Speech #880067946

Such a requirement may serve two ends. First. It may help to insure that the immigrant. granted preference for a defined purpose. will fulfill that purpose. if we need engineers. he should work as one. Highly skilled specialists. however. will always work at their speciality. provided that employment is open. The only check needed. therefore. is that the Attorney General ascertain from the Board (which has consulted the Secretary of Labor and studied such problems with specific reference to immigrants) that job openings exist in the immigrants special field. The second end the present petition procedure may serve is confirmation of the applicants own evidence of his training. education. or skills. presumably he would not be employed unless qualified. But such confirmation is superfluous if proper controls are enforced when the visa is applied for. And since we allow immigrants to enter without U.S. citizens vouchIng for their loyaltya far more important matterthere seems no reason to require their capability to be thus additionally supported. Paragraph (4). therefore. allows the Attorney General to grant preferred status to highly skilled Immigrants upon affidavit of the immigrants. supported by such other documentary evidence as he shall prescribe. Section 10 amends section 205(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. providing for petitions to establish the right to preferred status as a relative of a U.S. citizen or lawfully resident alien. to conform to the substantive changes made by section 8. Section 11 amends the "fair share" refugee law to remove a provision which has hampered its operation. Presently. that law allows the entry only of refugees within the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The provision relating to the United Nations mandate is striken out. so that our refugee law. is no longer subject to outside control. - In addition. subsection (b) repeals the "fair share" laws special provision for 500 -"difficult to resettle refugees". these have all been settled and the authority Is now unnecessary. Section 12 amends the Refugee Relief Act to allow the admission of refugees from North Africa generally. and Algeria particularly. who are unable to return to their countries because of their race. religion. or political opinions. The act now admits such refugees from "any country within the general area of the Middle East." which is defined as the area between Libya on the west. Turkey on the north. Pakistan on the east. and Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia on the south. The amendment substitutes Morocco for Libya as the western border of this area. Section 13 grants discretionary authority to the Secretary of State to specify the time and manner of payment of the fees for visa applications and issuances set by section 281 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The discretion granted will allow him to control two undesirable situations. (1) Many people in countries with oversubscribed quotas register their names on visa waiting lists even though they have no present intention of immigrating. they regard the registration as insurance against a possible future move. These registrations make planning difficult and encumber administration. The amendment would allow the Secretary of State to require a registrant to deposit part of the $5 visa fee at the time of registration. While not unduly burdensome on those who wish to come here. such a rule might discourage the most frivolous registrations. (2) Otherwise admissible immigrants. particularly refugees. are often unable to pay the $20 visa fee. Rather than bar them from entry. the Secretary is given authority to allow postponement of payment until they have earned the money here. Section 281 is further amended to equalize the visa fees paid by all immigrants. at present. nonquota or preference applicants must pay $10 more than persons not entitled to priority. Section 14. like section 13. addresses the problem of insurance registrations. Many people who applied for visas years ago and have been offered visas repeatedly. have turned them down each year. They wish only to preserve their priority against some future event. This addition to section 302 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act would allow the Secretary to terminate the registrations of those who had previously declined a visa. Like section 13. it also is important in connection with a projected reregistration of all applicants in certain oversubscribed quota areas. in which we have no way of knowing whether registrants have died. emigrated elsewhere. or changed their minds. the Secretary could terminate the registration of all persons who fail to reregister as required. The provision is not made mandatory to avoid embarrassing or endangering registrants in totalitarian countries. who have no desire to approach an embassy before visas are actually available for them. Section 16 amends subsections (a) (4) and (g) of section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow the entry of certain mentally afflicted persons. Under present law. no visas may be issued to aliens who are feebleminded or insane. or have had one or more attacks of insanity. or who are afflicted with a psychopathic personality. epilepsy. or a mental defect. This provision has an unfortunate effect on families seeking admission though one member. often a child. is retarded or feebleminded. Such families are forced to choose between leaving the child behind. or staying with it. in either case. the child is condemned to facilities for treatment which are often inadequate. The person afflicted may not enter even if the family is willing and able to care for him. nor even if he is one of the 85 percent of mentally afflicted persons who can be substantially helped by proper treatment. The amendment givesthe Attorney General discretionary authority to admit such persons who are the spouses. children or parents of citizens. resident aliens. or holders of immigrarit visas. The Attorney General. after consultation with the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service. would prescribe the controls and conditions on entry. such as the giving of a bond to insure continued family support. as would be appropriate in each case. The bars to epileptics are removed entirely. since this affliction is now under the control of modern medicine. Those few epileptics whose illness prevents normal functioning will be excludable under the provision barring persons likely to become public charges. Section 16 establishes the Immigration Board. The Board is composed of seven members. Two are appointed by the Speaker of the House. two by the President of the Senate. and three. including the Chairman. by the President. Members not otherwise in Government service are paid on a per diem basis for actual time spent in the work of the Board. The Boards duties are to study. and consult with. appropriate Government departments on all facets of immigration policy. to recommend to the President whether to reserve quota numbers in the national interest under section 2. and to recommend to the Attorney General criteria for admission under the occupational preferences of section 8. Section 17 grants consular officers discretionary authority to require bonds insuring that certain nonimmigrants will depart voluntarily from the United States when required. At present. some students and visitors are denied visas because there is doubt whether they are bona fide nonimmigrants. The amendment. by providing an additional safeguard against a later refusal to depart. would allow the issuance of visas in many borderline cases in which visas are now refused.