exchange Visitor Skills List is applicable on December 9,
2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jami Thompson, Senior Regulatory
Coordinator, Visa Office, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Department of
State; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: INA 212(e) (8 U.S.C. 1182(e)) provides that
certain individuals who have been admitted to the United States as
``J'' nonimmigrant exchange visitors, or who acquired such status in
the United States, are ineligible to apply for an immigrant visa, for
permanent residence, or for certain nonimmigrant visas until they have
resided and been physically present in their country of nationality or
last residence for an aggregate of at least two years following
departure from the United States. More specifically, under INA 212(e)
(8 U.S.C. 1182(e)), this requirement attaches to J nonimmigrants who,
among other criteria, are a national or resident of a country that the
Secretary of State, pursuant to Department regulations, has designated
as clearly requiring the services of persons engaged in the field of
specialized knowledge or skill in which the individual was engaged.
Department regulations at 22 CFR 41.62(c) implement the Secretary's
designation authority under this provision, providing that an exchange
visitor is subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement if
they are a national or legal permanent resident of a ``country which
the Secretary of State has designated, through publication by public
notice in the Federal Register, as clearly requiring the services of
persons engaged in the field of specialized knowledge or skill'' during
their exchange visitor program. The Department also implements INA
212(e), 8 U.S.C. 1182(e) through regulations at 22 CFR 41.63 and 22 CFR
40.202.
Pursuant to the provisions of INA 212(e), 8 U.S.C. 1182(e), 22 CFR
41.62, and 22 CFR 41.63, the Department is announcing a revised Skills
List. The Department has periodically updated the Skills List since the
initial publication of the Skills List on April 25, 1972. New lists
were published on February 10, 1978, June 12, 1984, January 16, 1997,
and April 30, 2009. This revised Skills List supersedes the most recent
Skills List published in 2009. Accordingly, J nonimmigrant exchange
visitors who were subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement
at the time of their admission or acquisition of J status based on
designations in a previously published Skills List will no longer be
subject to that requirement if their country is not designated in this
revised
[[Page 97694]]
list. This Skills List was developed by the Bureau of Consular Affairs
Visa Office in collaboration with the State Department's Office of the
Chief Economist and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The Department is updating the countries included on the Skills
List based on criteria that is data driven, transparent, and consistent
with U.S. goals for the development of foreign countries. The
Department is not updating skills in this revision--for countries
present on this revised Skills List, the skills listed remain the same
as in the 2009 Skills List. The Skills List below accounts for overall
economic development (as measured by per capita Gross Domestic Product
(GDP)), country size, and overall outbound migration rate.\1\
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\1\ All data taken from the World Bank Group Data (https://data.worldbank.org/).
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If a country has per capita GDP that is less than $7,500
\2\ in 2023 dollars (calculated using the purchasing power parity (PPP)
exchange rate), the Department presumes it would benefit from its
nationals or residents possessing the specialized knowledge or skills
designated on the Skills List.
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\2\ $7500 in 2023 dollars is approximately 50% of global median
income or about the 33 percentile of income distribution, which
covers about \1/3\ of all countries with lowest human development
indicator measure.
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If a country is at or above the $ 7,500 GDP threshold, but
below the median per capita GDP ($15,000 in 2023 dollars), and
determined to be small, which makes it more difficult to develop
internal hubs of specialized knowledge or skills, the Department
presumes that country would benefit from its nationals or residents
possessing the specialized knowledge or skills designated on the Skills
List.
If a country is at or above the $7,500 GDP threshold, but
below the median per capita GDP ($15,000 in 2023 dollars), and has
experienced a significant balance of outbound migration, which is
likely to have resulted in the loss of talent and skills over the
preceding decade, the Department presumes that country would benefit
from its nationals or residents possessing the specialized knowledge or
skills designated on the Skills List.
The Department has chosen these indicators and thresholds as an
objective, measurable proxy for a country's standard of living and
development and is closely linked to the accumulation of human capital
within a given country. These criteria are meant to ensure countries
with low levels of development as well as those countries with higher
levels of development that have other extenuating circumstances that
stymie the development of a skilled workforce will remain on the Skills
List to support the development of that country.
The Department has chosen these criteria to assist its
determination that the listed countries clearly require the services of
persons engaged in designated fields of specialized knowledge or
skills, because these well-established measures of a country's standard
of living are informative of whether the country in fact clearly
requires the relevant knowledge or skill, as opposed to the country
only benefiting from or otherwise not requiring additional expertise in
the relevant fields.
The Department intends to review the Skills List every three years
and will publish updates as appropriate.
Exchange Visitors who seek a definitive determination from the
Department of whether the two-year foreign residence requirement
applies to them may request an Advisory Opinion from the Waiver Review
Division. Information on this process is available on our website at
travel.state.gov.
This Notice is exempt from notice and comment as it involves a
foreign affairs function of the United States. 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1).).
The Department has invoked the foreign affairs exemption from
Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requirements for numerous rules
involving the Exchange Visitor Program going back to 1949, including
several rules specifically relating to the two-year foreign residence
requirement.\3\
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\3\ See, e.g., 14 FR 4591 (July 22, 1949), 21 FR 6270 (Aug. 21,
1956), 37 FR 7156 (Apr. 11, 1972), 37 FR 17470 (Aug. 29, 1972), 38
FR 20319 (July 31, 1973), 72 FR 10060 (Mar. 7, 2007).
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Under 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1), notice-and-comment requirements of the
APA do not apply ``to the extent there is involved . . . a military or
foreign affairs function of the United States.'' This exemption applies
when the rule in question ``is clearly and directly involved in a
foreign affairs function.'' \4\ In addition, although the text of the
APA does not require an agency invoking this exemption to show that
such procedures may result in ``definitely undesirable international
consequences,'' some courts have required such a showing.\5\ Both
standards are satisfied here.
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\4\ Mast Indus. v. Regan, 596 F. Supp. 1567, 1582 (Ct. Int'l
Trade 1984) (quotation marks omitted).
\5\ E.g., Yassini v. Crosland, 618 F.2d 1356, 1360 n.4 (9th Cir.
1980).
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In designating countries and skills on the Skills List, the
Secretary is carrying out authority vested by Congress to assess the
needs of foreign countries. As this relates to the Exchange Visitor
Program, a key diplomacy tool, the Secretary's designations of
countries on the list directly involves a foreign affairs function as
the designations are a vehicle to advancing U.S. foreign policy
objectives in countries whose nationals and residents participate in
exchange visitor programs. The Exchange Visitor Program's nexus to
foreign affairs is reflected in the purpose of the United States
Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to ``promote the
better understanding of the United States among the peoples of the
world and to strengthen cooperative international relations,'' \6\ and
the Secretary's discretionary designation of countries as ``clearly
requiring'' certain fields of knowledge or skills by nature reflects a
quintessential foreign affairs function. The Mutual Educational and
Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (also known as the Fulbright-Hays Act),
provides further evidence of the foreign affairs function served by the
Exchange Visitor Program.
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\6\ Public Law 80-402 (1948).
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``The purpose of this [Act] is to enable the Government of the
United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of
the United States and the people of other countries by means of
educational and cultural exchange; to strengthen the ties which unite
us with other nations by demonstrating the educational and cultural
interests, developments, and achievements of the people of the United
States and other nations, and the contributions being made toward a
peaceful and more fruitful life for people throughout the world; to
promote international cooperation for educational and cultural
advancement; and thus to assist in the development of friendly,
sympathetic, and peaceful relations between the United States and the
other countries of the world.'' 22 U.S.C. 2451.
The revised Exchange Visitors Skills List clearly and directly
involves a foreign affairs function given the nature of the Secretary's
express authority to designate countries under INA section 212(e), 8
U.S.C. 1182(e). Even more generally, courts have acknowledged that
``[t]he exchange visitor program--with its statutory mandate for
international interaction through nonimmigrants--certainly relates to
the foreign affairs and diplomatic duties conferred upon the Secretary
of State and the State Department.'' Raoof v. Sullivan, 315 F. Supp. 3d
34, 44 (D.D.C. 2018).
Further, requiring the Department to subject this list of
designations to the
[[Page 97695]]
APA's notice and comment requirements would result in ``definitely
undesirable international consequences.'' The foreign relations
considerations of opening this list of designations to public comment,
including comment from foreign governments whose policies are directly
affected by this list and requiring the Department to respond publicly
to questions regarding the balancing of foreign policy and other
national interests, would have definitely undesirable international
consequences.\7\ For example, if a foreign country expresses
dissatisfaction with the Skills List designations, requiring the
Department to air this disagreement in a public forum could have larger
implications for foreign relations between the United States and that
other country.
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\7\ Yassini v. Crosland, 618 F.2d 1356, 1360 n.4 (9th Cir.
1980).
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The 2024 Exchange Visitor Skills List reads as follows:
(01) Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences
(01.00)
Agriculture, General
(01.01)
Agricultural Business and Management
Production Operations and Mechanization
(01.06)
Applied Horticulture/Horticulture
(01.09)
Animal Sciences
Agricultural Animal Breeding
Animal Health and Nutrition
Dairy Science
Livestock Management
Poultry Science
(01.10)
Food Science
(01.11)
Plant Sciences
Crop Science
Horticulture Science
Agricultural and Horticultural Plant Breeding
Pest Management
Range Science
(01.12)
Soil Science and Agronomy
(03) Natural Resources and Conservation
(03.01)
Natural Resources Conservation and Research
Environmental Science
Wildlife Studies
Wildlands Studies
Environmental Protection
(03.02)
Natural Resources Management and Policy
(03.03)
Fishing and Fisheries Sciences
Fishing and Fisheries Management
(03.05)
Forestry
(04) Architecture and Related Services
(04.02)
Architecture
Environmental Design
Interior Design
Landscape Design
Architectural History
Architectural Technology
(04.03)
City/Urban Planning
Community and Regional Planning
Architectural Urban Design
(05) Area, Ethnic, Cultural, and Gender Studies
--
(09) Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs
(09.01)
Communication and Media Studies
(09.04)
Journalism
Broadcast Journalism
Photojournalism
On-Line/Web page News
(09.07)
Telecommunication
Radio Communication
Television Communication
Digital Communication
Media/Multimedia
(09.09)
Public Relations
Advertising
Applied Communication
(09.10)
Publishing
(10) Communications Technologies, Technicians and Support Services
(10.01)
Communications Technology/Technicians
(10.02)
Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians
Photographic and Film/Video Technology
Radio and Television Broadcasting
Recording Arts
(10.03)
Graphic Communications
Printing Management
Prepress/Desktop Publishing and Digital Imaging Design
Animation
Interactive Technology
Video Graphics and Special Effects
Graphic and Printing Equipment Operator
Printing Press Operator
Computer Typography
Composition Equipment Operator
(11) Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services
(11.01)
Computer and Information Sciences, General
Web page Design
Database Administration
Cybernetics
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
Information Technology
(11.02)
Computer Programming
(11.03)
Data Processing
(11.04)
Information Science/Studies
(11.05)
Computer Systems Analysis
(11.06)
Data Entry
Microcomputer Applications
Word Processing
(11.07)
Computer Science
Systems Engineering
(11.10)
Computer/Information Technology Administration
Computer/Information Technology Management
(12) Personal and Culinary Services
(12.03)
Funeral & Mortuary Service
(12.05)
Cooking, Culinary Arts and Related Services
Baking and Pastry Arts
Bartending
Culinary Arts/Chef Training
Restaurant Management
[[Page 97696]]
Culinary and Catering Management
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking
Meat Cutting
Food Service
Institutional Food Workers
(13) Education
(13.01)
Education, General
Educational Administration
(13.02)
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural
(13.03)
Curriculum and Instruction
Media Design
(13.06)
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
(13.09)
Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
(13.10)
Special Education and Teaching
(13.11)
Student Counseling and Personnel Services
(13.12)
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and
Methods, including, but not limited to:
Adult and Continuing Education
Early Childhood
Elementary
Middle School and Secondary Education
Montessori Teacher Education
Waldorf/Steiner Teacher Education
(13.13)
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject
Areas, including, but not limited to:
Agriculture
Art
Business
Computers
Drama
Driver Safety
English
Foreign Languages
Geography
Health
History
Home Economics
Industrial Arts
Sales and Marketing
Math
Music
Physical Education
Psychology
Reading
Science
Social Studies
Speech
(14) Engineering
(14.01)
Engineering, General
(14.02)
Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
(14.03)
Agricultural/Biological Engineering and Bioengineering
(14.05)
Biomedical/Medical Engineering
(14.07)
Chemical Engineering
(14.08)
Civil Engineering
Geotechnical Engineering
Structural Engineering
Water Resources
Transportation and Highway Engineering
(14.09)
Computer Hardware and Software Engineering
(14.10)
Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
Radio Engineering
(14.14)
Environmental Engineering
Pollution Control
Waste and Hazardous Material Disposal
(14.18)
Materials Engineering
(14.19)
Mechanical Engineering
(14.20)
Metallurgical Engineering
(14.21)
Mining and Mineral Engineering
(14.22)
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
(14.23)
Nuclear Engineering
(14.24)
Ocean Engineering
(14.25)
Energy Engineering & Tech.
Petroleum and Natural Gas
(14.33)
Construction Engineering
(14.35)
Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering
(14.38)
Surveying Engineering
(14.39)
Geological/Geophysical Engineering
(16) Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
Including:
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Linguistics
Language Interpretation and Translation
Comparative Literature
Language
Literature and Linguistics for all Languages in the world
including various forms and study of sign language
(19) Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences
(19.01)
Family and Consumer Sciences, General
Human Sciences, General (formerly, Home Economics)
(19.05)
Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services
(19.09)
Apparel and Textiles
Textile Manufacturing
Textile Science
Apparel and Textile Marketing Management
Fashion and Fabric Consulting
(22) Legal Professions and Studies
Including:
Law
Legal Research
Judicature
All branches and specialties in the practice of law
(23) English Language and Literature/Letters
Including:
English Literature
Composition
Various types of English Writing
(24) Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
--
[[Page 97697]]
(25) Library Science
(26) Biological and Biomedical Sciences
(26.01)
Biology
(26.03)
Botany/Plant Biology
(26.04)
Anatomical Sciences
Anatomy
(26.05)
Microbiological Sciences and Immunology
(26.07)
Zoology/Animal Biology
(26.08)
Genetics, all types, including:
Animal
Plant
Molecular
Microbial and Eukaryotic
Human
Genetic Engineering
Biomathematics
Bioinformatics
(26.12)
Biotechnology
(26.13)
Ecology, Population Biology
(27) Mathematics and Statistics
--
(31) Parks, Recreation, Leisure, and Fitness Studies
(31.01)
Parks, Recreation and Leisure Studies
(31.05)
Health and Physical Education/Fitness
(36.0101)
Camp Counselor
(38) Philosophy and Religious Studies
--
(39) Theology and Religious Vocations
--
(40) Physical Sciences
(40.01)
Physical Sciences
(40.02)
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Planetary Astronomy and Science
Space Technology
(40.04)
Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
(40.05)
Chemistry
(40.06)
Geological and Earth Sciences
Geosciences
Oceanography
Hydrology
(40.08)
Physics
(41) Science Technologies/Technicians
--
(42) Psychology
Including, but not limited to:
Psychometrics
Psychobiology
(43) Security and Protective Services
Including:
Law Enforcement
Fire Protection
Corrections
(44) Public Administration and Social Service Professions
(44.04)
Public Administration
City Planning
Urban Planning
Urban Transportation
(44.07)
Social Work
Youth Services
Welfare
Probation
(45) Social Sciences
(45.02)
Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
(45.03)
Archeology
(45.04)
Criminology
(45.05)
Demography and Population Studies
(45.06)
Economics
(45.07)
Geography
Cartography
(45.09)
International Relations and Affairs
(45.10)
Political Science and Government
(45.11)
Sociology
(45.99)
Social Sciences, Other
(46) Construction Trades
--
(47) Mechanic and Repair Technologies/Technicians
--
(48) Precision Production
(48.00)
Precision Production Trades
Metal Working
Woodworking
Drafting
(49) Transportation and Materials Moving
(49.01)
Air Transportation, including:
Aeronautics/Aviation/Aerospace Science and Technology, General
Airline/Commercial/Professional Pilot and Flight Crew
Aviation/Airway Management and Operations
Air Traffic Controller
Flight Instructor
(49.02)
Ground Transportation, including:
Construction
Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment Operation
Commercial Vehicle Operation