Supp Statement DS-1884

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Petition to Classify Special Immigrant Under INA 203(b)(4) as Employee or Former Employee of the U.S. Government Abroad
OMB Number 1405-0082
DS-1884

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. An alien who qualifies as a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. § 1101) meets the requirements for employment-based immigrant visa preference under INA section 203(b)(4) (8 U.S.C. § 1153). Section 101(a)(27)(D) (8 U.S.C. § 1101) requires, for special immigrant qualification, that the alien be an employee or honorably retired former employee of the United States government abroad, or of the American Institute in Taiwan, who has performed faithful service for a total of fifteen years or more, that the Principal Officer of a Foreign Service establishment, or the Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, recommend the alien for such status in exceptional circumstances, and that the Secretary of State approve such recommendation and find it to be in the national interest to grant such status. Pursuant to INA section 204(a)(1)(G)(ii) (8 U.S.C. § 1154), an alien claiming such status may file a petition only with the Secretary of State and only after notification by the Secretary that the recommendation has been approved. Once the Secretary has approved the recommendation, the alien has one year in which to file a petition for special immigrant status.

2. Department of State consular officers use Form DS-1884 (Petition to Classify Special Immigrant Under INA section 203(b)(4) (8 U.S.C. § 1153) as an Employee or Former Employee of the U.S. Government Abroad) to fulfill the legal requirements specified in paragraph 1. The information requested on the form is limited to that which is necessary for consular officers to process the petitioner’s application for a special immigrant visa.

3. This form can be obtained from posts abroad in person or through the Department’s eForms intranet site. The application available through eForms allows the applicant to complete the application online and then print the application. Most applicants are current federal government employees abroad and have access to the intranet system. Once the form is printed, it is submitted to post.

4. The information collected on this form is not otherwise available to consular officers and is necessary to process the alien’s petition.

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

6. Consular officers would be unable to process petitions for special immigrant status without the information collected on this form.

7. No special circumstances exist.

8. The Department of State (Bureau of Consular Affairs, Visa Services) published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register (80 FR 45011) on July 28, 2015. One comment was received but it was not relevant to the information collection and required no further action.

9. No payment or gift is provided to respondents.

10. Privacy and confidentiality of the information that is collected will be provided to the extent permitted by the Privacy Act and applicable statutes.

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

12. Based on average use over the past four years, approximately 300 respondents will complete this form each year. Each petitioner for classification under INA section 203(b)(4) as a special immigrant described in INA section 101(a)(27)(D) completes this form. The information collected relates to the petitioner’s biographical information, U.S. government employment history, and information concerning the petitioner’s spouse and children, if any. It takes approximately 10 minutes to fill out the form. Therefore, the annual hour burden to respondents is estimated to be 50 hours (300 x 10 minutes). According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics website (www.bls.gov), the weighted average hourly wage of all employees on private payrolls (chosen because the respondent could be from any occupation) is estimated to be $34.93 per hour ($24.95 average wage x 1.4 multiplier). Therefore, the estimated annual burden cost to respondents is $1,746.50 (50 annual burden hours x $34.93).

13. There is no cost to respondents.

14. The Department estimates that this information collection costs the Federal Government $1,000 annually. It takes approximately 10 minutes to process the form. Since 300 respondents each year will complete the form, 50 hours annually will be dedicated to processing the form. According to budget data submitted by foreign posts, the average hourly wage of a visa clerk is $20. Therefore, we estimate the annual cost to process the form is $1,000 per year.

15. After receiving feedback from consulate officers, one minor change has been made to this collection. The first block, which is for official use only, has been darkened to reflect a separation between sections for the consulate officer and petitioner to complete. This will help alleviate confusion.

16. A quantitative summary of all Department of State visa activities is published in the annual Report of 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 2014. The link to the site is: http://travel.state.gov/visa/statistics/statistics_1476.html.

17. The Department will display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

18. No exceptions are requested.

B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.