Howard Berman: “my amendment authorizes U.S. citizen employees to adjudicate nationality abroad and to adjudicate immigrant and…”

“my amendment authorizes U.S. citizen employees to adjudicate nationality abroad and to adjudicate immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. The amendment requires that these U.S. citizen employees: First, successfully complete a program of training essentially equivalent to the training that a consular officer who is a member of the Foreign Service would receive; and second, be certified by an appropriate State Department official to be qualified to perform consular functions. I am concerned that the amendment may be interpreted to allow students, interns, part-time employees, or short-term contract employees to handle the important function of adjudicating nationality and immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. Because of the steady increase in visa and document fraud, the security of these functions requires that they be performed by a specialized corps of professional, full-time, experienced U.S. citizen employees. Due to security and fraud issues, the amendment should not be interpreted to mean that students, interns, part-time employees, or short-term employees--with the exception of retired Foreign Service Officers returning to perform consular services or the spouses of Foreign Service Officers being hired to perform consular services--may adjudicate nationality, immigrant, and nonimmigrant visa, and other consular functions. It is my understanding that Mr. Smith of Texas agrees with this statement.”