Speech #1030124872

Madam President. I am pleased to join my colleague on the Immigration Subcommittee. Senator SIMPSON. in offering this amendment to strengthen the capacity of our consular services overseas by changing a provision of current immigration law. According to both the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service about 30 percent of current immigrant visa applicants at consular posts abroad have been living in the United States prior to their application for an immigrant visa. Because they are prohibited by section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) from adjusting their status to that of immigrant while they are in the United States. these individuals--including childrenare required to leave the United States and secure a visa at a U.S. consular section so they may reenter as immigrants. Designed to dissuade visa overstays and others circumventing normal visa requirements. this provision of law has not provided the intended deterrent to illegal immigration and its effect as a penalty for violation of our immigration laws has been minimal. Further. it has become very costly and timeconsuming for the Department of States Consular Service to provide visa services for this group of individuals. In examining the Department of State authorization bill. we have found that certain of its provisions could adversely effect the Department of States budgetary capacity to provide consular services for our citizens both here in the United States and abroad. These provisions. such as freezing the size of the Foreign Service. authorizing the collection of application fees for nonimmigrant visas. and instituting statutorily mandated sanctions for the erroneous issuance of a nonimmigrant visa. have worthy goals. Nevertheless. if they are instituted without consideration for funding or personnel shifts they will inevitably require. services to U.S. citizens will suffer. Our proposed amendment to the pending bill. is designed to reduce significantly the immigrant visa processing caseload at consular offices abroad. If adopted. these changes could eliminate at least 30 percent of the workload of the immigrant visa sections at our consulates. This could free as many as 40 officer positions and over 200 foreign service national positions to cover the new consular requirements. Additionally. by moving the immigrant visa processing now done overseas to the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] adjudication centers in the United States. we will generate funds to meet the costs of those services and provide INS resources to protect the integrity of the immigration process. INS has both the capacity and willingness to assume these responsibilities with the funds that will be made available to it through the additional fees mandated in our amendment. I urge the adoption of this amendment.