Siskind's Immigration Bulletin - May 1999 addendum

[Gregory Siskind, Attorney at Law]

Dear Readers:

In our to release our May 1999 newsletter issue which over the weekend, we 
failed to include an article on an important development that will be of 
interest to many. After several years, the Treasury Department's Office of 
Assets Control (OFAC), the agency that administers sanctions by the United 
States against Iran, has released a regulation that makes it clear that 
most Iranian visa applicants are not subject to the sanctions.  This is a 
dramatic reversal of recent interpretations by the State Department and the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service that indicated not only that many 
applications for visas would now be denied, but that the INS might actually 
proceed with revoking visas for certain Iranians. The new regulation should 
put an end to any move in this direction since the INS and State Department 
must defer to OFAC regulations.

The new regulations were published in the Federal Register at 64 FR 20168 
and contain the following key language:

Section 560.505 Importation of certain Iranian-origin services authorized; 
activities related to certain visa categories authorized.

(a)     The importation of Iranian-origin services into the United States or 
other dealing in such services is authorized where such services are 
performed in the United States by an Iranian citizen or national for the 
purpose of, or which directly relate to, participating in a public 
conference, performance, exhibition or similar event, and such services are 
consistent with that purpose.

(b)     Persons otherwise qualified for a non-immigrant visa under categories 
A-3 and G-5 (attendants, servants and personal employees of aliens in the 
United States on diplomatic status), D (crewmen), F (students), I 
(information media representatives), J (exchange visitors), M (non-academic 
students), O and P (aliens with extraordinary ability, athletes, artists 
and entertainers), Q (international cultural exchange visitors), R 
(religious workers), or S (witnesses) are authorized to carry out in the 
United States those activities for which such a visa has been ranted by the 
U.S. State Department.

(c)     Persons otherwise qualified for a visa under categories E-2 (treaty 
investor), H-1b (temporary worker), or L (intra-company transferee) and all 
immigrant visa categories are authorized to carry out in the United States 
those activities for which such a visa has been granted by the US State 
Department, provided that the persons are not coming to the United States 
to work as an agent, employee or contractor of the Government of Iran or a 
business entity or other organization in Iran.

The only types of visa applicants that now seem to be subject to sanctions 
are employees of the government of Iran or Iranian employers. Presumably, 
this would only cover a small group of applicants.

Recent anecdotal evidence indicates that the consular officers are either 
not yet aware of the OFAC regulations or are ignoring them. Iranian 
nationals denied visas based on the sanctions who are affected by the OFAC 
regulations will either need to bring them to the attention of the 
consulate or seek an advisory opinion from the State Department's Visa 
Office. While consular opinions cannot be overturned based on factual 
determinations, the Visa Office does have power to overturn incorrect 
interpretations of the law.

For some historical perspective on this issue, readers may want to see the 
September 1998 entry in our Documents Collection on our web site at 
http://www.visalaw.com/docs/.

Greg Siskind