UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY 22 CFR Part 514 Exchange Visitor Program AGENCY: United States Information Agency. ACTION: Final rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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 tothe 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] BILLING CODE 8230-01-M