Speech #760005100

So. in view of the courtesy extended to me and the fine consideration I find here always. I shall read without comment. Sias: There have been an increasing number of complaints received by the Department and some recent public criticism that the visa work of the consuls is not being carried on in a fair and impartial manner. particularly that the publiccharge provisions are not being properly administered and that the consuls are acting under the mistaken idea that they are responsible for keeping the issuance of visas to a minimum. The immigration policy as expressed by Congress in the Immigration Act of 1924 permits the issuance of immigration visas. within the limits of the quotas. to aliens reasonably able to meet the requirements of the law. The officers responsibility is to reach a correct decision in each case. based upon a fair evaluation of the evidence. viewed with practical common sense. in order that the decisions reached shall not be subject to just criticism. As administrative officers. the consuls are charged with the duty of developing the essential facts. favorable as well as unfavorable to the alien. and of applying to the facts the correct standard of the law. To do their work properly. they should maintain at all times an impartial. detached. judicial attitude. The applicant should be courteously received and given helpful advice and proper assistance in presenting the facts in his case. Care should be taken to avoid cause for the complaint which has been made In specific cases that persons applying for visas have been discourteously received by members of the consular staff. that they have not been permitted to present their documents or discuss their cases. that after complying with certain requirements they have been met with demands for additional documents of which they could have been advised in the first instance. and that they have been put to needless inconvenience and expense In obtaining unnecessary documentary evidence. Consular letters have failed to refer to and discuss important evidence. giving the impression that such evidence has been ignored in reaching the decision. and that the decision has not been taken upon the basis of all the evidence presented. It is important for a consular officer to understand that the publiccharge provisions of the law exclude persons "likely" to become a public charge. that Is. persons In whose cases facts exist making it "probable" that they will become public charges.