Visas: Ineligibility Based on Public Charge

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of State 22 CFR Part 40 [Public Notice: 11921] RIN 1400-AE87 AGENCY: Department of State. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Department of State (“Department”) has decided not to finalize the regulatory amendments made by the 2019 interim final rule entitled “Visas: Ineligibility Based on Public Charge Grounds” published in the Federal Register on October 11, 2019 (“2019 IFR”). The 2019 IFR implemented such amendments based on an intention to more closely align with the standards then applied by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to determine inadmissibility on public charge grounds. In 2022, DHS published a new Final Rule (“2022 DHS Final Rule”). As such, the 2019 IFR no longer meets the policy aim of consistency with DHS standards. In declining to finalize the regulatory amendments made by the 2019 IFR, the Department will instead revert to regulatory text that was in place prior to the publication of the 2019 IFR and will continue to apply the guidance set out in the Foreign Affairs Manual (“FAM”). This regulatory text, together with the existing FAM guidance, more closely aligns with the current DHS standards, and the Department anticipates that it will subsequently initiate new notice-and-comment rulemaking in light of the 2022 DHS Final Rule. DATES: This final rule is effective October 5, 2023. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrea Lage, Acting Senior Regulatory Coordinator,…