New Regulations Seen Expediting Visa Issuance

The immigration doors are not being closed, but only more closely watched, the New York Times declared editorially today in commenting on new State Department regulations concerning visa issuance. The editorial follows:

“A recent State Department ruling officially explained as directing the withholding of visas from aliens having close relatives still residing in certain countries and in territories controlled by these countries, seems to have been widely misunderstood.

The Department was not so explicit as it might have been.

“A supplementary ruling, issued last Tuesday in Washington and taking effect on July 1, clears up the situation. Discretion to grant visas is taken from consuls and transferred to the State Department. If the department is satisfied that the applicant’s admission is desirable, that he can secure support, that he is properly sponsored, and that he can obtain the necessary exit permits, transit visas and transportation from the country in which he is residing, he will be admitted. The President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, with offices at 122 East Twenty-second Street, New York City will act as a liaison agency with social service organizations interested in the immigrant. It is thought that this procedure will protect the country against those who might be induced to act as spies because of Nazi throats against close relatives still in the Nazi-controlled areas; that action on visas will be expedited; and that about as many immigrants can be admitted as would be possible under the old system.

“In short, the doors are not being closed. They are being more closely watched. We shall continue to receive, to our own great benefit, brave men and woman who have refused to live under the Hitler tyranny.”