Mr. Chairman. today. the House of Representatives has before it legislation which. if enacted. will offer significant relief to thousands of people who are presently being denied visas to this country. The bill to which I refer. H.R. 9615. would establish a floor under immigration so that. according to the bills formula. up to 7.500 additional visas could be issued to any one country in a particular fiscal year. The bill. as an emergency and temporary immigration measure. is designed to correct remaining inequities in the Immigration Act of 1965 for an effective period of 4 fiscal years. Mr. Chairman. the 1965 Immigration Act unwittingly produced a situation of serious disadvantage for formerly privileged countries whereby the originally proposed 5year period of adjustment to the new system was reduced to 2 years. As a result. immigration from these countries has dwindled considerably. Ireland. in particular was affected. issuing barely 1.000 visas last year. In addition. backlogs. especially for fifth preference visas. which had accumulated as a result of discrimination prior to the 1965 act. still exist. By providing for special visas for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens who qualify as fifth preference immigrants. this legislation will eliminate the backlog and do much to alleviate the distress of families who have been separated for want of a visa. When this legislation was considered by the Judiciary Committee. an amendment was considered and rejected that would have limited fifth preference consideration only to unmarried brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. Clearly. this discriminatory provision would have worked to perpetuate the family separations and hardships which this bill seeks to eliminate.
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Immigration visa immigration immigrants visas