Section 632(b) of Pub. L. 104-208, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), enacted on September 30, 1996, amended the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to authorize the application of the nonimmigrant reciprocity rules to refugees and permanent residents on a reciprocal basis. Thus, on a reciprocal basis, permanent residents of a foreign country and aliens granted refugee status in that foreign country may have nonimmigrant visas issued pursuant to the same visa fee schedule and for the same period of validity as nationals of that country. This rule implements new INA 221(c) and amends the Department's regulations at 41.112(b) accordingly. Additionally, effective April 1, 1994, the Department instructed all Foreign Service posts to cease issuing Burroughs nonimmigrant visas with indefinite validity. Foreign Service posts worldwide now issue only machine-readable visas (MRVs), a more technologically advanced and secure type of visa. The Department is, therefore, amending its regulations by changing the maximum validity of nonimmigrant visas from ``indefinite'' to ``ten years'' to conform to the applicable technology mandated by Congress.
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