Cornyn "SKIL Bill" and Proposed Visa Revalidation Reinstatement
The U.S. Department of State had renewed (revalidated) certain employment-based nonimmigrant visas in the passport through its office in Washington, D.C. for years and years until the program was terminated not too long ago for the alleged security reasons. We strongly opposed the termination of this program for the two reasons. One reason was that the people who were applying for the renewal of the nonimmigrant visa stamp in the passport had already gone through thorough security clearance. More importantly, the State Department alleged that the primary reasons for terminating the program was that they were not equipped to conduct "biometric" collection, but the USCIS was willing to lend assistance by providing the biometric collection for visa renewal on behalf of the State Deparment through its nationwide network of Administration Support Centers (Fingerprint Centers). Since termination of the visa revalidation program, people had to make thousands of miles of trip to apply for the renewal of the visas at the visa posts in their home countries, or worse yet, they decided not to make overseas trips at all for fear of the visa renewal delays and unpredictable visa denials.
Sen. John Cornyn proposes in the SKIL bill to reinstate the visa revalidation program. We wholeheartedly support the Senator's proposed bill. It is indeed sad that this is the program that should not require a legislation and could be reinstated through the rule-making process of the State Department, but the Congress may have to force the agency to reinstate the program. The U.S. Department of State may have to come forward with the evidence of how the termination of the program helped the country from the potential terrorism within the United States. Otherwise, it could have been an act of paronoia of the program administrator.