| VIRGIN ISLANDS The Virgin Islands of the United States, in the West Indies and near to Puerto Rico, were purchased from Denmark in 1916. In the treaty with Denmark which was ratified in 1917, (note 22) there is found a provision similar to that in the treaty with Spain, when Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were acquired. It provided that Danish citizens remaining in the islands might preserve their Danish citizenship by making a declaration to that effect within a year before a court of record. In default of such declaration they were held to have renounced it and to have accepted citizenship in the United States. The treaty also stipulated that the civil rights and the political status of the inhabitants of the islands would be determined by Congress. On February 25, 1927, (note 23) Congress enacted legislation defining the political status of certain natives of these islands as citizens of the United States, depending upon their place of residence on January 17, 1917, and February 25, 1927. This law still left many natives out of the fold of American citizenship and of doubtful status, so that a supplemental act was approved June 28, 1932, (note 24) providing that all natives then residing in the United States, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, or any other insular possession or Territory of the United States, were American citizens, if not citizens or subjects of any foreign country. This 1932 law was also an emergency immigration act, making certain concessions and granting specific exemption from immigration requirements in favor of natives of the islands who were still aliens but residing in foreign countries or possessions. (note 25) These exemptions expired in 2 years so are no longer operative. They were designed to facilitate the return of natives so that if desired they could obtain naturalization in the District Court of the Virgin Islands of the United States. The Senate committee said that under a misconception of the act of 1927 many natives of the islands who had been residing in foreign countries, were ignorant of the fact that they were not American citizens, since most of their fellow countrymen had acquired citizenship by the act of 1917 or 1927; and that the majority of the natives who would benefit by the 1932 law were domiciled and distributed throughout the islands of the Caribbean Sea. The Virgin Islands group consists of 3 large and about 50 small islands, the Governor of the islands being responsible to the Secretary of the Interior. The immigration laws are administered by a commissioner of immigration, under powers conferred by the act of March 3, 1917. (note 26) On May 12, 1925, the Governor issued a proclamation placing in effect the Immigration Act of 1924 from June 1, 1925, and stating that the enforcement of that act involved compliance with certain portions of the Immigration Act of 1917. Because of the peculiar geographical situation of the islands, surrounded as they are by numerous foreign islands, visaed passports were not required of alien visitors entering from places where American consuls are not located, and American consuls are few and far between in the West Indies. Even though section 10 of the Immigration Act of 1924 restricts the issuance of reentry permits to the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, such permits are issued by the authorities in the Virgin Islands to alien residents departing temporarily for foreign countries. Natives of the Virgin Islands who are aliens and seeking to return thereto may be issued immigration visas on the nonquota form, amended to show birth in the islands. There are steamships sailing direct to the mainland and Puerto Rico from the islands. Form 546 is issued to legally resident aliens, to be surrendered on identification at the port of arrival. |