22 CFR Part 41 - VISAS: DOCUMENTATION OF NONIMMIGRANTS UNDER THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT, AS AMENDED

The Department of State is coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security on instituting a requirement for nonimmigrant aliens who hold a passport issued by an identified country containing a U.S. nonimmigrant visa of a designated category to provide required information to DHS after the receipt of his or her visa of a designated category.

The Department of State proposes to reinstate a temporarily suspended amendment to its visa regulations to clarify procedures for waiver of documentary requirements due to an unforeseen emergency for nonimmigrants seeking admission to the United States.

The Department of State published a Federal Register interim final rule on February 4, 2016, in Volume 81, No. 23, page 5906. The document contains an error in the Regulatory Findings. This document corrects the rule by replacing the text, “included elsewhere in this edition of the Federal Register ” with “published in the Federal Register on February 8, 2016, 81 FR 6430.” There is also a correction in the ADDRESSES section, to provide the correct public notice number to find the rule to submit comments on www.regulations.gov.

As a result of this rule, a passport and a visa will be required of a British, French, or Netherlands national, or of a national of Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, or Trinidad and Tobago, who has residence in British, French, or Netherlands territory located in the adjacent islands of the Caribbean area, or has residence in Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, or Trinidad and Tobago, if the alien is proceeding to the United States as an agricultural worker. In light of past experience, and to promote consistency of treatment across H-2A agricultural workers, prudent border management requires these temporary workers to obtain a visa along with most other H-2A agricultural workers. The previous rule allowing temporary workers from these countries to enter the United States without a visa presented a vulnerability. Temporary workers from these countries now require H-2A visas to enter the United States.

This rule is promulgated to clarify the circumstances in which a consular officer and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services may waive the requirement for a nonimmigrant visa interview.

The Department of State is updating its regulations regarding nonimmigrant visa format, and records retention procedures. These updates reflect changes in technology, including the current practice of issuing machine-readable visas and the planned future practice of issuing visas electronically. The Department is also removing an obsolete records retention provision and a visa review provision, both of which are now addressed in the Foreign Affairs Manual.

The Department of State is amending its regulations regarding the waiver by joint action of consular and immigration officers of visa and passport requirements for members of foreign armed forces and coast guards. Specifically, the regulation, as amended, removes the current list of countries whose armed forces members are ineligible for a such a waiver, and provides that, in every case, when entry of foreign armed forces and coast guard members is proposed under arrangements made with the appropriate military authorities of the United States and after coordination within the U.S. Government by those U.S. military authorities, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State will jointly decide whether to approve waiver of the visa and/or passport requirements.

The Department of State amends its regulation pertaining to The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), by removing the petition requirement for citizens of Mexico applying for nonimmigrant visa classification as NAFTA professionals. The rule reflects changes to documentary requirements authorized under the Immigration and Nationality Act, in implementation of NAFTA.

This rule is being promulgated to add a new visa classification symbol to the nonimmigrant classification table in our regulations. This amendment is necessary to implement legislation that created an additional nonimmigrant classification as described herein.

This final rule creates a regulatory exception to visa restrictions under applicable laws providing for such an exception, in order to permit compliance with the Agreement between the United States and the United Nations Regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations (UNHQA), signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, entered into force November 21, 1947, and other international obligations. This rule also clarifies that the Department of State's definition of “immediate family” for classifications and also applies to foreign government officials who may be admitted in immediate and continuous transit through the United States, and to all relevant NATO visa classifications under the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, National Representatives, and International Staff, signed at Ottawa, September 20, 1951, entered into force May 18 1954.

This rule permits qualified immediate family members of A-1 or A-2 nonimmigrants to be independently classified as G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4 nonimmigrants. It also clarifies that immediate family members of G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 nonimmigrants who have employment authorization may remain in G classification upon gaining employment that would otherwise allow them to change status to A classification. This rule is being promulgated to allow family members of employees of bilateral missions to work at international organizations in a visa status that reflects their position with the international organization.