Who makes immigration law?

The immigration is surely one of the more complex ones among the otherwise rather simple US laws. It is full of technical details and changes every time majorities in Congress are changing. According to article 1, part 8, clause 4 of the US constitution, only Congress can make laws for US immigration or laws that affect non-US citizens.

Which authorities participate in the administration of the immigration system?

The most important authority is, contrary to what most of the handbooks say, not the US State Department, represented by the US consulates abroad, but rather the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), part of the Department of Justice since 1933. With its 29,000 employees it is also one of the biggest authorities within the US, and due to the more and more restrictive immigration policy its number of employees has been increasing constantly. Ca. 8,000 employees are working for the US Border Patrol (known through their olive uniforms at the Mexican border), the department responsible for enforcing the laws regulating admission into the US. However, the majority of officials are working in the service department of the INS. Since it isn't possible for Congress to define all legal aspects of immigration themselves, that's why the INS is authorized to issue their own regulations. Due to the so-called Chevron-doctrine they may even achieve legal force, unless they specifically contradict the intentions of US Congress.

One of the many duties of the INS is the control of the so-called ‘ports of entry,' i.e. every point on land, water or air through which a person can enter US territory. This mostly refers to the ports and airports of the US.

The Department indeed plays an important role for immigration. The Bureau of Consular Affairs as part of the Department of State is responsible for all consulates and embassies around the globe, some of which have been greatly expanded over the past years (especially in Germany, with sometimes rather unpleasant consequences for applicants). The subdivision of the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Visa Office, has the political-administrative responsibility of issuing immigration visas. In Germany, immigration visas are issued only in Frankfurt on Main.

The Visa Office, in turn, is responsible for the well known National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, N.H. You will know this from the Diversity Visa Immigrant Program (our green card lottery). However, the lottery is really one of the ‘smaller' duties of the NVC, it's responsibility is the entire coordination of the immigration system between the INS and the US consulates. Last but not least, the United States Information Agency (USIA) has become art of the State Department in 1999 as well. The USIA, in Germany probably known as the America Houses, is called International Information Programs today and is responsible, among other things, for the administration of advanced training and cultural exchange programs.

The Department of Labor is also involved in immigration issues. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), that is strangely being called US employment agency in many handbooks (a rather absurd term considering the US conditions) is responsible for making sure that employing foreigners does not put US citizens at a disadvantage. According to this function it controls the applications a US employer has to file before hiring a foreign citizen, depending on the visa type this may be a defensive or active process. Because not every visa application - contrary to the false representations in the other guides - require a labor certification, i.e. that no US citizen was available for the position. They are responsible for all permanent and temporary work visa applications.