Report 90 Percent of Visa Applications by Jews Rejected by Soviet Authorities

A very well informed Israeli source said today that over 90 percent of the visa applications submitted by Russian Jews are turned down by Soviet authorities. The source said that Jews seeking exit papers must undergo a long and arduous process which subjects them to public scorn and sometimes divides their families. Every Jew who receives an emigrant visa must pay 900 rubles, the equivalent of almost $1,000, the source said. Visas are granted on the basis of “vzov”–a request that must be sent by relatives in Israel who undertake to look after the emigrant’s welfare. Even after the “vzov” is received, the procedure is lengthy and difficult. The entire family must agree to leave the Soviet Union and the refusal of either spouse and often of children can result in refusal to grant an exit permit, the source said. Applications for exit visas must be accompanted by character references from the applicants’ employers. This subjects the would-be emigrant to censure from employer and colleagues for whom Israel is constantly deploted in the Soviet press as a puppet of American imperialism. The source agreed that Soviet Jewish emigration during the month of March was “very good” considering the circumstances and said April was also likely to be a “good” month. But thereafter it is not clear how matters will develop and there is fear here that Soviet authorities will again clamp severe restrictions on the departure of Jews. Many Israelis believe the relatively liberal policy of the past month was intended to create the impression of ongoing Jewish emigration and to prevent the sight of Jewish demonstrators on Moscow’s streets during the Soviet Communist Party Congress which opened yesterday. According to Israeli sources, the recent French press agency report that the Soviets intend to permit 300,000 Jews to leave during the next few years was a deliberate “plant.” The sources observed that most of the Jews now getting visas come from the big cities of the Baltic states and the Russian Republic where there are many Western newsmen and tourists. In contrast, hardly any visas are issued to Jews in the remote Georgian Republic who, from an economic standpoint, are more “expendable” to the Soviet Union.