Final Supporting Statement DS 1648

3

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION

Application for A, G, or NATO Visa
OMB Number 1405-0100

DS-1648

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Ambassadors, public ministers, diplomats, consular officers, other foreign government officials and employees, and their immediate family members may apply for nonimmigrant A visas (A-1 or A-2) under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), section 101(a)(15)(A) [8.U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(A)].

Representatives of recognized foreign governments to designated international organizations and officers or employees of designated international organizations, and their immediate family members may apply for nonimmigrant G visas (G-1, G-2, G-3, or G-4) under INA section 101(a)(15)(G) [8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(G)].

As established under the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, National Representatives and International Staff; Agreement Between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Regarding the Status of Their Forces; and the Protocol on the Status of International Military Headquarters Set Up Pursuant to the North Atlantic Treaty and as outlined in 22 C.F.R. § 41.12 and 41.25, applicants who fall into the following categories may apply for NATO visas (NATO-1, NATO-2, NATO-3, NATO-4, NATO-5, NATO-6) to enter the United States:

• The principal permanent representative of a member state to NATO,

• Resident members of official staff;

• Secretary General, Assistant Secretaries General, Executive Secretary of NATO, or other permanent NATO officials of similar rank;

• Representatives of member states to NATO;

• Official clerical staff accompanying representatives of a member state to NATO;

• Officials of NATO;

• Experts other than NATO officials classifiable under NATO-4;

• Members of a civilian component accompanying a force or attached to or employed by an Allied Headquarters; and

• Dependents and/or immediate family members of the above individuals.

2. DS-1648 is used for the reauthorization of A, G, and NATO visas, with the exception of A-3, G-5 and NATO-7 visas. Each year, approximately 150,000 A, G and NATO visa reauthorizations are processed. Applicants who are in the United States and meet these classifications use this form to apply for a renewal of their visas. The information requested on the form is limited to that which is necessary to determine the eligibility of applicants for a renewal of their visa. The Department is unable to approve such a request without collecting this information, and the form is an indispensable part of the Visa Office’s Diplomatic Liaison Division’s adjudication function.

3. The DS-1648 is accessed and submitted electronically to the Department via the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC). Upon completion of the form, the applicant is instructed to print a confirmation page containing a bar coded record locator, which will be scanned at the time of processing.

4. This information collection solicits information from the applicant that is otherwise unavailable to the Department.

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

6. Applicants for A, G, or NATO visas, with the exception of A-3, G-5 and NATO-7 visas, will complete this form each time they apply for renewal of their visas. It is essential that up-to-date information be collected upon each revalidation of the visa. It would not be feasible to collect the information with less frequency.

7. No such special circumstances exist.

8. The Department of State (Visa Office, Bureau of Consular Affairs) published a notice in the Federal Register on May 24, 2016 (81 FR 32821) soliciting public comments. No comments were received.

9. No payment or gift is made to the respondent.

10. No assurances of confidentiality are expressly stated on the form. In accordance with section 222(f) of the INA [8 U.S.C. 1202(f)], information obtained from applicants in the nonimmigrant visa process is considered confidential and is to be used only for the formulation, amendment, administration, or enforcement of the immigration, nationality, and other laws of the United States. Certified copies may be made available to a court which certifies that the information is needed in a case pending before the court. Visa records can also be shared with foreign governments in certain circumstances.

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

12. Approximately 150,000 respondents complete this form each year. This estimation was arrived at by averaging the responses for the past three fiscal years. Completing the entire form will require approximately 30 minutes, and no special research on the respondent’s part is required. The annual hour burden is estimated to be 75,000 hours (150,000 x 30 minutes = 75,000 hours). The hour cost burden for this collection is $2,661,750 based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ average American hourly wage of $25.35. This is based on the calculation of $25.35 (average hourly wage) x 1.4 (weighted wage multiplier) x 75,000 hours =$2,661,750.

13. There is no cost burden to the respondents. In addition, officials are exempt from visa fees per 22 C.F.R. § 41.107(c).

14. The annual cost burden to the federal government for processing the DS-1648 is $3,403,837. This estimate is based on recurring costs in the Office of Budget and Planning’s New Position Cost Model and the Office of the Comptroller’s cycle time data on the visa processes. Using this data we found that an average DS-1648 application takes about 12 minutes of a locally employed staff member’s time and about 3.5 minutes of a consular officer’s time. Factoring in their hourly wage with overhead costs of $53.22 and $202.39 respectively, and multiplied by the 150,000 average applications per year we find the cost to be $3,403,837.

15. There have not been any program changes or adjustments since the last approval.

16. A quantitative summary of all Department of State visa activities is published in the annual Report on 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 2015. They website can be found here.

17. The Department will display the OMB expiration date for this collection.

18. The Department is not requesting any exception to the certification.

B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This collection does not employ statistical methods.