Subject: IFCSS HQ NR-4066: S1216, Problem with State Department Interpretation

From: IFCSS HQ <ifcss>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 17:04:05 -0500

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IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 4066     November 10, 1992
      S1216: PROBLEM WITH STATE DEPARTMENT INTERPRETATION
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Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS)
   733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005
         Tel. (202)347-0017  Fax: (202)347-0018
                Email: [email-masked]

                  Implementation of S1216:
     Potential Problem with State Department Interpretation

     The State Department has already begun to interpret the
provisions contained in the Chinese Student Protection Act (CSPA).
According to Mr. Seaton Stapleton, Chief of the Immigrant Visa
Control Division, the immigrant visa numbers allotted to PRC
nationals under the CSPA would be limited to those available under
the employment-based third preference category.

     IFCSS HQ and our legal advisers believe that the State
Department interpretation is contrary to Congressional intent, and,
if applied, would create significant backlogs for PRC nationals and
other ethnic groups applying for visas in this employment-based
category.

     In a statement released by Ms. Laura Reiff, one of IFCSS legal
advisers in Arent/Fox, it is pointed out that in order to make
immigrant visas available to these PRC nationals, Congress, in
Section  a(4), waived the numerical level of section 202(a)(2) of
the Immigration and Naturalization Act as it pertains to China.
Congress intended to allow PRC nationals to use excess visas under
the TOTAL world-wide numerical limit, not just one category under
the world-wide total.

     The statement also pointed out:

     "Limiting the visa numbers to the employment-based category is
illogical and impractical for the following reasons:

1.    PRC nationals who apply for an immigrant visa under the CSPA
      would be required to wait for approximately five to ten years
      to obtain their visa.

2.    PRC nationals waiting for their visa would have no status.
      The INS would either need to give them special work
      authorization or ask them to leave the country until their
      visa is available.

3.    Other foreign nationals would also be required to wait many
      years for their immigrant visas under this employment
      category."

     The HQ officers are working closely with our legal advisers to
correct State Department's interpretation. It is mostly likely that
many other problems will emerge when INS starts to set the
implementation procedures. We will closely monitor the development.
We also want the local CSS community to pay close attention  to
IFCSS news releases.

Note: The State Department interpretation can be found in State
Department's Visa Bulletin for November 1992. "This legislation
[S1216] accords beneficiaries Employment THIRD Preference status in
the classification for skilled workers. As such, they are subject
to the regular worldwide annual numerical limit on immigrants in
that preference."

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*                 IFCSS Headquarters Office                         *
*                 =========================                         *
* President:      Geng Xiao  Assistant to the President: Shi Heping *
* Vice-President: He Baoping     Executive Director: Zhang Qingsong *
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
*                   The Missions of IFCSS                           *
* Promote freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law in China *
* Assist the development of  scienece, culture and economy in China *
* Represent the interests of Chinese students and scholars in U.S.A *
* IFCSS is a non-profit organization and has tax-exempt status. To  *
* donate, please make checks payable to "IFCSS" and send to:        *
*   IFCSS, 733 15th St. N.W., Suite 440, Washington D.C., 20005"    *
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