I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3305
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 cancella-
tions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 19, 1993
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. YATES, and Ms. PELOSI) intro-
duced 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consular Review Act
of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A BOARD OF VISA APPEALS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Immigration and Nationality
Act is amended by inserting after section 224 the following
new section:
‘‘SEC. 225. BOARD OF VISA APPEALS.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of State shall
establish within the Department of State a Board of Visa
Appeals. The Board shall be composed of 5 members who
shall be appointed by the Secretary. No more than 2 mem-
bers of the Board may be consular officers. The Secretary
shall designate a member who shall be chairperson of the
Board.
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY AND FUNCTIONS.—The Board shall
have authority to review any discretionary decision of a
consular officer with respect to an alien concerning the
denial, revocation, or cancellation of an immigrant visa
and of a nonimmigrant visa or petition and the denial of
an application for waiver of one or more grounds of ex-
cludability under section 212. The review of the Board
shall be made upon the record for decision of the consular
officer, including all documents, notes, and memoranda
filed with the consular officer, supplemented by affidavits
and other writings if offered by the consular officer or
alien. Upon a conclusive showing that the decision of the
consular official is contrary to the preponderance of the
evidence, the Board shall have authority to overrule, or
remand for further consideration, the decision of such con-
sular officer.
‘‘(c) PROCEDURE.—Proceedings before the Board
shall be in accordance with such regulations, not inconsist-
ent with this Act and sections 556 and 557 of title 5,
United States Code, as the Secretary of State shall pre-
scribe. Such regulations shall include requirements that
provide that—
‘‘(1) at the time of any decision of a consular
officer under subsection (b), an alien, attorney of
record, and any interested party defined in sub-
section (d) shall be given notice of the availability of
the review process and the necessary steps to re-
quest such review,
‘‘(2) a written record of the proceedings and de-
cision of the consular officer (in accordance with sec-
tions 556 and 557) shall be available to the Board,
and on payment of lawfully prescribed costs, shall be
made available to the alien,
‘‘(3) upon receipt of request for review under
this section, the Board shall, within 30 days, notify
the consular officer with respect to whose decision
review is sought, and, upon receipt of such notice,
such officer shall promptly (but in no event more
than 30 days after such receipt) forward to the