I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2975

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a Board of

Visa Appeals within the Department of State to review decisions of

consular officers concerning visa applications, revocations and cancellations.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 27, 1996

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. YATES, and Ms. PELOSI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish

a Board of Visa Appeals within the Department of State

to review decisions of consular officers concerning visa

applications, revocations and cancellations.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consular Review Act

5 of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A BOARD OF VISA APPEALS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Immigration and Nationality

3 Act is amended by inserting after section 224 the following

4 new section:

5 ‘‘BOARD OF VISA APPEALS

6 ‘‘SEC. 225. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of

7 State shall establish within the Department of State a

8 Board of Visa Appeals. The Board shall be composed of

9 5 members who shall be appointed by the Secretary. No

10 more than 2 members of the Board may be consular offi11 cers. The Secretary shall designate a member who shall

12 be chairperson of the Board.

13 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY AND FUNCTIONS.—The Board shall

14 have authority to review any discretionary decision of a

15 consular officer with respect to an alien concerning the

16 denial, revocation, or cancellation of an immigrant visa

17 and of a nonimmigrant visa or petition and the denial of

18 an application for waiver of one or more grounds of ex19 cludability under section 212. The review of the Board

20 shall be made upon the record for decision of the consular

21 officer, including all documents, notes, and memoranda

22 filed with the consular officer, supplemented by affidavits

23 and other writings if offered by the consular officer or

24 alien. Upon a conclusive showing that the decision of the

25 consular official is contrary to the preponderance of the

26 evidence, the Board shall have authority to overrule, or
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1 remand for further consideration, the decision of such con2 sular officer.

3 ‘‘(c) PROCEDURE.—Proceedings before the Board

4 shall be in accordance with such regulations, not inconsist5 ent with this Act and sections 556 and 557 of title 5,

6 United States Code, as the Secretary of State shall pre7 scribe. Such regulations shall include requirements that

8 provide that—

9 ‘‘(1) at the time of any decision of a consular

10 officer under subsection (b), an alien, attorney of

11 record, and any interested party defined in sub12 section (d) shall be given notice of the availability of

13 the review process and the necessary steps to re14 quest such review,

15 ‘‘(2) a written record of the proceedings and de16 cision of the consular officer (in accordance with

17 such sections 556 and 557) shall be available to the

18 Board, and on payment of lawfully prescribed costs,

19 shall be made available to the alien,

20 ‘‘(3) upon receipt of request for review under

21 this section, the Board shall, within 30 days, notify

22 the consular officer with respect to whose decision

23 review is sought, and, upon receipt of such notice,

24 such officer shall promptly (but in no event more

25 than 30 days after such receipt) forward to the
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1 Board the record of proceeding as described in sub2 section (b),

3 ‘‘(4) the appellant shall be given notice, reason4 able under all the circumstances of the time and

5 place at which the Board proceedings will be held,

6 ‘‘(5) the appellant may be represented (at no

7 expense to the Government) by such counsel, author8 ized to practice in such proceedings, as the appellant

9 shall choose, and

10 ‘‘(6) a request for review under this section

11 must be made in writing to the Board within 60

12 days after receipt of notice of the denial, revocation

13 or cancellation.

14 ‘‘(d) INTERESTED PARTIES.—The Board shall review

15 each decision described in subsection (b) upon request of

16 the alien or any of the following interested parties:

17 ‘‘(1) The petitioner or beneficiary of an immi18 grant visa petition approved under section 203(a),

19 203(b)(1), 203(b)(4), 203(b)(5), 203(c), or the peti20 tioner of an immigrant visa petition approved under

21 sections 203(b)(2) and 203(b)(3).

22 ‘‘(2) The petitioner of a nonimmigrant visa

23 petition.

24 ‘‘(3) The postsecondary educational institution

25 approved for the attendance of nonimmigrant stu-
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1 dents under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) or

2 101(a)(15)(M)(i) which has provided notice of the

3 acceptance of the alien in its program.

4 ‘‘(4) A recognized international agency or orga5 nization approved as a program sponsor under sec6 tion 101(a)(15)(J) which has provided notice of the

7 acceptance of the alien in its program.

8 ‘‘(5) A treaty investor or trader individual or

9 organization in the United States that, under section

10 101(a)(15)(E), has made an offer of employment to

11 an alien to perform executive or supervisory manage12 ment functions.

13 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—A review may not be requested

14 under this section more than once in any 24 month period.

15 ‘‘(f) CONSTRUCTION.—This section may not be con16 strued to restrict any right to further administrative or

17 judicial review established under any other provision of

18 law.

19 ‘‘(g) FEES.—The Secretary of State shall charge, and

20 collect, an appropriate fee associated with a request to the

21 Board for a review. Such fee shall be sufficient to cover

22 the cost of the administration of this section.’’.

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES.—
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1 (1) The amendment made by subsection (a)

2 shall take effect 120 days after the date of the en3 actment of this Act.

4 (2) Proposed regulations with respect to the

5 amendment made by subsection (a) shall be promul6 gated not later than 30 days after the date of the

7 enactment of this Act.

8 (3) Members of the Board of Visa Appeals

9 under section 225 of the Immigration and National10 ity Act (as inserted by subsection (a)) shall be ap11 pointed not later than 120 days after the date of the

12 enactment of this Act.

13 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—

14 (1) Section 222(f) of the Immigration and Na15 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1202(f)) is amended—

16 (A) by striking ‘‘except that’’ and all that

17 follows up to the period, and

18 (B) by adding: ‘‘An interested party under

19 section 225(d) or court shall be permitted to in20 spect the record of proceeding as described in

21 subsections (c)(2) and (c)(3) of section 225,’’.

22 (2) Section 104(a)(1) of such Act (8 U.S.C.

23 1104(a)(1)) is amended by striking the ‘‘except’’ and

24 inserting ‘‘including’’,
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1 (3) The table of contents of such Act is amend2 ed by inserting after the item relating to section 224

3 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 225. Board of Visa Appeals.’’.

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