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View ICR - OIRA Conclusion

OMB Control No: 1615-0157	ICR Reference No: 202212-1615-029
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No:
Agency/Subagency: DHS/USCIS	Agency Tracking No: I-134A
Title: Online Request to be a Supporter and Declaration of Financial Support
Type of Information Collection: New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Emergency	Approval Requested By: 01/04/2023
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 01/04/2023
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 01/04/2023
Terms of Clearance: OIRA approves this emergency for a period of six months, contingent on the agency seeking comment via 60-day notice in the Federal Register within 90 days of this approval. In addition, the following terms of clearance applies: USCIS will be collecting data on the efficacy of collecting "sex" and "social security numbers" from US-based supporters with respect to improving screening and vetting and preventing human trafficking of a vulnerable population. This information will be shared with OIRA concurrent with USCIS seeking normal PRA approval at the close of the 6 month emergency, and will be used to evaluate the success of both the parole processes at large, and the continued use of the data elements "sex" and "SSN" to combat human trafficking, specifically. Future renewals will require evidence to support the need to collect both data elements, and insufficient support may result in OIRA disapproving or limiting the approval timeframe for the collection. OIRA further notes that any additional changes to the collection - including expanding eligibility - will need to be processed under normal clearance procedures at 5 CFR 1320.10.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	07/31/2023	6 Months From Approved
Responses	400,000	0	0
Time Burden (Hours)	598,500	0	0
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: DHS uses Form I-134A to determine whether a U.S.-based individual has sufficient financial resources and access to those funds to support the beneficiary for the duration of their temporary stay in the United States. Form I-134A is used by a U.S. based individual (the supporter) to request to be considered as a supporter and to agree to provide financial support to the beneficiary named on the form during the beneficiary’s period of stay in the United States. Form I-134A is filed online and is only available for use by specific parole processes. This information collection supports the action being taken by the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the ability for certain U.S.-based individuals to request to be considered to be a supporter of a beneficiary seeking to be paroled into the United States. Biographic information about the beneficiary provided on Form I-134A will be used for biographic security screening and advance travel authorization from DHS (OMB Control Number 1651-0143) for eligible nationals. Prior to the transmission of this biographic information from USCIS to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for this purpose, the beneficiary will be requested to confirm electronically the accuracy of the biographic information provided on their behalf by the respondent.

Emergency Justfication: OMB has previously approved a revision to USCIS Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support (OMB control number 1615-0014) under the PRA's emergency processing procedures at 5 CFR 1320.13. To support the expanded efforts and make the collection more flexible, DHS has created a new information collection that will be the first step in these parole processes and will cease using the paper USCIS Form I-134 for this purpose. U.S.-based supporters will submit USCIS Form I-134A online on behalf of a beneficiary to demonstrate that they can support the beneficiary for the duration of their temporary stay in the United States. DHS requests emergency approval because the delay associated with the normal information collection request clearance process would harm the public interest. The DHS Office of Immigration Statistics estimates border encounters will continue to rise, and potentially rise dramatically, subsequent to the lifting of the Title 42 public health order on December 21, 2022. Specifically, OIS estimates that encounters may surge as high as 14,000 per day in the first weeks after December 21, and that encounters could average 12,000 per day throughout the first few months of FY 2023. DHS does not currently have the infrastructure, personnel, or funding to safely process migratory flows of this magnitude. The status quo, which involves record numbers of Nicaraguan, Cuban and Haitian nationals currently being encountered attempting to enter irregularly at the southwest border, coupled with DHS’s extremely limited options for processing, detaining, or quickly removing such migrants, unduly impedes DHS’s ability to fulfill its critical and varied missions. Delaying the information collection approval would be contrary to the public interest because it would incentivize even more irregular migration of Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Haitian nationals seeking to enter the United States before the process would take effect at a time when we are already anticipating increased flows due to the lifting of Title 42. Thus, the urgent border and national security and humanitarian interests in reducing and diverting the flow of irregular migration would be exacerbated by a delay of the approval of this request.

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	400,000	400,000
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	598,500	598,500
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: New IC

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $19,395,000

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. Yes

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. Yes

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Melanie Frank 202 527-4488 melanie.r.frank2@uscis.dhs.gov