Sec. 1219. Improvement of the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program
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Section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 ( 8 U.S.C. 1101 note) is amended— in paragraph (2)— in subparagraph (D)— by adding at the end the following: An applicant who has been denied Chief of Mission approval shall— receive a written decision; and be provided 120 days from the date of receipt of such opinion to request reconsideration of the decision to provide additional information, clarify existing information, or explain any unfavorable information. The Secretary of State shall designate, in the Embassy of the United States in Kabul, Afghanistan, a senior coordinator responsible for overseeing the efficiency and integrity of the processing of special immigrant visas under this section, who shall be given— sufficiently high security clearance to review Chief of Mission denials in cases that appear to have relied upon insufficient or incorrect information; and responsibility for ensuring that an applicant described in subclause
(I)receives the information described in subclause (I)(aa). ; in paragraph (4)— in the heading, by striking and inserting Prohibition on fees ; Application process by striking The Secretary and inserting the following: Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall improve the efficiency by which applications for special immigrant visas under paragraph
(1)are processed so that all steps incidental to the issuance of such visas, including required screenings and background checks, are completed not later than 6 months after the date on which an eligible alien applies for such visa. The Secretary ; and by adding at the end the following: Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report, with a classified annex, if necessary, that describes the implementation of improvements to the processing of applications for special immigrant visas under this subsection, including information relating to— enhancing existing systems for conducting background and security checks of persons applying for special immigrant status, which shall— support immigration security; and provide for the orderly processing of such applications without delay; the financial, security, and personnel considerations and resources necessary to carry out this section; the number of aliens who have applied for special immigrant visas under this subsection during each month of the preceding fiscal year; the reasons for the failure to expeditiously process any applications that have been pending for longer than 9 months; the total number of applications that are pending due to the failure— to receive approval from the Chief of Mission; for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to complete the adjudication of the Form I–360; to conduct a visa interview; or to issue the visa to an eligible alien; the average wait times for an applicant at each of the stages described in subparagraph (E); the number of denials or rejections at each of the stages described in subparagraph (E); and a breakdown of reasons for denials by the Chief of Mission based on the categories already made available to denied special immigrant visa applicants in the denial letter sent to them by the Chief of Mission. Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, and every 3 months thereafter, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall publish a report on the website of the Department of State that describes the efficiency improvements made in the process by which applications for special immigrant visas under this subsection are processed, including information described in subparagraph
(C)through
(H)of paragraph (12). .
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Sec. 1219
Improvement of the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program
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