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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 cancella-
tions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 27, 1996
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 1996’’.
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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:
‘‘BOARD OF VISA APPEALS
‘‘SEC. 225. (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 members of the Board may be consular offi-
cers. 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
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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
such sections 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
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Board the record of proceeding as described in sub-
section (b),
‘‘(4) the appellant shall be given notice, reason-
able under all the circumstances of the time and
place at which the Board proceedings will be held,
‘‘(5) the appellant may be represented (at no
expense to the Government) by such counsel, author-
ized to practice in such proceedings, as the appellant
shall choose, and
‘‘(6) a request for review under this section
must be made in writing to the Board within 60
days after receipt of notice of the denial, revocation
or cancellation.
‘‘(d) INTERESTED PARTIES.—The Board shall review
each decision described in subsection (b) upon request of
the alien or any of the following interested parties:
‘‘(1) The petitioner or beneficiary of an immi-
grant visa petition approved under section 203(a),
203(b)(1), 203(b)(4), 203(b)(5), 203(c), or the peti-
tioner of an immigrant visa petition approved under
sections 203(b)(2) and 203(b)(3).
‘‘(2) The petitioner of a nonimmigrant visa
petition.
‘‘(3) The postsecondary educational institution
approved for the attendance of nonimmigrant stu-
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(1) The amendment made by subsection (a)
shall take effect 120 days after the date of the en-
actment of this Act.
(2) Proposed regulations with respect to the
amendment made by subsection (a) shall be promul-
gated not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(3) Members of the Board of Visa Appeals
under section 225 of the Immigration and National-
ity Act (as inserted by subsection (a)) shall be ap-
pointed not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—
(1) Section 222(f) of the Immigration and Na-
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1202(f)) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘except that’’ and all that
follows up to the period, and
(B) by adding: ‘‘An interested party under
section 225(d) or court shall be permitted to in-
spect the record of proceeding as described in
subsections (c)(2) and (c)(3) of section 225,’’.
(2) Section 104(a)(1) of such Act (8 U.S.C.
1104(a)(1)) is amended by striking the ‘‘except’’ and
inserting ‘‘including’’,
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(3) The table of contents of such Act is amend-
ed by inserting after the item relating to section 224
the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 225. Board of Visa Appeals.’’.
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