STATUS OF QUOTAS OPERATION OF PREFERENCE PROVISIONS UNDER THE "RELATIVE RELIEF” RESOLUTION MAY 29, 1928

[Printed for the use of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives December 24, 1928]

NONQUOTA SECTION OF THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1924, AS AMENDED MAY 29, 1928

NONQUOTA IMMIGRANTS

SEC. 4. When used in this act the term "nonquota immigrant”

means

(a) An immigrant who is the unmarried child under twenty-one years of age, or the wife, of a citizen of the United States, or the husband of a citizen of the United States by a marriage occurring prior to June 1, 1928;

(b) An immigrant previously lawfully admitted to the United States, who is returning from a temporary visit abroad;

(c) An immigrant who was born in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Canal Zone, or an independent country of Central or South America, and his wife, and his unmarried children under 18 years of age, if accompanying or following to join him;

(d) An immigrant who continuously for at least two years immediately preceding the time of his application for admission to the United States has been, and who seeks to enter the United States solely for the purpose of, carrying on the vocation of minister of any religious denomination, or professor of a college, academy, seminary, or university; and his wife, and his unmarried children under 18 years of age, if accompanying or following to join him;

(e) An immigrant who is a bona fide student at least 15 years of age and who seeks to enter the United States solely for the purpose of study at an accredited school, college, academy, seminary, or university, particularly designated by him and approved by the Secre

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PREFERENCE CASES UNDER THE IMMIGRATION LAW

tary of Labor, which shall have agreed to report to the Secretary of Labor the termination of attendance of each immigrant student, and if any such institution of learning fails to make such reports promptly the approval shall be withdrawn; or

(f) A woman who was a citizen of the United States and who prior to September 22, 1922, lost her citizenship by reason of her marriage to an alien, but at the time of her application for an immigration visa is unmarried.

PREFERENCE SECTION OF THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1924, as AMENDED MAY 29, 1928

PREFERENCES WITHIN QUOTAS

SEC. 6. (a) Immigration visas to quota immigrants shall be issued in each fiscal year as follows:

(1) Fifty per centum of the quota of each nationality for such year shall be made available in such year for the issuance of immigration visas to the following classes of immigrants, without priority of preference as between such classes: (A) Quota immigrants who are the fathers or the mothers, or the husbands by marriage occurring after May 31, 1928, of citizens of the United States who are twenty-one years of age or over; and (B) in the case of any nationality the quota for which is three hundred or more, quota immigrants who are skilled in agriculture, and the wives, and the dependent children under the age of eighteen years, of such immigrants skilled in agriculture, if accompanying or following to join them.

(2) The remainder of the quota of each nationality for such year, plus any portion of the 50 per centum referred to in paragraph (1) not required in such year for the issuance of immigration visas to the classes specified in such paragraph, shall be made available in such year for the issuance of immigration visas to quota immigrants of such nationality who are the unmarried children under twenty-one years of age, or the wives, of alien residents of the United States who were lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.

(3) Any portion of the quota of each nationality for such year not required for the issuance of immigration visas to the classes specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be made available in such year for the issuance of immigration visas to other quota immigrants of such nationality.

(b) The preference provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) shall, in the case of quota immigrants of any nationality, be given in the calendar month in which the right to preference is established, if the number of immigration visas which may be issued in such month to quota immigrants of such nationality has not already been issued; otherwise, in the next calendar month.

Hon. ALBERT JOHNSON,

House of Representatives.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 6, 1928.

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SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 30 requesting a statement concerning the operation of the joint resolution of May 29, 1928, together with the latest available statistics showing the number of aliens who have received visas under its provisions thus far.

On June 1, 1928, the department sent a circular cablegram to all consular officers instructing them to put into immediate effect the provisions of the above joint resolution, and under date of June 11, 1928, complete regulations for its enforcement were issued and promptly mailed to American consulates abroad. The inclosed table sets forth by countries and categories the quota visas issued by consular officers during the period from July 1, 1928, to September 30, 1928.

Because of the short time which intervened between the passage of the joint resolution and the beginning of the present fiscal year, it was unavoidable that a number of nonpreference visas should be issued within some quotas against which there was a considerable potential demand on the part of the wives and unmarried minor children of lawfully admitted alien residents of the United States, despite the fact that the department's circular telegram above referred to was dispatched at the earliest possible moment.

Due to the monthly limitation imposed by section 11 (f) (2) of the immigration act of 1924 on the rate of issue of quotas of over 300, individual officers found it necessary in some cases to issue nonpreference quota immigration visas early in the year, because aliens entitled to preference under section 6 (a) (2), as amended, who are referred to in the regulations as "second preference" aliens, were not ready to complete their applications and because there was insufficient time to return numbers for redistribution without undue risk of ultimate failure to issue the entire quota.

Another factor contributing to the above result was the fact that the issue of visas was held up in many cases because the responsible consular officers did not have evidence of the residence in and lawful admission into the United States of the relatives from whom the applicants derived their claim to preference. In such cases it was necessary to submit information as to the port, ship, and date of the alien's arrival in the United States to the appropriate immigration authorities in this country and request that their lawful admission be verified. This procedure takes from six to eight weeks when the communications involved are sent by mail from most of the countries having a large second preference demand.

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PREFERENCE CASES UNDER THE IMMIGRATION LAW

The department in its regulations and in special instructions has taken every possible means consistent with the complete issuance of the quotas to insure that visas shall not be issued to nonpreference applicants as long as aliens eligible to second-preference status are awaiting quota immigration visas.

There are also submitted as of probable interest statistics showing the number of aliens for whom nonquota status has been approved under the joint resolution of May 29, 1928, together with the number of nonquota visas which have been reported as having been issued to aliens entitled to nonquota status under the joint resolution for whom preference status had previously been authorized:

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

WILBUR J. CARR,

Assistant Secretary

(For the Secretary of State).