t5 b65 gao visa docs 6 of 6 fdr- mar 02 dos cable- centralization and consolidation of visa...

8/14/2019 T5 B65 GAO Visa Docs 6 of 6 Fdr- Mar 02 DOS Cable- Centralization and Consolidation of Visa Processes

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view telegram[3]R 2 0 2 3 1 8 Z M A R 0 2FM S E C S T A T E W A S H D CT O A L L D I P L O M A T I C AN D C O N S U L A R P O S T SSPECIAL E M B A S S Y P R O G R A MA M E M B A S S Y B E L G R A D EA M E M B A S S Y D U S H A N B EA M E M B A S S Y K A B U LU N C L A S S T A T E 053920 ^

E.G. 12958: N /AT A G S : CVIS , CMGT &SUBJ ECT: CENTRALIZAT ION A N D C O N S O L I D A T I O N O F VI S AP R O C E S S E S : T H E R O L E O F N V C A N D K C C A N D V O

R E F : S T A T E 363001. Summary: The two stateside visa processing centers inNew Hamp shire (NV C) and Kentucky (KCC ) have proven thebenefits of a model employing contractor resources toperform routine clerical sup port of visa functions. VO isanxious to expa nd those cen ters to handle petition-basedN IV cases, basic fraud prevention screening, documentarchiving and imaging and other projects. O ur experiencein utilizing contractors to handle public inquiries and INASection 212 (e) waivers has been successful and we areengaged in efforts to expand us e of contractors in otherareas in VO. End summary.The V ision

2 . NVC was created with the vision of centralizing as mucha s poss ible the routine c lerical aspec ts of immigrant visaprocessing so that consular sections overseas couldconcentrate their resources on actual adjudication. Put inother terms, the goal is to identify those portions of thevisa process which are inherently governmental in naturean d provide support through a US-based contract work forcefo r everything else. This approach was designed to reap th eefficiencies of processing in a factory-like center,standardize routine process es, improve internal controlsan d help with the work of building a domestic constituencyfor the work of consular affairs. In the years since its

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view_telegram[3]inception, NVC has gone from being an exclusively mail andfile processing center to an operation that providessophisticated va lue-added visa service s. The addition ofthe Kentucky Consular Center in October 2000 provided CAwith significant flexibility to continue th e expansion ofcontractor support for visa processe s.3 . Most consular officers are familiar with th e basic casepreparation activities of NVC and, for DV cases, KCC. Thepurpose of this message is to highlight some of the neweractivities at the centers, outline the division of labor,and share some of our plans for the future.Defining Limits: What We Can and Cannot D o

4. As noted abov e, certain consular ta sks are inherentlygovernmental in nature and not appropriate for a contractworkforce. In addition, the visa process and the authorityo f the Department of State in that process is essentially amatter of the exercise of consular authority by consularofficers posted abroad . The se distinctions are importantdue to questions of jurisdiction and consular non-reviewabil i ty . For these reasons, NVC and KCC cannot takeany actions which are adjudicatory in nature, including anysort of valuative judgm ents on the me rits of a case. Forexample, in the AO S review, NVC can point ou t that arequired document is missing or that a document has notbeen properly completed, but cannot note in forwarding thecase to post that the applicant appears ineligible under212(a)(4). Procedures at the processing centers have beencarefully structured to avoid the appearance ofinappropriate d ecision-m aking while maximizing th e benefitso f these operations as factories of contract visa clerks.A O S Review

5. The Affidavit of Support review process at NVC has nowbeen underway for three years and will be expanded to theremainder of posts worldwide by October 1 ,2002 (State36300 dated February 26 ,2002) . A O S review is in some w aysa prototype for the sorts of services possible at NVC andK C C . F a c e d wi th a burdensome docume ntary requirement,complicated by the fact that posts overseas had to ask

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view_telegram[3]applicants to relay information an d documents topetitioners in the US, CA took the two-pronged approach ofworking with INS and Congress to try to simplify th e 1-864while designing a program to allow contractors at N VC tohandle the communication an d document review work. Thedialogue on simplification continues, but in the meantime,the review program is up and running well.F e e collection

6. In conjunction with the AOS review, NVC has beguncollecting th e immigrant visa application fee through abank l o c k - b o x operation. Changes are now being made to thebilling an d accounting procedures to help streamline thatprocess and reduce s ome of the confusion that posts mayhave when trying to c onfirm payment. The p rogram has beensuccessful, however, in reducing the cashiering an dinternal controls burden on posts an d providing the USGwith payment up front for services provided. The fe ecollection process will become even more worthwhile whenthe new tariff schedule, which eliminates the IV issuancefee in favor of a single application fee, goes into effect.Appointment scheduling

7. DV posts are aware that KC C schedules appointments forall DV cases. In addition, NVC reviews the civil documentsand schedules appointments for a number of posts, includingMontreal, Tirana and all posts in continental Africa. In afurther refinement, we are now requiring all Africaapplicants to submit original documents in response to the"Instruction Package." These documents are chec kedagainst Appendix C to ensure that they reflect those posthas indicated should be submitted and are then photocopiedand stamped "Original Seen an d Returned." After theappointment is schedu led, the case file is sent to postwith both originals an d copies, so that all consularofficers need do at post is review the originals and returnthem to the applicants. This requirement fo r originals isbeing followed on a trial basis in the hope that it willreduce the number of 22 Kg) refusals caus ed by applicantsfailing to bring original documents to interview. A numbero f pos ts have asked to be added to the N VC appointment

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view_telegram|3]process, and VO is considering further expansion of theprogram.Termination

8. NVC will continue to shoulder the clerical s teps of thetermination process for non-responding immigrant visa casesb y sending the Pac ket 4(a) and Termination Letter 1. Whenthere is no ans wer to either of those letters, NVC thencontacts post about cases that appear to meet the criteriafo r f inal termination. After the cons ular officer at postmakes a determination, he or she provides NV C with theauthoriation to p hysically d estroy the petitions.Petition-based Nonimmigrant Visas

9. V and K3 visa processing will soon be moved to K C C . Inthe coming months K CC will begin serving as the linkbetween INS and posts for all N IV petitions , includingf iancee petitions. W e plan to begin with fianceepetitions. K C C will receive both the paper file and anelectronic file from INS, much as NVC now does with IVpetition s. Afte r co mp leting an NCIC namecheck K C C willforward to pos ts both the electronic file and a scannedc o p y of the petition via e-mail. A s soon as possible, weintend to have INS forward all NIV petitions to KC C.Stated simply, we intend to provide INS with two add resses:NVC fo r all IV-related w o r k a nd K C C fo r all NIV-relatedmaterial. By simplifying the p roces s of getting petitionsf rom INS to the Department of State (KCC in this case) an db y imaging an d e-maiting the petitions overseas, we expectto greatly reduce the amount o f time currently required forpetitions to reach pos t. K C C s role in the NIV proc ess isstill a work in progress. Many pos ts process most of theirpetition-based NIVs on the basis of approval noticeswithout ever seeing the actual petition. We intend tostructure a p r o c e s s over time that involves KCC in dataentry an d scanning of documents as appropriate to ensurethat consular officers ge t com plete, s ecure information asquickly as possible.Visa Revalidations

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view telegram|3]10 . C A / V O / P / D annual ly processe s over 60,000 applicationsfo r reval idat ions of visas for acc redited diplomats andholders of certain types of wo rk visas. At present, whilefe e collection and initial data entry is per formed by alock box operation, all other aspe cts of visa p rocess ing ishandled by career employees, interns or T O Y assistance. W eintend to contract out most visa processing work, toinclude downloading of RDS data, document checking andassembly, visa printing and quality control, and return ofvisa'ed passports, to contractors w h o will be integrated inP/D. Visa adjudication will continue to be reserved tocareer Civi l Se rvice and Foreign Service o ff icers. W ebelieve this arrangement will allow us to processreval idat ions, which have increased over 100 percent in thepast f ive yea rs, more eff icient ly.Fraud prevention screening

11. One aspect o f this evolving role is fraud preventionscreening, which will begin f i rst at NVC within th e nextfe w months and then at KCC. Bearing in mind th elimitations on contractor activities, we are planning tofo rm smal l Fraud P rogram Units at both sites which willused automated se arch tools to ch eck peti tioner informationin em ployme nt-based imm igrant and nonimmigrant visa cas es.Initially, these units will randomly sam ple a smal l numbero f cases and apply validation study-type strategies toreview the ca seload. As we gain experience and documenttrends, w e intend to employ decision support softw are toolsto help sc reen and ident i fy cases fo r fu r ther review.Posts should not expect to see one hundred percent review s.Neither can the co ntractors return cases to INS or providefull write-ups suitable for f inal action by post. Rather ,th e processing centers will attempt to veri fy address,phone and business information and provide object ive factsto post in a fo rmat that can be used for fu r therinvestigation or decision-making. Posts will not be ableto refer c a s e s back to NVC or KC C for investigation, but weexpect th e information provided will b e o f significantbenefi t to adjudicating consular officers.Student visa s and the 1-20

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view telegram(3]12. The debate on reform of the student visa an d 1-20processes continues to rage, so there are no f inaldecisions to report at this point. If, as seems likely, amore involved 1 - 2 0 verification process with greater StateDepartment participation is the ou tcome, we plan to use KCCto support th e field.Document archiving and management

13. In the aftermath of September 11, the Category Irefusal files f rom a number of posts were shipped to KCC,where they are being stored an d scanned on demand as neededfor law enforcement or visa processing purposes. Inaddition, a number of posts have begun shipping OF -1 5 6 NIVapplications to K CC for storage du e to longer retentionrequirements already in place and likely to become law inthe near future. K C C s role as a document managementcenter is in its early days, but we expect this to become apermanent role as we deal with issues of long term storage,imaging an d retrieval of visa records.Backup for C L A S S

14. K CC will also be the site of a contingency processingcenter fo r C L A S S . W e exp ect to establish a redundantC L A S S mainframe at K CC by the end o f 2002 .Adoption processing

15. The Department is working with IN S toward having al l1-600 and I-600A petit ions forwarded to NVC. NVC willperform data entry and send the petitions to p ost.Currently, only an unknown percentage of approved orphanpetitions p a s s through the NVC for this processing, whilethe remainder are sent directly from district offices topost or through cable or fax . B y designating NVC as acentral point fo r orphan petitions, it will be easier toretrieve records of approvals, particularly as prospectiveadopting parents often p lan to adop t in one co untry, butthen find an orphan they wish to adopt in another coun tryinstead. Orphan petitions receive expedited handling at

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view telegram|3]NVC, du e to their unique and sensitive n ature. They byp assthe IV fee collection and Affidavit of Support review. Thevisa application and issuance fees for these cases willcontinue to b e collected at post.An d Into the Future

16. We are working hard to develop facilities and systemsarchitecture at both NVC and KCC that will allow us toshift wo rk seamlessly between the two s ites as workload andchanging requirements necessitate. O ur dialogue with IN San d other federa l agencies on datashare, although largelyfocussed on the border security benefits of using consulardata at POE, also stresses C As interest in two-wayinformation f low s . The processing centers are poised totake ful l advan tage of petition and other informationreceived electronically.17 . The Public Inquiries Division of VO has for the past 11/2 years employed contractors working side by side withCivil Se rvice employe es to handle the ful l range o f publicinquiries. We a re currently engaged in efforts to con tractou t all routine telephone, fax, email and tradit ionalwri t ten public inqu iries to a call center, which will refermore com plex matters to VO, NVC or KCC for resolution. (Thecall center will handle not only visa and AOS inquiries,but those related to overseas Am erican services, passportissuances and vital records.) In addition to meeting apublic information need and saving some work fo r posts, thecall center wil l enable more effective use of NVC, KCC andV O , and for all of CA, by providing a single point ofpublic contact.18. W e also expect to augment staffing throughout VO b yintegrating contractors into our existing wo rk fo rc e toperform both substantive and clerical work.What D o e s it Mean fo r Consular Operations?

19. The model of central ized co ntractor support of routineclerical w o r k is a s u c c e s s a n d we plan to continue lookingfo r w a y s to make this model wo rk more effectively in thevisa process. Proceeding down this path ha s some

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view telegram[3]implications tha t posts are alread y beginning to deal with.First, of course, increased centralization will necessarilylead to greater standardization. Some of this willbeautomatic, a conseque nce of having a single office handlethe work. Other efforts at standardization wil l b e moredeliberate, as we eliminate some post-specific informationsheets and procedures in order to make operations moreefficient.20. Greater centralization will also mean that consularofficers wil l increasingly be dealing with aspects of casesthat have already been in some way review ed by theDepartment of State . Ob viously, the goal of contractorprocessing is to provide the consular officer wi th ascomplete a file as possible for e ventual adjudication, butofficers will need to take into account th e fact that th eU SG has alrea dy had a bite at the apple on these case s. W eneed to ensure that our processes rema in transparent andfa i r .21. As should be clear, although the vision is clear, thedetails of future NVC and KCC operat ions are not set inconcrete. Suggestions and comments from th e field arealway s welcome, because ult imately, its your operationsthat w e a re supporting.22 . MINIMIZE C O N S I D E R E D .POWELL

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