[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 152 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 42233]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-21137]
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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY
22 CFR Part 514
Exchange Visitor Program
AGENCY: United States Information Agency.
ACTION: Statement of Policy.
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SUMMARY: The Agency hereby announces its policy regarding requests for
waiver of the two-year home country physical presence requirement set
forth in Section 1182(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act based
upon the applicant's assertion that fulfillment of such requirement is
not possible due to the loss of home country citizenship.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This policy statement is effective August 7, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stanley S. Colvin, Assistant General Counsel, United States Information
Agency, 301 4th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20547; telephone, (202) 619-
6531.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Director of the United States
Information Agency is required by Section 1182(e) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act to make recommendations to the Attorney General
regarding the grant or denial of the two-year home country physical
presence requirement imposed upon certain aliens who have entered the
United States on a J visa or subsequently acquired such nonimmigrant
status. Aliens who have received government funds, pursued graduate
medical education or training, or who have participated in an activity
involving skills identified of interest to the government of his or her
home country are subject to the two-year home country physical presence
requirement, viz., ``until it is established that such person has
resided and been physically present in the country of his nationality
or his last residence for an aggregate of at least two years following
departure from the United States.'' If subject, an alien must fulfill
this requirement or have it waived before he or she is eligible to
adjust to H, L, or legal permanent resident status.
Recommendations regarding the grant or denial of a waiver request
are based upon a review of the unique program, policy, and foreign
relations aspects presented by each individual request. Recently, the
Agency has been approached and requested to recognize a theory that
certain aliens subject to the return home requirement should be granted
a waiver because their home country has revoked, by operation of law,
their citizenship due to the acquisition of citizenship or legal
permanent residence in another country. This theory suggests that the
section 1182(e) requirement should be waived because the loss of
citizenship has made it impossible for the alien to fulfill this
requirement. Having reviewed this matter at length, the Agency cannot
adopt this theory as a matter of policy and will not recommend the
grant of a waiver based solely upon the loss of home country
citizenship. In many cases, other means of fulfillment, such as the
utilization of a nonimmigrant visa for entry into the home country are
available.
The Agency will review, on a case by case basis, those
extraordinarily few instances where fulfillment of the Section 1182(e)
requirement is impossible due to facts totally beyond the control of
the waiver applicant and which were not the predictable consequences of
action on the part of the applicant. Compelling and probative evidence
of such impossibility of performance, furnished by the alien, is
necessarily a prerequisite to Agency review. Such evidence may be, for
example, proof of denial of a request for a nonimmigrant visa from the
home country or denial of a request to restore home country
citizenship.
List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 514
Cultural exchange programs.
Dated: July 30, 1998.
Les Jin,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 98-21137 Filed 8-6-98; 8:45 am]
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