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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1156

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

MARCH 17, 1999

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts 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 1999’’.
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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. Not

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 or

17 of a nonimmigrant visa or petition, or the denial of an

18 application for waiver of one or more grounds of inadmis19 sibility under section 212. The review of the Board shall

20 be made upon the record for decision of the consular offi21 cer, including all documents, notes, and memoranda filed

22 with the consular officer, supplemented by affidavits and

23 other writings if offered by the consular officer or alien.

24 Upon a conclusive showing that the decision of the con25 sular official is contrary to the preponderance of the evi26 dence, the Board shall have authority to overrule, or re-
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1 mand 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 incon5 sistent with this Act and sections 556 and 557 of title

6 5, 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 sec17 tions 556 and 557 of title 5, United States Code)

18 shall be available to the Board, and on payment of

19 lawfully prescribed costs, shall be made available to

20 the alien;

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

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

23 the consular officer with respect to whose decision

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

25 such officer shall promptly (but in no event more
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1 than 30 days after such receipt) forward to the

2 Board the record of proceeding as described in sub3 section (b);

4 ‘‘(4) the appellant shall be given notice, reason5 able under all the circumstances of the time and

6 place at which the Board proceedings will be held;

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

8 expense to the Government) by such counsel, author9 ized to practice in such proceedings, as the appellant

10 shall choose; and

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

12 must be made in writing to the Board within 60

13 days after receipt of notice of the denial, revocation,

14 or cancellation.

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

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

17 the alien or any of the following interested parties:

18 ‘‘(1) The petitioner or beneficiary of an immi19 grant visa petition approved under section 203(a),

20 203(b)(1), 203(b)(4), 203(b)(5), or 203(c), or the

21 petitioner of an immigrant visa petition approved

22 under section 203(b)(2) or 203(b)(3).

23 ‘‘(2) The petitioner of a nonimmigrant visa pe24 tition.
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1 ‘‘(3) The postsecondary educational institution

2 approved for the attendance of nonimmigrant stu3 dents under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) or

4 101(a)(15)(M)(i) which has provided notice of the

5 acceptance of the alien in its program.

6 ‘‘(4) A recognized international agency or orga7 nization approved as a program sponsor under sec8 tion 101(a)(15)(J) which has provided notice of the

9 acceptance of the alien in its program.

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

11 organization in the United States that, under section

12 101(a)(15)(E), has made an offer of employment to

13 an alien to perform executive or supervisory manage14 ment functions.

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

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

17 ‘‘(f) CONSTRUCTION.—This section may not be con18 strued to restrict any right to further administrative or

19 judicial review established under any other provision of

20 law.

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

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

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

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

25 (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 Nation10 ality 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 at the end: ‘‘An interested

19 party under section 225(d) or court shall be

20 permitted to inspect the record of proceeding as

21 described in subsections (c)(2) and (c)(3) of

22 section 225.’’.

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

24 1104(a)(1)) is amended by striking the ‘‘except’’ and

25 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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