SUPPORTING
STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK
REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
Family
Reunification Assistance for Afghan Parolees
Form
DS-4317
OMB
Number 1405-0251
Why is this collection necessary and what are the legal statutes that allow this?
The information on this form is requested pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 301 (Secretary of State's authorities with respect to Management of the Department of State), 22 U.S.C. 2651a (Organization of the Department of State); and 8 U.S.C. 1101-1537 (Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended).
What business purpose is the information gathered going to be used for?
The U.S. Government agreed that Afghans paroled under Operation Allies Welcome or those paroled then subsequently granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), could request U.S. Government-supported family reunification support for their spouses and unmarried children under 21.
The State Department needs to identify people who are eligible for this program. While the State Department has, to date, been relying on incoming requests via email to manage the intake of these requests, State requires a publicly-advertised system that is sustainable and efficient and that enables data validation with U.S. Government databases.
To rectify these inefficiencies and others, the Department proposes using an online form available on the Department’s website to acquire the most current and accurate data possible to inform its relocation assistance efforts. It will enable the Department to build a current picture of how many Afghans may be eligible for relocation and to progress with assisting them to depart Afghanistan. The online form helps avoid unstructured requests for assistance, such as those that arrive via e-mail messages, which may not include important information, such as family size and their biodata, and which often require entry into other systems in order to facilitate responses. This form is integrated with other elements of the Department’s evolving information technology platform used in crisis-management situations, enhancing the efficient handling of individual cases.
Is this collection able to be completed electronically (e.g. through a website or application)?
The collection will be completed 100% electronically. The respondent accesses the form on the Department of State’s https://www.state.gov/afghanistan-family-reunification. The Department of State acknowledges that under M-17-06 “Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and Digital Services,” official public-facing websites are expected to be hosted on a .gov or .mil domain.
The respondent in the United States fills out the form with their own data and data on eligible family in Afghanistan. The information is received into the online platform, which is controlled by the Department of State.
Does this collection duplicate any other collection of information?
This collection will not duplicate any other collection of information.
Describe any impacts on small business.
There is no impact on small business.
What are consequences if this collection is not done?
If this information is not collected, eligible family members may not be able to be reunified with their family members in the United States, thus U.S. Government guidance will not be followed to reunify. The immediate family of parolees relocated through OAW are reportedly suffering mental anguish while without family in the U.S.
Are there any special collection circumstances?
No.
Document publication (or intent to publish) a request for public comments in the Federal Register
The Department received emergency approval of this information collection, and is requesting a revision. See paragraph 15.
Are payments or gifts given to the respondents?
No.
Describe assurances of privacy/confidentiality
All information will be handled in accordance with the Fair Information Practice Principles identified in OMB Circular No. A-130, “Managing Information as a Strategic Resource” and the confidentiality provisions of the INA (8 U.S.C. § 1202(f)), as applicable. Information collected from the form will be used by Department of State employees and contractors to assist in providing relocation assistance. Department of State entities that may require access to this information are: Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and the Bureau of Consular Affairs. To provide relocation assistance, the Department of State must verify the applicant’s parole status with the Department of Homeland Security. SORN STATE-39, outlines the routine uses of the information collected.
Are any questions of a sensitive nature asked?
No questions of a sensitive nature are asked.
Describe the hour time burden and the hour cost burden on the respondent needed to complete this collection
The Department anticipates approximately 35,000 respondents will respond to this collection.
The form takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, resulting in a time burden of 1,250 hours.
Respondents include individuals in the United States or elsewhere who are not in need of assistance themselves but are completing the form on behalf of family members or other Afghan individuals. For any Afghan or other non-U.S. respondents, there are no hourly earnings data.
Describe the monetary burden to respondents (out of pocket costs) needed to complete this collection.
There are no out-of-pocket costs to the respondents.
Describe the cost incurred by the Federal Government to complete this collection.
There will be no new cost to the federal government to set up this collection. The collection instrument is made available through an existing Department platform. The responses will be reviewed by Department employees in the normal course of their duties, including on dedicated task forces pertaining to operations in Afghanistan.
Explain any changes/adjustments to this collection since the previous submission
The revisions to the DS-4317:
1. Emphasize that the use of the form is intended only for Afghan nationals.
2. Clarify the purpose of the form with simplified language and removes unnecessary information.
3. Update the routine uses and disclosure sections with general language that specifies how an applicant’s information may be used to qualify for departure assistance of eligible family members.
4. Retain, but relocate, information about polygamous marriages to another section of the form.
5. Elaborate that the use of other U.S. Government-provided information that may have been provided to the applicant may assist the U.S. Government in validating an applicant’s parole status for eligibility purposes.
6. Reword the post-submission section to make the language consistent with other edits in the form.
7. Include minor style and grammatical revisions for general readability..
Specify if the data gathered by this collection will be published.
The information collected pursuant to this collection will not be published.
If applicable, explain the reason(s) for seeking approval to not display the OMB expiration date. Otherwise, write “The Department will display the OMB expiration date.”
The Department will display the OMB expiration date.
Explain any exceptions to the OMB certification statement below. If there are no exceptions, write “The Department is not seeking exceptions to the certification statement”.
The Department is not seeking exceptions to the certification statement.
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Rush, Anthony W |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-25 |