The Government of Poland has promulgated a new series of regulations governing exit from the country which have had the effect of cutting down drastically on the number of Jews leaving for Israel, the Hebrew press reported today.
The latest regulations provide: no passport shall be issued until an applicant can show that he has a permit to purchase a travel ticket. Members of the Polish Communist Party shall be expelled upon their application for an exit visa, regardless of whether it is issued or not.
While it is not as easily seen as a means of choking off immigration as the expulsion of Communists from the party, the requirement of obtaining a prior travel permit is quite effective. Though the law says emigrants may purchase travel tickets with Polish currency, the authorities, bedeviled with a shortage of foreign currency, insist upon payment in dollars.
Dollars are practically non-existent in Poland. When they can be obtained on the black-market, they cost 200 zlotys against the official exchange rate of 24 zlotys to the dollar. In the past, emigrants have paid their own fare from Poland to Genoa in Polish currency and the Jewish Agency has provided transportation from that point on. As a result of the latest regulation, the Agency must now pay the full travel bill.
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