SUPPORTING STATEMENT – A REQUEST FOR APPROVAL UNDER THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND 5 CFR 1320
Collection Title: USAID Implementing Partners’ Afghan Employees Employment Records Collection
PART A. JUSTIFICATION
Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
The Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program is intended for Afghan nationals who were employed by or on the behalf of the U.S. government (such as an employee of a contract awarded by the USG) for a period of at least one year and is managed by the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
The State Department directed USAID to help facilitate the Chief of Mission (COM) approval step of this process by providing employment information for eligible former employees of USAID contractors in Afghanistan. Among other considerations, COM approval requires confirmation of the Afghan applicant’s qualifying employment by or on behalf of the U.S. government (such as an employee of a contract awarded by the USG) and demonstration of faithful and valuable service in Afghanistan. In Fiscal Year 2023, the Department of State’s Afghan SIV Unit (ASIV) was unable to grant COM approval in more than 50 percent of cases due to lack of sufficient employment documentation. ASIV is currently facing a backlog of around 130,500 SIV applicants at the pre-COM approval stage and is seeking assistance to expedite the process in light of the dire circumstances many former U.S.-associated individuals (employees of organizations awarded a contract by the USG) face in Afghanistan under the current Taliban regime.
Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.
ASIV will use the data to verify employment for the COM approval step of the SIV application process.
Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
The data will be collected via email through encrypted Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in item 2 above.
This specific type of employee information is only available as part of a contractor’s human resources records. It has not been collected before for this purpose.
If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize burden.
The data collection is voluntary and the contractors are asked to provide information that they already have as part of their human resources records..
Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing the burden.
The collection of employee information of organizations employed under USG contracts will significantly improve the effectiveness and speed of the Afghan SIV program under Operation Enduring Welcome (OEW). COM approval is the first essential step for a successful SIV application, and without COM approved, interview-ready SIV applicants, OEW will not meet its goal of resettling 60,000 Afghans to the United States by the end of Fiscal Year 2024.
Special Circumstances
N/A, no special circumstances as relevant to the purposes of this question.
If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.
As required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), and consistent with OMB emergency processing of Information Collection Requests, USAID is submitting a Federal Register notice simultaneously with this ICR Submission Package in order to notify the public of this request. The Federal Register Notices were published in July and October. A 60 Day Notice published July 25, 2024 (89 FR 60349), and a 30 Day Notice published October 1, 2024 (89 FR 79885)
Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.
N/A, no payments or gifts will be provided.
Describe
any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the
basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
N/A, no
assurances are required to be provided.
Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.
N/A, as the collection does not pertain to these questions and is not considered
Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.
Collection Name |
# of Respondents |
# of Responses Per Year |
Average Participation Time (in hours) |
Total Annual Burden (in hours) |
USAID Implementing Partners’ Afghan Employees Employment Records Collection |
300 |
1 |
3 hours |
900 hours |
Provide an estimate for the total annual cost burden to respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection of information.
No annual cost burden.
Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal Government.
No annual cost burden.
Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported on the burden worksheet.
N/A.
For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.
No results will be published.
If you are seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.
N/A.
Explain each exception to the topics of the certification statement identified in Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.
N/A.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-10-26 |