- developing more efficient processes to capture and share refugee applicant biometric data; and
- permitting the use of video and audio teleconferencing to conduct refugee interviews and establishing the necessary infrastructure to do so.
(d) To increase refugee adjudication capacity, the Office of Personnel Management shall, consistent with applicable law, support the use of all hiring authorities, including expanded use of direct hiring authority, for positions associated with the adjudication of refugee applications.
(e) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the heads of all agencies involved in the Security Advisory Opinion process and other inter-agency vetting processes for refugee applicants, including follow-to-join refugee applicants, shall submit data to the National Vetting Governance Board on the number of staff performing refugee security vetting, the thresholds for checks, and the rates at which checks have returned an objection. Such data shall be disaggregated by age range, gender, and nationality of the refugee applicant. The National Vetting Governance Board shall meet to consider if and how agency processes and staffing levels should change to improve security reviews and make refugee arrivals more efficient, and shall share any conclusions and recommendations with the heads of relevant agencies, including the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in order to inform potential resourcing strategies where necessary.
(f) Within 60 days of the date of this order, agencies responsible for the Security Advisory Opinion process shall meet to consider proposals from member agencies to adjust the list of countries and other criteria that require a Security Advisory Opinion for a refugee case.
(g) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall consider whether to promulgate regulations and any other policies, including internal oversight mechanisms, to ensure the quality, integrity, efficiency, and fairness of the adjudication process for USRAP applicants, while also taking due account of the challenges facing refugee applicants. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, should consider adopting regulations or policies, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, that:
- develop mechanisms to synthesize reliable, detailed, and current country conditions that may be relied upon, where appropriate, to make specific factual and legal determinations necessary for the adjudication of refugee applications from individuals or from individuals within a designated group of applicants;
- ensure that refugee applicants have timely access to their own application records;
- permit refugee applicants to have a representative at their interview at no cost to the United States Government; and
- ensure, when refugee applications are denied for non-security or nonfraud based reasons, an applicant is given a short explanation describing the basis for the denial, so that the applicant has a meaningful opportunity to present additional evidence and to request a review of the decision.
(h) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide the President, through the APNSA, a report describing any action taken pursuant to subsection (g) of this section within 180 days of the date such action is taken.
(i) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that adjudicators are trained in the standards governing refugee claims of women, children, and other individuals who are more vulnerable to persecution due to their age, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation.
(j) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consider taking actions, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to recognize as “spouses” for purposes of derivative status through USRAP individuals who are in committed life partnerships but who are unable
