TO AMEND THE NATIONALITY ACT OF 1940

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1941

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION,

Washington, D. C. The CHAIRMAN. The next matter we have up for consideration is H. R. 6250, to amend the Nationality Act of 1940. (H. R. 6250 is as follows:)

[H. R. 6250, 77th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend the Nationality Act of 1940

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 307 (a) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1142), be, and it hereby is, amended by adding the following: "Provided, That the requirement that a person shall have resided for a period of six months within the State in which the petition is filed shall not apply to members of the military and naval forces of the United States."

SEC. 2. Subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of section 307 of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1142), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(1) Prior to the beginning of such period (whether such period begins before or after his departure from the United States) the alien has established to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that his absence from the United States for such period is to be on behalf of such Government, or for the purpose of carrying on scientific research on behalf of such institution, or to be engaged in the development of such foreign trade and commerce or whose absence abroad is necessary to the protection of the property rights in such counties of such firm or corporation."

SEC. 3. Section 308 of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1143), is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof a new subsection to be lettered "subsection (a)", and reading as follows:

"(a) Any alien who is fifty years of age or over and who has resided in the United States continuously for a period of at least ten years may, if eligible for naturalization, file petition for naturalization within two years from the effective date of this subsection and thereafter be admitted to citizenship upon full and complete compliance with all requirements of the naturalization laws, except that no declaration of intention shall be required, and he shall not be required to speak the English language, sign his petition in his own handwriting, or meet other educational tests."

SEC. 4. Section 320 of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1148), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 320. A person not an alien enemy, who resided uninterruptedly within the United States during the period of five years next preceding July 1, 1925, and was on that date otherwise qualified to become a citizen of the United States, except that such person had not made a declaration of intention required by law and who during or prior to that time, because of misinformation regarding the citizenship status of such person, erroneously exercised the rights and performed the duties of a citizen of the United States in good faith, may file the petition for naturalization prescribed by law without making the preliminary declaration of intention, and upon satisfactory proof to the court that petitioner has so acted may be admitted as a citizen of the United States upon complying with the other requirements of the naturalization law."

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SEC. 5. Section 328 (c) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1152), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(c) For the purposes of the immigration laws and naturalization laws an alien, in respect of whom a record of registry has been made as authorized by subsection (b) of this section, shall be deemed to have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence as of the date of such alien's entry."

SEC. 6. The first paragraph of section 332 (a) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1154), is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 332. (a) An applicant for naturalization shall, not less than two nor more than seven years after such declaration of intention has been made, make and file in the office of the clerk of a naturalization court, in duplicate, a sworn petition in writing, signed by the applicant in the applicant's own handwriting if physically able to write, and duly verified by witnesses, which petition shall contain substantially the following averments by such applicant."

SEC. 7. Section 334 (c) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1156), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(c) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act, no final hearing shall be held on any petition for naturalization nor shall any person be naturalized nor shall any certificate of naturalization be issued by any court within thirty days after the filing of the petition for naturalization, nor within thrity days preceding the holding of any general election within the territorial jurisdiction of the naturalization court."

SEC. 8. Section 338 (a) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1158), is hereby amended by substituting a comman for the period at the end thereof and by adding the following: "or on the ground that his conduct establishes that his political allegiance is to a foreign state or sovereignty."

SEC. 9. Section 338 (b) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1158), is hereby amended by adding the following sentence at the end thereof: "When the United States is at war or during the existence of a national emergency proclaimed by the President, a naturalized person shall in any proceeding brought under subsection (a) of this section have thirty days' notice in which to answer the petition of the United States, if such notice is served upon him personally in the continental United States."

SEC. 10. Section 338 of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1158), is amended by relettering subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) to read subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h), respectively, and by adding thereto a new subsection to be lettered "subsection (d)" and reading as follows:

"(d) An action may be maintained under the provisions of this section to secure a judgment canceling the certificate of naturalization of any person whose loss of nationality has occurred under the provisions of section 404 of this Act."

SEC. 11. The first sentence of the second proviso of section 401 (a) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1169), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a) Provided further, That a person who has acquired foreign nationality through the naturalization of his parent or parents, and who at the same time is a citizen of the United States, shall, if he is abroad, and has not theretofore expatriated himself as an American citizen by his own voluntary act, be permitted within two years from the effective date of this Act to return to the United States and take up permanent residence therein, and it shall be thereafter deemed that he has elected to be an American citizen."

SEC. 12. Section 403 (a) of the Nationality Act of 1940, approved October 14, 1940 (54 Stat. 1169), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 403. (a) Except as provided in subsections (g) and (h) of section 401, no national can expatriate himself, or be expatriated, under that section while he is within the United States or any of its outlying possessions, but expatriation shall result from the performance by him within the United States or any of its outlying possessions of any of the acts or the fulfillment of any of the conditions specified in that section if and when the national thereafter takes up a residence abroad."

The CHAIRMAN. I am now going to call on Mr. Shaughnessy here this morning, and I am going to ask him to state the views of the Department. Mr. Shaughnessy.

NATURALIZATION

STATEMENT OF EDWARD J. SHAUGHNESSY, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, IMMIGRATION AND SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, the Attorney General desires to call to your attention the advisability of certain amendments to the Nationality Act of 1940. Some of the amendments are designed solely to correct clerical defects in that act while others propose to effect certain changes in the act which are deemed desirable.

Section 1 of the bill would amend section 307 (a) of the Nationality Act of 1940 (54 Stat. 1142), which relates to the residence requirements for naturalization, by waiving in respect to members of the military and naval forces of the United States the requirement of 6 months' residence within the state in which the petition is filed. This amendment appears desirable since many members of the military and naval forces are unable, because of their duties, to remain for a period of 6 months in any one state and, as a result, are deprived of the opportunity to take the necessary steps to become citizens of the United States.

Mr. MASON. But the waiving of the 6 months' requirement only applies to the boys in the service.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. In the military and naval forces of the United States.

Mr. MASON. And no one else.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. And it does not waive residence in the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. From what I understand there are many of the boys who are being drafted or volunteering for service and many of them have held back their petitions because they are to be called for citizenship and would like to become citizens before they actually get into the Army and under this provision waiving that they can go to the court where they happen to be and step it up.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. It does not step it up.

The CHAIRMAN. That is stepping it up.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Yes; because it would postpone it otherwise. It would give them a better chance.

Mr. REES. Then a person who has filed a declaration of intention may enlist and be accepted.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Under the act you are going to pass this afternoon aliens who have not declared their intention may

Mr. PHEIFFER (interposing). Nationals of any nation?

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. They have to register, but they can get out of the selective service on the basis of their alienage, and if they do, they are forever barred.

Mr. BECKWORTH. That is because of

Mr. MACIEJEWSKI (interposing). It is up to him to register.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. That is correct. There is the word "residing." I do not know what it means. It says "residing". That could be

interpreted to mean just in transit.

Mr. PHEIFFER. There is an exception made there in the case of men from neutral countries in the act. I have just read it one time.