Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§2723 Denial of Visas

Title 22 › Chapter 38— DEPARTMENT OF STATE › § 2723

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must tell Congress when a consular post refuses a visa because of terrorist ties or foreign policy reasons. That report must give the person’s name, nationality, and a short factual reason. Twice a year the Secretary must also report every case where a consular post or the State Department Visa Office issued a visa to someone barred for terrorist activity or failed to object, naming the person, nationality, issuing post, and why. Reports can be classified to protect intelligence sources and methods. The reports go to the House Judiciary Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §2723

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)The Secretary shall report, on a timely basis, to the appropriate committees of the Congress each time a consular post denies a visa on the grounds of terrorist activities or foreign policy. Such report shall set forth the name and nationality of each such person and a factual statement of the basis for such denial.
(2)The Secretary shall, on a semiannual basis, submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress a report describing every instance during the period covered by the report in which a consular post or the Visa Office of the Department of State issued an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa to an alien who is inadmissible to the United States based upon terrorist activity or failed to object to the issuance of an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa to an alien notwithstanding any such ground of inadmissibility. The report shall set forth the name and nationality of the alien, the issuing post, and a brief factual statement of the basis for issuance of the visa or the failure to object. The report may be submitted in classified or unclassified form.
(b)Information contained in such report may be classified to the extent necessary and shall protect intelligence sources and methods.
(c)For the purposes of this section the term “appropriate committees of the Congress” means the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2002—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 107–228 designated existing provisions as par. (1), inserted par. (1) heading, and added par. (2).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 2723

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60