CONSULAR ISSUES CABLE -- APRIL 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 044280 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CMGT SUBJECT: CONSULAR ISSUES CABLE -- APRIL 2009 TO CONSULAR SECTION CHIEFS FROM ASSISTANT SECRETARY JACOBS ¶1. April passed quickly here in Washington. Between complicated arrest cases in Iran and North Korea, the H1N1 flu situation, and a myriad of visa-related issues, this month brought many interesting and difficult policy challenges. Secretary Clinton continues to take an active interest in many of our issues and appreciates the hard work and sacrifices you are all making on a daily basis. During a recent Cabinet meeting to discuss cost saving measures, the President cited several success stories, including the National Visa Center's plans to "Go Paperless" by implementing electronic correspondence for immigrant visa processing, which will save approximately one million dollars a year. -------------- Green Committee Site Survey -------------- ¶2. The Green Committee continues to explore ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Possible areas for improvement include system efficiency, energy use, everyday office conservation strategies, and recycling programs. As this is a global effort, the Green Committee hopes to receive input from as many of you as possible. To that end, we produced a survey to solicit ideas related to conservation in the workplace. We'd like to ask all consular staff to share their ideas. The survey only takes two minutes to complete and will be accessible until May 15 at http://ca.m.state.sbu/GreenCommittee/Lists/CA %20Green%20 Survey/overview.aspx -------------- -------------- The Hague Adoption Convention One-Year Anniversary -------------- -------------- ¶3. April 1 marked the one-year anniversary of entry into force for the United States of the multilateral treaty on protection of children and cooperation on intercountry adoption. Although the United States issued fewer than 70 Hague visas during the first ten months the treaty was in force, more than half of U.S. intercountry adoptions are currently in Hague partner countries and U.S. adoptions make up more than 50 percent of all intercountry adoptions world-wide. Our implementation of the Convention is spurring other countries' interest and many non-signatory countries are now taking steps to improve their adoption programs. If your contacts in child protection ministries seek U.S. help, please refer them to adoption.state.gov. Send specific questions to your country officer in the Office of Children's Issues Adoption Division or email AdoptionUSCA@state.gov. Detailed Hague visa processing guidance is available in 9 FAM 42.21 N.14. -------------- -------------- Upcoming Release of 2009 Hague Abduction Convention Compliance Report -------------- -------------- ¶4. The 2009 Report on Compliance with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction will be available online in May. The report describes specific compliance problems the Department identified in Convention partner countries and describes the status of longstanding, unresolved return applications. To prepare for the report's release, CI's case officers will contact posts in countries cited in the report, and CI will transmit an ALDAC with talking points. After the report's release, we encourage posts to review the contents of the report with their respective host governments. Previous reports, as well as the current list of Convention partner countries, can be found at http://travel.state.gov/childabduction. -------------- First Time Passport Applications, Updates -------------- ¶5. Posts may encounter first-time passport applicants who present as proof of citizenship Consular Reports of Birth lacking either a seal or signature. Such documents are not necessarily fraudulent but may have been improperly processed. If PIERS or ACS records STATE 00044280 002 OF 004 confirm the initial citizenship determination, posts should send the FS-240 submitted by the applicant under cover of a memo to the Passport Vital Records Office, 1111 19th St. NW Suite 510, Washington, DC 20524, Attn: Sherron Blanks. Vital Records will issue a free replacement to the applicant. -------------- ACS and Personal Identifiable Information -------------- ¶6. We remind all users of the ACS system that the same rules that apply to PIERS access pertain to ACS and other databases containing Personal Identifiable Information (PII) for American citizens. It is inappropriate to search ACS, CTF, or other databases for case information on private individuals unless you have a job-related reason to do so. -------------- Outreach Outreach Outreach -------------- ¶7. The Department's blog -- DipNote ? is available at http://blogs.state.gov/. CA successfully uses DipNote to reach audiences with messages on Spring Break safety issues, WHTI/passport compliance, and other ongoing outreach campaigns. The "Spring Break Safety" video by the consular team in Merida had more than 7,000 views in the first two weeks it was posted. Other recent consular entries on DipNote include an Embassy LONDON piece on wardens, and a piece on National Passport Day. We invite consular sections to take a look at DipNote, especially the consular content, and to be creative in your use of this new avenue for outreach. You may submit content ideas or questions to DipNote's editors at blogs@state.gov. If you have consular related content that you would like to have posted, please send it to CA-P-Outreach@state.gov and CA/P will coordinate with PA. ¶8. CA/P recently established a Public Affairs Working Group comprising representatives of all CA offices to coordinate public affairs activities bureau-wide and better engage posts and CA domestic offices in outreach efforts. Our goal for this group is to engage in proactive outreach, make us better prepared to respond publicly to events, and create a mechanism for sharing best practices and outreach materials among posts. ¶9. Americans abroad want to hear from us! At a recent meeting with the organization American Citizens Abroad (ACA),representatives urged the Department to do more outreach to overseas Americans, which was music to our ears. Posts are encouraged to think creatively about ways to reach out to your local American communities. Town Halls are a great way to convey information, hear from our citizens, and put faces to names. But we encourage you to think of other ways to use DipNote, web seminars, teleconferences, radio call-in shows, and columns in local American newsletters or websites. If you have great ideas for reaching out, please share them with CA and your colleagues through ACS Plus Plus. -------------- Updated Planning Tools -------------- ¶10. Expecting a visit from a Front Office Principal to your post? Writing a briefing checklist (BCL) for the upcoming consular bilateral meeting with Russia? The Regional Outreach team in CA/P can assist by coordinating document submission, obtaining clearances, and compiling briefing books. We recently updated our templates and example documents to help you select the proper format and necessary content for your briefing checklists. Check it out on CA Web: http://intranet.ca.state.gov/offices/p/region al/9802.asp x. -------------- Fee Exemptions for USG-Funded J Participants -------------- ¶11. Posts are reminded that J-1 visa applicants participating in U.S. Government sponsored programs with program number prefixes that begin with "G-1," "G-2," "G-3," and "G-7" and their dependant spouses and children are not required to pay the MRV and SEVIS fees. Additionally, all U.S. Government sponsored J-1 visa applicants and their dependents are not required to pay any applicable reciprocity fees. We will clarify the STATE 00044280 003 OF 004 guidance in 9 FAM 41.62 N9.2 ? N9.4 to reflect this. For additional information, please contact VO/F/P. -------------- Changes to H Visa Processing -------------- ¶12. We recently sent two ALDACS that provide guidance on new DHS regulatory changes affecting H-2A and H-2B visas (State 00044000 and STATE 00044004). A third cable is forthcoming, outlining provisions of the economic stimulus legislation that place conditions on the employment of aliens in H-1B status by recipients of funding under the "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP) or the Federal Reserve Act, and requires you to verify that an employer has not received funding under TARP in some cases. All three cables contained FAM notes that are being added to 9 FAM and we urge you to review them carefully. ¶13. Also new to H-1B processing: on April 15, 2009, the Department of Labor launched the new iCERT system -- a portal for the electronic filing of labor condition applications (LCAs) with DOL in H-1B cases. The iCERT System allows employers to visit a single account to prepare, submit, and check the status of the ETA Form 9035E LCA application. After a 30-day transition period, use of iCERT will be mandatory for all LCA filings. -------------- FAM Sections Updated -------------- ¶14. The Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) Certification Project, initiated by the Under Secretary for Management, was launched last spring to identify and update out-of-date information in the FAM. Similar to the FAM-X initiative, Volume 9 FAM must be certified as current annually. Subject matter experts throughout the visa office took part in this project as well as our colleagues from other Bureaus and DHS. As a result, Volume 9 of the FAM is now current and supersedes outdated SOP's and cables. If older cable guidance contains information different from the recent FAM update, ignore the old cable. Sections of the FAM will be continuously updated to ensure compliance of this annual certification initiative. -------------- Overseas Responsibilities vis-a-vis PLOTS -------------- ¶15. CA/FPP reminds posts of their responsibility for entering passport lookouts into PLOTS. Posts are responsible for local scanning of documents into the ACS case file and for sending the paper lookout file (and relevant supporting documents) to the Department (Passport Services Records Services Division) for PLOTS scanning. Designated consular officers in ACS sections and Fraud Prevention Managers (FPMs) have the authority to enter certain categories of lookouts into CLASS via PLOTS. For internal controls reasons, consular supervisors should make certain that the paper lookout files are sent to Washington on a weekly basis by registered pouch. Any delays in shipment will prevent users worldwide from seeing the case file. Additional instructions on entering lookouts at post can be found in 07 State 120430. -------------- CA IT Systems Recognized -------------- ¶16. The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) recently honored two CA systems as finalists for Excellence.gov awards. ACT-IAC is a non-profit group encouraging cooperation and collaboration between industry and government IT professionals. The two systems are the WHTI-(Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) compliant Passport Card and Border Crossing Card, and our extensive website presence through the TSG portal including: CEAC, the Consular Electronic Application Center; IBRS, the Internet-Based Registration System; Travel.State.gov; EVAF, the Electronic Visa Application Form; and ATS, the Adoption Tracking Service. The Excellence.gov awards recognize best practices in the federal government's management and use of information technology by honoring federal programs and their managers who have achieved exceptional results in the management of information technology (IT) to support the USG's mission. It is an STATE 00044280 004 OF 004 honor for two of our CST designed systems to be selected as finalists. -------------- Good Bye, ART! -------------- ¶17. After careful study, CST has decided to stop any further development of the Ad Hoc Reporting Tool (ART). You may continue to use the version of ART currently installed on your workstation. You may also continue to contact the CA Service Desk (supportdeskca@state.gov) with any ART-related problems. CST is reviewing options that would allow consular staff to create custom reports for consular applications' data. They will not, however, be accepting any ART change requests. -------------- Systems Deployment Updates -------------- ¶18. NIV 04.06 - CST has started general deployment of NIV 04.06. This latest version contains many important new features including importation of on-line visa applications from the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC),increased integration with the Petition Information Management System (PIMS),the ability to use ten-print scanners for fingerprint verification and the ability to use visa foils with alphanumeric foil numbers. New versions of Ten-Print Live Scan (TPLS) 02.02.00 and Consular Systems Division Reusable Components (CSD-RC) 01.03.00 are to be installed at the same time and are included with the deployment package. Prerequisite database upgrades should be completed by May 8, and all NIV posts should complete the upgrade by July 1. Additional details are in STATE 039780. ¶19. We anticipate deploying an accountable items upgrade in early May that will change the way Posts receive items into their AI inventory. Via the CCD, AI will interface with the Department's Integrated Logistics Management System (ILMS) used by CA/EX/GSD (and your GSO). Officers will be able to accept incoming inventory using the AI Transfer functionality. This will largely eliminate the need for posts to enter manually information about incoming items (item type, container type, serial numbers, etc.) on the AI Receive screen. We will inform posts when the upgrade is implemented. ¶20. We remind post systems staff that the ACS 01.05.01 update (patch) is available for download at: http://csdcm.ca.state.gov/CM/CST%20Systems/AC S+/010501/A CS.asp. This upgrade includes changes in the Citizenship Service functionality in ACS, including: -- Receiving and QA'ing passports using the AIT reader; -- Resolving delivered books stuck in the Awaiting Delivery tab in CPAL; -- Resolving the "null value" error on opening a new citizenship service; and -- Resolving the "phantom alias"/blank alias error. CST strongly encourages all posts to install this patch as soon as possible. It may be deployed gradually ? a section may have some workstations running ACS 01.05.01 while others are still at 01.05.00 ? but posts should install the patch on all their ACS machines. Contact the Service Desk (supportdeskca@state.gov) in the event of problems or questions. -------------- WRAPS? QRG? EEDS? -------------- ¶21. Ever wonder what some of those crazy IT acronyms mean? Help is now just a mouse-click away. The CA/CST Terms and Acronyms Glossary contains most consular- related IT terms plus clear explanations of what they mean. The CA Service Desk regularly monitors and updates this Glossary, which you can find on CAWeb via the Related Contents links at: http://intranet.ca.state.gov/systems/7505.asp x or http://intranet.ca.state.gov/systems/user/con sular/7061. aspx. ¶22. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED. CLINTON