THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2024 23 to the United States, then to Sri Lanka. When my father was posted in Sri Lanka, I went to boarding school in Southern India for ninth and 10th grade and then went back to the United States. It was a very fulfilling experience to have that exposure to different peoples, different cultures, different religions, and I think it has served me well in a lot of other environments that I operate in. And it certainly means that when I look at U.S. foreign policy, I try to also look at it through the lens of people in other countries who are viewing our words and our actions and asking themselves whether or not we are being true to our principles and values. Growing up in the Foreign Service was a wonderful experience, and it informs a lot of what I do today. FSJ: Thanks very much. Now let’s talk about the GRATEFUL Act that you cosponsored with Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) that was signed into law in December 2023 as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. This legislation repurposed a visa program that had been sparsely used in recent years to provide foreign U.S. government employees with at least 15 years of exceptional service to the U.S. abroad, and their families, with an efficient path to immigrate to the United States. A lot of people, even inside the Foreign Service, don’t know about this renewed and renamed Government Employee Immigrant Visa (GIV) program. How did the legislation come about? Sen. Van Hollen: Having grown up in a Foreign Service family, I understand the vital role our hardworking Foreign Service nationals [now called locally employed staff] play in all aspects of our diplomacy. We set up the Special Immigrant Visa program a long time ago to allow them and their families to come to the United COURTESY OF CHRIS VAN HOLLEN The Van Hollen family and friends on board the U.S. Navy’s USS Sellers. The “delegation” traveled to the Republic of Maldives from Colombo. Back row, from left: Steve Mont- gomery, E.E. Van Hollen, Ambassador Christopher Van Hollen, Gil Wing, Doris Wing, Nancy Seger, and Ralph Seger. Front, from left: Dick Seger and Christopher Van Hollen Jr. Growing up in the Foreign Service was a wonderful experience, and it informs a lot of what I do today. States after their service. But for a variety of reasons, a huge backlog developed. As a practical matter, it became a broken system. I not only heard from our ambassadors and others at the embassies and consulates but also had a chance to meet with some of these Foreign Service nationals during my travels, and I recognized how important this was. I was lucky to have a Pearson Fellow as part of our team, [FSO] Catherine Miller-Little. Catherine was familiar with this issue and is a consular-coned officer. And so we got to work on trying to formulate a solution to this very real problem that was hurting our foreign policy, because America does need to make good on its promises, and this was a promise that we’d made but were not keeping. So that was the genesis of the GRATEFUL Act. As you know, in Congress it’s gotten harder and harder to pass smaller bills on their own. They need to hitch a ride on a larger legislative vehicle. There were significant negotiations with some of the House members, because immigration issues writ large, as you know, are
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=