Sec. 301. Improvement of the direct access program for U.S.-affiliated Iraqis
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Section 1243 of the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 ( 8 U.S.C. 1157 note) is amended by adding at the end the following: Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the Refugee Protection Act of 2019 , the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall improve the efficiency by which applications for status as a refugee of special humanitarian concern under this section are processed to ensure that all steps under the control of the United States Government incidental to the approval of such applications, including required screenings and background checks, are completed not later than 5 years after the date on which an eligible applicant submits an application under subsection (a).
Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the United States Refugee Admission Program may take additional time to process applications described in paragraph
(1)if satisfaction of national security concerns requires such additional time, provided that the Secretary of Homeland Security, or his or her designee, has determined that the applicant meets the requirements for status as a refugee of special humanitarian concern under this section and has notified the applicant of such fact. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Refugee Protection Act of 2019 , and every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a report, with a classified annex, if necessary, to— the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate ; the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate ; the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate ; the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives ; the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives ; and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives . The Secretary of State shall publish each report submitted pursuant to subparagraph
(A)on the website of the Department of State. Each report submitted pursuant to subparagraph
(A)shall describe the implementation of improvements to the processing of applications for refugee status required under paragraph (1), including information relating to— enhancing existing systems for conducting background and security checks of persons applying for refugee status under this section, which shall— support immigration security; and provide for the orderly processing of such applications without significant delay; the number of aliens who have applied for refugee status under this section during each month of the preceding fiscal year; the reasons for the failure to process any applications that have been pending for longer than 5 years; the total number of applications that are pending at the end of the reporting period; the average wait times for all applicants who are currently pending— employment verification; a prescreening interview with a resettlement support center; an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; and the completion of security checks; the number of denials or rejections of applicants for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason for denial; and the reasons for denials by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services based on the categories already made available to denied applicants for refugee status in the notification of ineligibility issued to them by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. . Refugee admissions granted pursuant to section 1243 of the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1157 note) shall not count against the numerical limitation set forth in section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1157 ).
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Sec. 301
Improvement of the direct access program for U.S.-affiliated Iraqis
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