Senate Passes Family Visa Bill to Prevent Separation of Families

If you are pleased with the “Jewish Daily Bulletin” tell your friends to subscribe.

The Senate on Friday, by unanimous consent, passed the bill of Senator Stephens of Mississippi, introduced at the request of the Department of Labor, requiring the issuance of family immigration visas to the wife or husband and unmarried children, under 21, of an immigrant who is issued a visa, so that they may follow the immigrant later without waiting for separate visas. The bill is intended to prevent the separation of families.

Under the bill the family visas are to be good for one year, and may be extended upon application made sixty days prior to expiration. The bill now goes to the House. It is uncertain whether the House will act upon the bill prior to adjournment.

The text of the bill as passed by the Senate follows:

“Be it enacted, etc., That subdivision (a) of section 2 of the immigration act of 1924 is amended by adding the following paragraphs at the end thereof:

“Whenever it shall appear to a consular officer that an immigrant applying for an immigration visa has an alien wife, husband, and/or unmarried dependent children under the age of 21 years residing outside the United States and such wife, husband, and/or children are not applicants for immigration visas, the consular officer shall require the immigrant applying for an immigration visa to make a declaration under oath, as a part of the visa application, as to whether he or she intends to have the wife, husband, and/or such children join him or her in the United States at some future time. If an immigration visa be issued and if the facts in the declaration disclose that the wife, husband, or such children will at some subsequent time apply for immigration visas, the consular officer may accept at once the applications for immigration visas of the wife, husband, and/or such children. If the consular officer finds that the wife, husband, and/or such children are in other respects eligible to obtain immigration visas under the provisions of this act, such officer shall reserve sufficient consecutive immigration visa serial number for the wife, husband, and/or such children, and charge such aliens to the quota then existing for the appropriate country as determined by the provisions of this act. The actual issuance of immigration visas to the immigrants for whom reserve shall be deferred by the consular officer until the immigrants are ready to immigrate to the United States. Immigration visas reserved for future use under this paragraph shall be valid for one year subsequent to date of the reservation, notwithstanding the limitations on the issuance of immigration visas in subdivision (f) of section 11 of this act and the provisions of section 6 thereof, as amended by the act of May 29, 1928, (Continued on Page 4)

“An alien admitted to the United States under the immigration laws for permanent residence for whose wife, husband, and/or unmarried dependent children under the age of 21 years immigration visas have been reserved under the paragraph next above may, not less than 60 calendar days prior to the expiration of one year immediately following such reservation, apply to the Secretary of Labor for an extension of the validity of such reserved immigration visas or visas. If it shall appear to the Secretary of Labor that refusal to grant such extension will result in unusual hardship to the aliens, he may approve the application, inform the Secretary of State shall then authorize the consular officer with whom the application for the immigration visa has been filed to issue the immigration visa.

“Sec. 2 This act shall take effect on the 1st day of July, 1929.”

If you are pleased with the “Jewish Daily Bulletin” tell your friends to subscribe.