[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 76 (Monday, April 21, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19221-19222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10140]
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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY
22 CFR Part 514
Exchange Visitor Program
AGENCY: United States Information Agency.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Agency hereby adopts as final, part of the proposed rule
published in the Federal Register on September 5, 1996 (61 FR 46745).
This rule specifically adopts the proposed amendment of existing
regulations governing the Agency's internal Exchange Visitor Waiver
Review Board set forth at 22 CFR 514.44(g). These changes are necessary
to streamline Waiver Board procedures by no longer requiring mandatory
referral of certain cases to the Waiver Board. The Agency anticipates
that the number of cases afforded Waiver Board review will be
significantly reduced.
DATES: This rule is effective April 21, 1997.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stanley S. Colvin, Assistant General Counsel, United States Information
Agency, 301 4th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20547; Telephone, (202)
619-6829.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Agency received nine comments in
response to its Federal Register notice published September 5, 1996 (61
FR 46745). This notice proposed amendment of existing regulations set
forth at 22 CFR 514.44(c) that govern the
[[Page 19222]]
Agency's administrative processing of requests for the waiver of the
two-year return home requirement to which some exchange visitors are
subject, pursuant to the provisions of Section 212(e) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act. Specifically, these proposed
amendments would change the processing of waiver requests submitted to
the Agency by interested government agencies on behalf of foreign
medical graduates subject to the two-year return home requirement due
to their pursuit of graduate medical education or training in the
United States.
The General Accounting Office published a report titled ``Foreign
Physicians: Exchange Visitor Program Becoming Major Route to Practicing
in U.S. Underserved Areas'' on December 30, 1996. USIA, along with
those U.S. Government agencies that request waivers of the two-year
home country presence requirement on behalf of foreign physicians, is
reviewing this report and the policy implications presented therein.
The Agency is also continuing with its review of the legal and policy
questions that arise from Section 622 of the recently enacted Illegal
Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Accordingly, the
Agency is delaying publication of a final rule regarding foreign
physician waivers but anticipates such publication in the near future.
The nature, composition, and duties of the Waiver Review Board were
critiqued extensively in the public comment submitted by the American
Immigration Lawyers Association. In part, this comment suggests that
the Board should be viewed as an ``appeals court'' to which all
disappointed waiver applicants can resort. The Agency does not agree
with this suggestion and believes such a structure would cripple the
waiver process. This comment also focused on the role of pure legal
issues that arise in the waiver process and the manner in which such
issues are identified and resolved. The Agency has considered this
comment but believes that existing procedures provide adequate
procedural safeguards.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. Sec. 605(b), the Agency certifies that
this rule does not have a significant adverse economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. This rule is not considered to be
a major rule within the meaning of Section 1(b) of E.O. 12291, nor does
it have federal implications warranting the preparation of a Federalism
Assessment in accordance with E.O. 12612.
List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 514
Cultural exchange programs.
Dated: April 15, 1997.
Les Jin,
General Counsel.
Accordingly, 22 CFR part 514 is amended as follows:
PART 514--EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM
1. The authority citation for part 514 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J), 1182, 1258, 22 U.S.C. 1431-
1421 2451-2460: Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977, 42 FR 62461, 3
CFR, 1977 Comp. p. 200; E.O. 12048 43 FR 13361, 3 CFR, 1978 Comp. p.
168; USIA Delegation Order No. 85-5 (50 FR 27393).
2. Section 514.44 is amended by removing paragraph (h) and revising
paragraph (g) to read as follows:
Sec. 514.44 Two-year home-country physical presence requirement.
* * * * *
(g) The Exchange Visitor Waiver Review Board.--(1) The Exchange
Visitor Waiver Review Board (``Board'') shall consist of the following
Agency officers:
(i) The Associate Director of the Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs, or his or her designee;
(ii) The Director of the geographic area office responsible for the
geographical area of the waiver applicant, or his or her designee;
(iii) The Director of the office of Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs, or his or her designee;
(iv) The Director of the Office of Academic Exchange, or his or her
designee; and
(v) The Director of the Office of Research, or his or her designee.
(2) A person who has had substantial prior involvement in a
particular case referred to the Board may not be appointed to, or serve
on, the Board for that particular case unless the General Counsel
determines that the individual's inclusion on the Board is otherwise
necessary or practicably unavoidable.
(3) The Associate Director of the Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs, or his or her designee, shall serve as Board
Chairman. No designee under paragraph (g)(3) shall serve for more than
2 years.
(4) Cases will be referred to the Board at the discretion of the
Branch Chief, Waiver Review Branch, of the Agency's office of Exchange
Visitor Program Services. The Waiver Review Branch shall prepare a
summary of the particular case referred and forward it along with copy
of the relevant file to the Board Chairman. The Chief, Waiver Review
Branch, or his or her designee, may, at the Chairman's discretion,
appear and present facts related to the case but shall not participate
in Board deliberations.
(5) The Chairman of the Board shall be responsible for convening
the Board and distributing all necessary information to its members.
Upon being convened, the Board shall review the case file and weight
the request against the program, policy, and foreign relations aspects
of the case.
(6) The General Counsel shall appoint, on a case-by-case basis,
from among the attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel, one
attorney to serve as legal advisor to the Board.
(7) At the conclusion of its review of the case, the Board shall
make a written recommendation either to grant or to deny the waiver
application. The written recommendation of a majority of the Board
shall constitute the recommendation of the Board. Such recommendation
shall be promptly transmitted by the Chairman to the Branch Chief,
Waiver Review Branch.
(8) The recommendation of the Board in any case reviewed by it
shall constitute the recommendation of the Agency and such
recommendation shall be forwarded to the Commissioner by the Branch
Chief, Waiver Review Branch.
[FR Doc. 97-10140 Filed 4-18-97; 8:45 am]
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