DS-1648 Supporting Statement (8-07-2013)

3

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Application for A, G, or NATO Visa
OMB Number 1405-0100

DS-1648

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Ambassadors, public ministers, diplomats, consular officers, foreign government officials, their immediate family members, and attendants, servants, and personal employees may apply for nonimmigrant A visas under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), section 101(a)(15)(A) [8.U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(A)]. Representatives of recognized foreign governments to international organization and international organization officers or employees as well as their immediate family, attendants, servants or personal employees may apply for nonimmigrant G visas under INA section § 101(a)(15)(G) [8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(G)]. As established under the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, National Representatives and International Staff; Agreement Between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Regarding the Status of Their Forces; and the Protocol on the Status of International Military Headquarters Set Up Pursuant to the North Atlantic Treaty and as outlined in 22 C.F.R. § 41.25, the principal permanent representative of a member state to NATO, other representatives of member states to NATO, official clerical staff accompanying representatives and their immediate family and personal servants or employees may apply for NATO visas to enter the United States.

2. DS-1648 is used for the reauthorization of A, G, and NATO visas, with the exception of A-3, G-5 and NATO-7 visas. Each year, approximately 30,000 A, G and NATO visa reauthorizations are processed. Applicants who are in the country in these classifications use this form to extend their status. The information requested on the form is limited to that which is necessary to determine the eligibility of applicants for a reauthorization of their status. The Department is unable to approve such a request without collecting this information and the form is an indispensable part of the Visa Office’s Diplomatic Liaison Division’s adjudication function.

3. The DS-1648 will be submitted electronically to the Department via the internet. The applicant will be instructed to print a confirmation page containing a bar coded record locator, which will be scanned at the time of processing.

4. This information collection solicits information from the applicant that is otherwise unavailable to the Department.

5. This information collection does not impact small businesses or other small entities.

6. Applicants for A, G, or NATO visas, with the exception of A-3, G-5 and NATO-7 visas, will complete this form each time they apply for an extension of their visas. It is essential that up-to-date information be collected upon each extension or revalidation of the visa. It would not be feasible to collect the information with less frequency.

7. No such special circumstances exist.

8. The Department of State (Bureau of Consular Affairs, Visa Services) published a 60-day notice (78 FR 32696, May 31, 2013), to solicit public comments on this information collection as required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d). No comments were received. Visa Services meets regularly with immigration experts from the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate policy, and also holds meetings with immigration attorneys, during which their opinions and suggestions regarding visa procedures and operations are discussed.

9. No payment or gift is made to the respondent.

10. No assurances of confidentiality are expressly stated on the form. In accordance with section 222(f) of the INA, information obtained from applicants in the nonimmigrant visa process is considered confidential and is to be used only for the formulation, amendment, administration, or enforcement of the immigration, nationality, and other laws of the United States.

11. The form does not seek personal information of a sensitive nature.

12. Approximately 30,000 respondents complete this form each year. Completing the entire form will require approximately 30 minutes of time and no special research on the respondent’s part is required. The annual hour burden to respondents is estimated to be 15,000 hours (30,000 x 30 minutes = 15,000 hours). Based on an average hourly wage of $21, the weighted wage hour cost burden for this collection is $441,000. This is based on the calculation of $21 (average hourly wage) x 1.4(weighted wage multiplier) x 15,000 hours =$441,000.

13. There is no cost burden to the respondents. Officials are exempt from visa fees per 22 CFR 41.107(c).

14. The annual cost burden to the federal government in regards to the DS-1648 is $4,590,300 a year. This estimate is based on using the 2011 Consular Cost of Service Model (CoSM) weighted united cost of $153.01. The CoSM is the cost to the government to process each individual DS-1648. As a result, by multiplying the CoSM ($153.01) by the number of respondents (30,000), the annual cost burden to the federal government is $4,590,300 a year. The CoSM that calculates the cost to the government data is housed and operated by the Consular Affairs Comptroller’s Office (CA/C). At this point, the Consular Cost of Service Model cannot break down the cost data down further by percentage of time spent reviewing and processing forms.

15. There is no program change or adjustment.

16. A quantitative summary of all Department of State visa activities is published in the annual Report on the Visa Office. The Report of the Visa Office is an annual report providing statistical information on immigrant and non-immigrant visa issuances by consular offices, as well as information on the use of visa numbers in numerically limited categories. The Visa Office currently has annual reports available from 2000 to 2012. The link to the site is: http://travel.state.gov/visa/statistics/statistics_1476.html.

17. The Department will display the OMB expiration date for this collection.

18. The Department is not requesting any exception to the certification.

B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.