PUBLIC LAW 107-228—SEPT. 30, 2002 116 STAT. 1373 SEC. 233. PROCESSING OF VISA APPLICATIONS. 8 USC 1201 note. (a) IN GENERAL. —It shall be the policy of the Depeirtment Deadline, to process each visa application from an alien classified as an immediate relative or as a K-1 nonimmigrant within 30 days of the receipt of all necessary documents from the applicant and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In the case of an immigrant visa application where the petitioner is a relative other than an immediate relative, it should be the policy of the Department to process such an application within 60 days of the receipt of all necessary documents from the applicant and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: (1) IMMEDIATE RELATIVE.— The term "immediate relative" has the meaning given the term in section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)). (2) K-1 NONIMMIGRANT.— The term "K-1 nonimmigrant" means a nonimmigrant alien described in section 101(a)(15)(K)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(K)(i)). SEC. 234. MACHINE READABLE VISAS. Section 140(a) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (8 U.S.C. 1351 note) is amended by adding at the end the following: "(3) For the fiscal year 2003, any amount that exceeds $460,000,000 may be made available only if a notification is submitted to Congress in accordance with the procedures applicable to reprogramming notifications under section 34 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956.". Subtitle D—Migration and Refugees SEC. 241. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING THE INVOLUNTARY RETURN OF REFUGEES. Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.), as amended by section 204 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following new section: "SEC. 58. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING THE INVOLUNTARY RETURN OF 22 USC 2730. REFUGEES. " (a) PROHIBITION. — "(1) IN GENERAL. — Except as provided in paragraph (2), none of the funds made available to the Depeirtment of State, or the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund established in section 2(c) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (22 U.S.C. 2601(c)), may be available to effect the involuntary return by the United States of any person to a country in which the person has a wellfounded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. "(2) EXCEPTION.— The prohibition in paragraph (1) does not apply to the return of any person on grounds recognized as precluding protection as a refugee under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of July 28, 1951, and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of January 31, 1967, subject to the reservations contained in
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