6 U.S.C. § 271 — Establishment of Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services

(a) Establishment of Bureau. (1) In general: the Department gets a new bureau, the "Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services." (2) Director: the Bureau is led by a Director, who reports directly to the Deputy Secretary, must have at least 5 years of management experience, and is paid at the same level as the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Border Security. (3) Functions: the Director sets policy for the functions transferred to the Director by this section or otherwise given to the Director by law, oversees how those policies are carried out, and advises the Deputy Secretary on any Bureau policy or operation that might affect the Bureau of Border Security — including conflicts between the two. The Director also sets national immigration-services policies and priorities, meets regularly with the Ombudsman described in section 272 to fix serious service problems the Ombudsman finds, and must set up a process for formally responding, within 3 months, to recommendations in the Ombudsman's annual report to Congress. (4) Managerial rotation program: (A) within 1 year of the effective date in section 455, the Director must design and start a program rotating GS-14-and-above supervisors and managers through the Bureau's major functions, including working in at least one field office and one service center. (B) Within 2 years of that effective date, the Secretary must report to Congress on how the program is going. (5) Pilot initiatives for backlog elimination: the Director can run pilot programs to eliminate and prevent backlogs in processing immigration benefit applications, under section 1573(a) of title 8 — for example, by adding staff, shifting staff to the biggest backlogs, or cutting paperwork. (b) Transfer of functions from Commissioner. As part of the transition rules in subchapter XII, several functions move from the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization to the Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services — along with all the personnel, infrastructure, and funding that supported them right before the effective date in section 455. The functions are: (1) deciding immigrant visa petitions; (2) deciding naturalization petitions; (3) deciding asylum and refugee applications; (4) decisions made at service centers; and (5) every other decision the Immigration and Naturalization Service was making immediately before that effective date. (c) Chief of Policy and Strategy. (1) The Bureau gets a Chief of Policy and Strategy position. (2) Working with Bureau staff in field offices, this Chief makes policy recommendations and does policy research and analysis on immigration-services issues, and coordinates on immigration policy with the Chief of Policy and Strategy for the Bureau of Border Security. (d) Legal advisor. (1) The Bureau's Director gets a principal legal advisor. (2) That advisor gives the Director specialized legal advice, opinions, determinations, regulations, and other help on legal matters affecting the Bureau, and represents the Bureau in visa-petition appeals before the Executive Office for Immigration Review. (e) Budget Officer. (1) The Bureau gets a Budget Officer. (2) That officer formulates and carries out the Bureau's budget, handles its financial management, and collects all payments, fines, and other debts owed to the Bureau. (f) Chief of Office of Citizenship. (1) The Bureau gets a Chief of the Office of Citizenship. (2) That Chief is responsible for promoting instruction and training on citizenship responsibilities for immigrants who want to become naturalized citizens, including developing educational materials.