The admission of 214,000 non-quota immigrants to the United States under President Eisenhower’s Refugee Relief Act of 1953 will be achieved by the end of 1956, provided enough Americans assure jobs and homes to the immigrants, it was indicated here this week-end by a State Department spokesman.
The spokesman said that 869 officials from various government agencies are now dealing with a total of 31, 295 visa applications from Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Holland and Japan, and that most of the applicants — 23,316–are in Italy. He revealed that up to last week, more than 7, 136 visas had been issued, mostly to relatives of persons having residence in the United States. These included 5, 367 visas issued in Italy.
The State Department spokesman emphasized that Americans and American organizations have so far been very slow in signing guarantees for jobs and homes for the non-quota immigrants. Such guarantees are requested in order to make sure that the newcomers will not displace American workers. Thus far, such assurances have come from 11,896 Americans, the State Department revealed.
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