Consular officer,
Consular officer, as defined in INA 101(a)(9) includes commissioned consular officers and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services, and such other officers as the Deputy Assistant Secretary may designate for the purpose of issuing nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, but does not include a consular agent, an attach or an assistant attach. For purposes of this regulation, the term other officers includes civil service visa examiners employed by the Department of State for duty at visa-issuing offices abroad, upon certification by the chief of the consular section under whose direction such examiners are employed that the examiners are qualified by knowledge and experience to perform the functions of a consular officer in the issuance or refusal of visas. The designation of visa examiners shall expire upon termination of the examiners' employment for such duty and may be terminated at any time for cause by the Deputy Assistant Secretary. The assignment by the Department of any foreign service officer to a diplomatic or consular office abroad in a position administratively designated as requiring, solely, partially, or principally, the performance of consular functions, and the initiation of a request for a consular commission, constitutes designation of the officer as a consular officer within the meaning of INA 101(a)(9).
Source
22 CFR § 40.1
Scoping language
The following definitions supplement definitions contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). As used in the regulations in parts 40, 41, 42, 43 and 45 of this subchapter, the term: