Generic Clearance Submission Template

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1405-0193)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Interview Script for Visa Services Research

PURPOSE:

In November 2014, President Barack Obama laid out a series of improvements to the immigrant visa process, embodied in Executive Actions and other agency policy directives. One of these intended changes was making the experience of the “user” (defined for the purposes of this framework as the intending visa applicant, whether based in the United States or abroad) more seamless, transparent, and accountable. This implied a need to make the user experience more central to the design and implementation of existing service delivery systems and business processes.

The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, alongside other stakeholder agencies, must present a series of recommendations about how to modernize the experience of applying for a visa. These recommendations are for internal management purposes, and are one small part of a much larger slate of agency recommendations.

While these agencies are well on their way to improving the technical systems and customer service mechanism with which applicants must interact in order to apply for a visa, there remains a need to understand directly the attitudes, behaviors, experiences, and aspirations of the users themselves.

The U.S. Digital Service was asked to perform this research in order to support the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security in developing informed and actionable recommendations to the President.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Although there are many different kinds of “users” in the visa application process, this study will focus primarily on intending or existing visa applicants, and secondarily on their third-party supports (lawyers, agents, family members, etc.). These are people who have experience with the visa application program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ x] Other: Individual Interviews and observations

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Kate Krontiris

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [ x] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ x ] No

It would be much easier to recruit and interview respondents if we were able to provide incentives, but we have been under the impression that this was not possible. If it is allowed, I would like to explore the option.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals	15	60 min	15 hours
Totals	15	--	15 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is: $14,520

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

I will not be conducting a focus group, survey, or statistical methods. I will be conducting individual interviews and observations.

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ x ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ x ] Yes [ ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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