[Federal Register: August 7, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 152)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 42233] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07au98-21] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY 22 CFR Part 514 Exchange Visitor Program AGENCY: United States Information Agency. ACTION: Statement of Policy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Agency hereby announces its policy regarding requests for waiver of the two-year home country physical presence requirement set forth in Section 1182(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act based upon the applicant's assertion that fulfillment of such requirement is not possible due to the loss of home country citizenship. EFFECTIVE DATE: This policy statement is effective August 7, 1998. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stanley S. Colvin, Assistant General Counsel, United States Information Agency, 301 4th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20547; telephone, (202) 619- 6531. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Director of the United States Information Agency is required by Section 1182(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to make recommendations to the Attorney General regarding the grant or denial of the two-year home country physical presence requirement imposed upon certain aliens who have entered the United States on a J visa or subsequently acquired such nonimmigrant status. Aliens who have received government funds, pursued graduate medical education or training, or who have participated in an activity involving skills identified of interest to the government of his or her home country are subject to the two-year home country physical presence requirement, viz., ``until it is established that such person has resided and been physically present in the country of his nationality or his last residence for an aggregate of at least two years following departure from the United States.'' If subject, an alien must fulfill this requirement or have it waived before he or she is eligible to adjust to H, L, or legal permanent resident status. Recommendations regarding the grant or denial of a waiver request are based upon a review of the unique program, policy, and foreign relations aspects presented by each individual request. Recently, the Agency has been approached and requested to recognize a theory that certain aliens subject to the return home requirement should be granted a waiver because their home country has revoked, by operation of law, their citizenship due to the acquisition of citizenship or legal permanent residence in another country. This theory suggests that the section 1182(e) requirement should be waived because the loss of citizenship has made it impossible for the alien to fulfill this requirement. Having reviewed this matter at length, the Agency cannot adopt this theory as a matter of policy and will not recommend the grant of a waiver based solely upon the loss of home country citizenship. In many cases, other means of fulfillment, such as the utilization of a nonimmigrant visa for entry into the home country are available. The Agency will review, on a case by case basis, those extraordinarily few instances where fulfillment of the Section 1182(e) requirement is impossible due to facts totally beyond the control of the waiver applicant and which were not the predictable consequences of action on the part of the applicant. Compelling and probative evidence of such impossibility of performance, furnished by the alien, is necessarily a prerequisite to Agency review. Such evidence may be, for example, proof of denial of a request for a nonimmigrant visa from the home country or denial of a request to restore home country citizenship. List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 514 Cultural exchange programs. Dated: July 30, 1998. Les Jin, General Counsel. [FR Doc. 98-21137 Filed 8-6-98; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 8230-01-M