D. Immigration and Visas 669. WAIVER OF FINGERPRINTING REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN NONIMMIGRANT ALIENS: Announcement Issued by the Department of State, April 22, 1961 1 1 The Federal Register on April 22 published regulations of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service amending the requirements for fingerprinting nonimmigrant aliens who remain in this country longer than 1 year. Under these regulations nonimmigrant aliens who are nationals of countries that fingerprint U.S. citizens in like circumstances will be required to be fingerprinted when they have been here 1 year. Fingerprinting is waived for other nonimmigrant aliens, regardless of the length of their stay here, provided they maintain their legal status as nonimmigrants. The new regulations are based on an agreement of April 5, 1961. between the Secretary of State and the Attorney General for the implementation of section 8 of the act of September 11, 1957, which authorized the waiver of the fingerprinting requirement. The agreement of April 5, 1961, replaces one dated October 9, 1957, under which fingerprinting was waived for all nonimmigrant aliens during the first year of their stay in this country. Under both agreements fingerprinting is waived on a reciprocal basis for all nonimmigrant visa applicants. According to available information, the following countries apply a fingerprinting requirement to nonimmigrant U.S. nationals staying in their territory: 670. VISITORS', QUOTA, AND NONQUOTA IMMIGRANT VISAS ISSUED DURING FISCAL YEAR 1961: Announcement Issued by the Department of State, August 26, 1961 (Excerpt)* More foreign visitors obtained visas for the United States in the last fiscal year than ever before, according to figures released by the Department of State on August 26. 1 Department of State press release No. 249 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1961, p. 692). 226 Fed. Reg. 3563. 3 See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1957, pp. 1679-1680. Department of State press release No. 597 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Sept. 25, 1961, p. 524). Salvatore A. Bontempo, Administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, in releasing the annual statistics on visa services, which are compiled in the Department's Visa Office, pointed out that the 714,019 nonimmigrant visas issued, principally to visitors, was 6 percent higher than the record set in the preceding fiscal year. The total number of visas issued by American consular offices throughout the world during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1961, was 974,051, an increase of 5 percent over last year's record number. Mr. Bontempo noted that an increase of 44 percent was registered in nonimmigrant visas issued to Argentine nationals and expressed the hope that corresponding increases would soon be registered in other countries through the efforts of the Kennedy administration to stimulate tourist travel in the United States. A total of 260,032 quota and nonquota immigrant visas was also issued during the 1961 fiscal year to persons seeking permanent residence in the United States. More immigrant visas were issued to Mexicans (40,097) than to persons of any other nationality. Canadians (32,849) came next, followed by Germans (30,970), British (24,163), and Italians (19,787). AN ACT TO AMEND THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES: Public Law 87-301, Approved September 26, 1961 671. ANALYSIS OF THE AMENDED IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT: Remarks Made by the Deputy Administrator (Cieplinski), Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, Department of State, Before the American Immigration and Citizenship Conference, New York City, October 6, 1961 (Excerpt)' Your organization and its many members are vitally interested in the revision of our immigration policies. The immigration policy of the United States is not only a matter of domestic concern; it is an important factor in our foreign relations. The Department therefore wholeheartedly supported and welcomed the recent amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act which eliminated the much "Ibid., pp. 524-527. 'S. 2237, 87th Cong.; 75 Stat. 650. 8 See also S. Rept. 646, 87th Cong., July 28, 1961; H. Rept. 1086, 87th Cong., Aug. 30, 1961; and H. Rept. 1172, 87th Cong., Sept. 12, 1961 (the conference report). Department of State press release No. 684, Oct. 4, 1961 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Oct. 30, 1961, pp. 727–728). Cited as an unnumbered title, supra. misunderstood requirement that a visa applicant state his race and ethnic classification. From a foreign policy point of view it was of equal importance that the Congress eliminated the ceiling on minimum quotas in the Asia-Pacific triangle and made it possible that new political entities do not lose any of the quotas held previously by their components. This latter change in our laws will meet the problems created by the formation of newly independent nations, for example, the projected federation of The West Indies. From a long-range point of view, the Department recognizes the importance of placing all independent areas in the Western Hemisphere on an equal footing. The recent legislation also relieved certain pressures on oversubscribed quotas for the benefit of close relatives of American citizens and permanent resident aliens. The Department is in favor of any legislation which permits the unification of families separated in migration. It is hoped that eventually this objective will be met by more permanent legislation, possibly following the approach proposed by Representative Walter in H.R. 6300, which would permit the use of unused quotas for this purpose. In summarizing the views of the Department on needed revisions of our immigration laws, I cannot do better than quote the President of the United States in his message to you when you met in March of this year. "The tasks we face in revision of our immigration policy must be keyed to the tasks we face in connection with every aspect of our rapidly changing world. The emergence of new nations in Asia and Africa, the assumption of power by any totalitarian tyranny, the cries for assistance when disaster strikes, all call for the best in our American traditions. Our immigration programs must be free from any taint of racism or discrimination." See the unnumbered titles, ante, p. 340. INDEX* Abboud, Ibrahim, 896-898 Act for International Development of Act of Bogotá: Implementation of, 18, See National aeronautics and space head- Afghanistan, trade transit dispute with Africa (see also individual countries and territories): Charters-African *NOTE: Organizational abbreviations The terms "Soviet," "U.K.." and Persons are not identified by office development, 710, DLF assistance in, Agency for International Development Agricultural production program of Agricultural Trade Development and Agriculture, Committee on (House), re- (1373) Group report to Congress, 328; Sugar AID. See Agency for International De- Aiken, George D., 89-90 Albania, 573 French nuclear tests in, 1132, 1142– Refugees in Morocco, U.N. aid to, 178 Situation in: Addresses, statements, Al Salem Al Sabah, Sabah, 695 exports of surplus food to Brazil, ad- Armaments (see also Nuclear weapons Arms Control and Disarmament Act Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, See Foreign Min- Antarctic Research, Special Committee Arab-Israel General Armistice Agree- Arab refugees. See Palestine refugees opment of, 351, 352, 357, 384, 413-415; Arts, Advisory Committee on the: Ac- dividual countries): Conference of Astronaut and cosmonaut flights. See Atlantic Alliance. See Atlantic Com- Atlantic Community (see also European economic headings and North Atlantic |