Editorial Note on Part 41
Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to part 41 appear at 71 FR 34521 and 34522, June 15, 2006.

§ 41.26 Diplomatic visas. ( a ) *Definitions.* ( 1 ) *Diplomatic passport* means a national passport bearing that title and issued by a competent authority of a foreign government.
( 2 ) *Diplomatic visa* means any nonimmigrant visa, regardless of classification, which bears that title and is issued in accordance with the regulations of this section.
( 3 ) *Equivalent of a diplomatic passport* means a passport that: ( i ) Is issued by a competent authority that does not issue diplomatic passports and
( ii ) Has been designated by the Secretary as the equivalent of a diplomatic passport.
( b ) *Place of application.* With the exception of certain aliens in the United States issued nonimmigrant visas by the Department under the provisions of § 41.111(b), application for a diplomatic visa shall be made at a diplomatic mission or at a consular office authorized to issue diplomatic visas, regardless of the nationality or residence of the applicant.
( c ) *Classes of aliens eligible to receive diplomatic visas.* A nonimmigrant alien who presents a diplomatic passport or its equivalent shall, if otherwise qualified, be eligible to receive a diplomatic visa if: ( 1 ) The nonimmigrant alien is within one of the following categories, irrespective of the classification of the visa under § 41.12: ( i ) Heads of states and their alternates;
( ii ) Members of a reigning royal family;
( iii ) Governors-general, governors, high commissioners, and similar high administrative or executive officers of a territorial unit, and their alternates;
( iv ) Cabinet ministers and their assistants holding executive or administrative positions not inferior to that of the head of a departmental division, and their alternates;
( v ) Presiding officers of chambers of national legislative bodies;
( vi ) Justices of the highest national court of a foreign country;
( vii ) Ambassadors, public ministers, other officers of the diplomatic service and consular officers of career;
( viii ) Military officers holding a rank not inferior to that of a brigadier general in the United States Army or Air Force and Naval officers holding a rank not inferior to that of a rear admiral in the United States Navy;
( ix ) Military, naval, air and other attaché and assistant attaché assigned to a foreign diplomatic mission;
( x ) Officers of foreign-government delegations to international organizations so designated by Executive Order;
( xi ) Officers of foreign-government delegations to, and officers of, international bodies of an official nature, other than international organizations so designated by Executive Order;
( xii ) Officers of a foreign government proceeding to the United States on a temporary basis or through the United States in the performance of their official duties;
( xiii ) Officers of foreign-government delegations proceeding to or from a specific international conference of an official nature;
( xiv ) Members of the immediate family of a principal alien who is within one of the classes described in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) through (xi) of this section;
( xv ) Members of the immediate family accompanying or following to join the principal alien who is within one of the classes described in paragraphs (c)(1)(xii) and (c)(1)(xiii) of this section;
( xvi ) Diplomatic couriers proceeding to or through the United States in the performance of their official duties; or
( 2 ) The alien is classifiable as a G-4 and is accompanying any of these officers: ( i ) The Secretary General of the United Nations;
( ii ) An Under Secretary General of the United Nations;
( iii ) An Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations;
( iv ) The Administrator or the Deputy Administrator of the United Nations Development Program;
( v ) An Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Program;
( vi ) The Executive Director of the: ( A ) United Nations Children's Fund;
( B ) United Nations Institute for Training and Research;
( C ) United Nations Industrial Development Organization;
( vii ) The Executive Secretary of the: ( A ) United Nations Economic Commission for Africa;
( B ) United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East;
( C ) United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America;
( D ) United Nations Economic Commission for Europe;
( viii ) The Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development;
( ix ) The Director General of the Latin American Institute for Economic and Social Planning;
( x ) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
( xi ) The United Nations Commissioner for Technical Cooperation;
( xii ) The Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East;
( xiii ) Members of the immediate family accompanying or following to join any principal nonimmigrant alien listed in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) through (xii) of this section.
( 3 ) Other individual aliens or classes of aliens are eligible to receive diplomatic visas upon authorization of the Department, the Chief of a U.S. Diplomatic Mission, the Deputy Chief of Mission, the Counselor for Consular Affairs or the principal officer of a consular post not under the jurisdiction of a diplomatic mission.
[52 FR 42597, Nov. 5, 1987; 53 FR 9111, Mar. 21, 1988, as amended at 86 FR 10456, Feb. 22, 2021]