Page images
PDF
EPUB

TITLE VI. LIBERALIZED PROVISIONS FOR NATURALIZATION THROUGH SERVICE IN THE ARMED FORCES

Section 15 makes extensive revisions in the provisions of section 328, relating to naturalization through service in the Armed Forces of the United States. Liberalization is accomplished by allowing an alien who has served honorably in the Armed Forces for at least 3 years to be naturalized as a U.S. citizen regardless of his age or physical presence in the United States. No fee, except as required by State law, shall be necessary. Section 329 is abolished.

If such service was not continuous, then he may take advantage of these provi-, sions during any period within 5 years after service in the Armed Forces. Petition for naturalization need not show lawful admission for permanent residence if the termination of such service was more than 1 year preceding the petition for naturalization.

Proof of the petitioner's good moral conduct, attachment to the principles of the Constitution and favorable disposition toward the good order and happiness of the United States must be proved by authenticated copies of records of the executive department.

If separation from the service was before the necessary 3-year period, but because of a disability, then such 3-year period is waived.

The 3-year length of service will not be applicable to persons whose service was rendered during the following periods:

From April 21, 1898, to August 12, 1898;

From April 6, 1917, to November 11, 1918;

From September 1, 1939, to December 31, 1946;

From June 24, 1950, to July 1, 1955;

and who is separated from the Armed Forces under honorable conditions..

If the petitioner was separated from the Armed Forces because of alienage, he will not be entitled to the provisions of this section.

Citizenship acquired under this section may be revoked if subsequent to the naturalization the person is separated from the Armed Forces of the United States under a discharge not under honorable conditions.

Section 15(b) of the bill repeals section 329, thus making the provisions for naturalization under this section applicable to all regardless of when such service was rendered.

Section 15(c) is a conforming section.

TITLE VII. RESTRICTION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE LOSS OF NATIONALITY

Section 16 repeals sections 352, 353, and 354 of the act. This section implements the recent Supreme Court decision of Schneider v. Rusk. It is no longer lawful for a naturalized citizen to be deprived of his citizenship simply by residing in the country of his former nationality for a period longer than 3 years.

TITLE VII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Section 11 of the bill amends section 101 (a) (27) (A) of the act, which grants nonquota status to spouse and children of a U.S. citizen, to extend nonquota status to parents of U.S. citizens as well, if such citizen is at least 21 years of age. Section 12 amends section 101(a) (27) (C) of the act to extend nonquota status to an immigrant who was born in any foreign country on North, Central, or South America or in any island adjacent thereto or in the Canal Zone and the spouse and children of any such immigrant if accompanying or following to join him.

Section 13 adds a new proviso to section 223 (b) of the act permitting the Attorney General to extend for 1 year the permit for an alien spouse to live abroad with a U.S. citizen who is a soldier stationed abroad.

Section 14 amends section 316 of the Immigration and Nationality Act by granting the same exemption from the residence requirements for naturalization to the spouse and children of the person entitled to such an exception under section 316 of the act. No period of State residence shall be required for persons who are in active service in the Armed Forces of the United States.

L

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF TECHNICAL CHANGES IN H.R. 11437 (AND H.R. 11436 BY
MR. HORTON) AS REVISED BY H.R. 11837

1. Section 1 of the bill was changed to insert the word "decennial" after United States and "of population" after census. This clarified an otherwise ambiguous intent that the basis upon which the formula for determining the total immigration to the United States be revised every 10 years as a new census is computed.

2. Reference to this amendment in section 1 of the bill was clarified by refer ring to the bill as "the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1964."

3. Section 1 which amends section 201(b) of the law was changed to state that only the Secretary of State should determine the quota for each quota area. This eliminates the Secretary of Commerce and the Attorney General from such determination.

4. Section 2 of the bill was changed so that a colony is not limited to only 200 quota numbers to be charged against the governing country. Under this section, no limitation exists, except the numbers available to the governing country itself.

5. A new section 5 was added to the bill to make a conforming amendment to section 205(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to conform to the liberalized preference classes.

6. Section 5 of H.R. 11437 was changed to section 6 and was clarified to make certain that the provisions for adjustment of status of escapees applied to all persons paroled-whether before the enactment of this bill or after such enactment.

7. Section 6 of H.R. 11437 was deleted in its entirety as not applicable to the bill. 8. Section 7 of the bill was clarified by defining that it amends section 212(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

9. Sectional references in sections 9 and 10 were corrected.

10. Section 11 of the bill was changed to state that a parent of a citizen over 21 years of age is made nonquota. This is the language of the second preference and was carried over when parents were made nonquota.

11. Section 12 of the bill was altered to state that all countries and islands of North, Central, and South America are made nonquota, regardless of whether they are independent.

12. Section 15 of H.R. 11437 was changed by adding the concept that, to qualify for the liberalized provision of naturalization for aliens who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States, prior lawful admission for permanent residence is not necessary, but physical presence within the United States at time of entering the armed services will suffice.

NUMBER 8

MR. HORTON'S BILL, H.R. 11436 (IDENTICAL WITH H.R. 11437 BY MR. REID OF NEW YORK), IS AS FOLLOWS

[H.R. 11436, 88th Cong., 2d Sess.]

A BILL To amend titles I, II, and III of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1964".

Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 175; 8 U.S.C. 1151) is amended to read as follows:

"NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS; ANNUal quota based upon nationaL ORIGIN;

MINIMUM QUOTAS

"SEC. 201. (a) (1) The annual quota shall be a number equal to one-sixth of 1 per centum of the number of inhabitants in the United States, as determined by the latest official United States census.

"(2) The annual quota shall be distributed in the following manner:

"(A) Each quota area shall first be allocated the same quota it received under the law in existence prior to the enactment of this Act;

"(B) The quota for each minimum quota area as heretofore determined under the law in existence prior to the enactment of the Act shall be increased by one hundred numbers, and any other quota shall be increased as required so that no quota area has less than two hundred and the total of such increases shall be deducted from the remainder of the annual quota;

"(C) The rest of the annual quota shall then be distributed among the several quota areas in proportion to the actual immigration into the United States of immigrants attributed to each such quota area between July 1, 1924, and July 1, 1963, regardless of whether such immigration was quota or nonquota; except no country in a quota area shall have its quota increased which has a quota in excess of one thousand per year, and which has had unused quota numbers in a majority of the years July 1, 1950, to July 1, 1963. "(b) The determination of the annual quota of any quota area shall be made by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Attorney General, jointly. Such officials shall, jointly, report to the President the quota of each quota area, and the Secretary of State shall prescribe by regulation and make known the quotas so reported. Such determination and report shall be made and such regulation shall be issued as soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this amendment. Quotas prescribed therein shall take effect on the first day of the fiscal year or the next fiscal half year, next following the expiration of six months after the date of the regulation, and until such date, the existing quotas prescribed under this Act shall remain in effect. After the making of a regulation the quotas prescribed therein shall continue with the same effect as if specially stated herein and shall be final and conclusive for every purpose, except (1) insofar as it is made to appear to the satisfaction of such officials and prescribed by the Secretary of State, that an error of fact has occurred in such determination or in such regulation, or (2) in the case provided for in section 202(e).

"(c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (e) there shall be issued to quota immigrants chargeable to any quota (1) no more immigrant visas in any fiscal year than the quota for such year, and (2) in any calendar month of any fiscal year, no more immigrant visas than 10 per centum of the quota for such year; except that during the last two months of any fiscal year immigrant visas may be issued without regard to the 10 per centum limitation contained herein.

"(d) Nothing in this Act shall prevent the issuance (without increasing the total number of quota immigrant visas which may be issued) of an immigrant visa to an immigrant as a quota immigrant even though he is a nonquota immigrant.

"(e) (1) There shall be established a quota pool for each of four geographical regions; that is, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. For purposes of this sec

tion, the Secretary of State shall have the discretion to fix the boundaries of the areas within each region. The boundaries of the areas within each region as determined by the Secretary of State shall be reported to the Congress yearly.

"(2) Quota numbers of all quota areas within a region authorized under the provisions of subsection (a), which have not been issued at the termination of a fiscal year, shall be assigned to the pool of the region within which the respective quota areas are situated.

"(3) The Secretary of State shall, at the end of each fiscal year, determine the amount of quota numbers in each regional quota pool. He shall prescribe the number thereof on or before October 1 following the end of each fiscal year. The quota numbers so determined and prescribed by the Secretary of State shall be available for use in the following manner, during the ensuing twelve-month period, beginning October 1, and ending September 30 of the following year:

"(A) the quota numbers in each regional pool shall be issued to qualified quota immigrants from any quota area in the respective region;

"(B) the exceptions to the determination of the quota to which an immigrant is chargeable, specified in section 202(a) in respect to quota areas, shall apply in determining the region to which an immigrant is chargeable under this subsection;

"(C) there shall be issued to qualified quota immigrants under this subsection immigrant visas in the manner and to the preference classes specified in section 203(a); except that an eligible immigrant shall be entitled to receive such a visa only if there is not immediately available to him an immigrant visa under the quota specified in subsection (a);

"(D) quota immigrant visas issued to aliens under this subsection shall be issued in the order specified in subsections (b) and (c) of section 203;

"(E) there shall be issued to quota immigrants eligible to receive immigrant visas from any regional quota pool under this subsection in any calendar year of the twelve-month period specified in this paragraph no more immigrant visas than 10 per centum of the regional quota pool for such twelvemonth period, except that during the last two months of such twelve-month period immigrant visas may be issued without regard to such limitation;

"(F) quota numbers not used during the twelve-month period specified in this paragraph shall not be available for use at any other time." SEC. 2. Section 202(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 177: 8 U.S.C. 1152(c)) is amended to read as follows:

"(c) Any immigrant born in a colony or other component or dependent area of a governing country for which no separate or specific quota has been determined. unless a nonquota immigrant as provided in section 101(a)(27) of this Act, shall be chargeable to the quota of the governing country, except that not more than two hundred persons born in any one such colony or other dependent or component area overseas from the governing country in any one year shall be so chargeable. A number not exceeding two hundred immigrant visas authorized in any one year under the provisions of subsection (e) of section 201 respecting regional quota pools shall be available to persons born in any colony or other component or dependent area described in this subsection. Such visas shall come from the regional quota pool of the region in which the governing country is a quota area." SEC. 3. Section 202(a) (5) and 202(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 177; 8 U.S.C. 1152(a) (5)) are repealed.

SEC. 4. Section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 176; 8 U.S.C. 1153) is amended to read as follows:

"ALLOCATION OF IMMIGRANT VISAS WITHIN QUOTA AREAS

"SEC. 203. (a) Immigrant visas to quota immigrants shall be allocated in each fiscal year as follows:

(1) The first 50 per centum of the quota of each quota area for such year, plus any portion of such quota not required for the issuance of immigrant visas to the classes specified in paragraphs (2) and (3) shall be made available for the issuance of immigrant visas (A) to qualified quota immigrants whose services are determined by the Attorney General to be especially advantageous to the United States because of the high education, technical training, specialized experience, or exceptional ability of such immigrants and to be substantially beneReial prospectively to the national economy, cultural interests, or welfare of the United States, and (B) to any qualified quota immigrant who is the spouse or child of any immigrant described in clause (A) if accompanying or following to join him.

"(2) The next 20 per centum of the quota for each quota area for such year, plus any portion of such quota not required for the issuance of immigrant visas to the classes specified in paragraphs (1) and (3), shall be made available for the issuance of immigrant visas to qualified quota immigrants who are the unmarried sons or daughters of citizens of the United States.

"(3) The next 20 per centum of the quota for each quota area for such year, plus any portion of such quota not required for the issuance of immigrant visas to the classes specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be made available for the issuance of immigrant visas to qualified quota immigrants who are the spouses or the unmarried sons or daughters of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

"(4) The remaining 10 per centum of the quota for each quota area for such year, plus any portion of such quota not required for the issuance of immigrant visas to the classes specified in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) shall be made available for the issuance of immigrant visas to qualified quota immigrants who are (A) the brothers, sisters, married sons or married daughters of citizens of the United States (such citizens being at least twenty-one years of age) or parents of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, and (B) the spouse and children of any immigrant described in clause (A) if accompanying or following to join him. Qualified quota immigrants capable of performing specified functions for which a shortage of employable and willing persons exists in the United States shall be entitled to a preference not to exceed 50 per centum of the immigrant visas remaining available for issuance under this paragraph after the preference to the named relatives of the United States citizens and resident aliens is satisfied or exhausted.

(5) Any portion of the quota for each quota area for such year not required for the issuance of immigrant visas to the classes specified in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) shall be made available for issuance of immigrant visas to other qualified quota immigrants chargeable to such quota.

"(b) Quota immigrant visas issued pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall, in the case of each quota area, be issued to eligible quota immigrants in the order in which a petition on behalf of each such immigrant is filed with the Attorney General as provided in section 204 and shall be issued in the first calendar month after receipt of notice of approval of such petition on which a quota number is available for an immigrant chargeable to such quota area.

"(e) Quota immigrant visas issued to aliens in the classes designated in paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (a) shall, in the case of each quota, be issued to qualified quota immigrants strictly in the chronological order in which such immigrants are registered in each class on quota waiting lists which shall be maintained for each quota in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of State.

(d) In determining the order for consideration of applications for quota immigrant visas under subsection (a) consideration shall be given first to applications under paragraph (1), second to applications under paragraph (2), third to applirations under paragraph (3), fourth to applications under paragraph (4), and fifth to applications under paragraph (5).

"(e) Every immigrant shall be presumed to be a quota immigrant until he stablishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa, and to the immigration officers, at the time of application for admission, that he is a nonquota immigrant. Every quota immigrant shall be presumed to be a nonpreference quota immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the Consular officer and the immigration officers that he is entitled to a preference quota status under paragraphs (1), (2), (3), or (4) of subsection (a)."

SEC. 5. (a) Paragraph (5) of subsection (d) of section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 188; 8 U.S.C. 1182(d) (5)), is amended (1) by inserting "(A)" immediately after "(5)", and (2) by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph:

(B)(i) As used in this subparagraph, the term 'escapee' means any alien (A) who because of persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, or political opinion has fled or shall flee from any Communist, Communist-dominated Communist-occupied area, or from any country within the general area of the Middle East, and who cannot return to such area or country on account of race, religion, or political opinion, or (B) who is out of his usual place of abode because of a natural calamity, military operations, or political upheaval, and who is in a country or area which is neither Communist nor Communist dominated, and Cwho has not firmly resettled and is in urgent need of assistance for the essentials of life."

« PreviousContinue »