So far, however, 22,000 already have applied for permission.

Starting in January for 6,000 to 8,000 GI brides are scheduled to enter the United States each mother. Space on American-bound ships has been and will be a major limiting factor.

War department officials told a reporter the army had asked the state department’s passport visa section to estimate the total number of GI brides. The state department estimated – and emphasized that it was purely an estimate – that 60,000 GIs may have married English girls, that 5,000 to 15,000 soldiers took brides on the European continent, and from 20,000 to 25,000 married Australian or New Zealand girls.

An administrative board has been set up in Britain to expedite the movement of GI brides to the United States. The war, navy and state departments and the U.S. public health service are represented on the board.

The board will arrange for visas and transportation and handle other technical details. A GI brides can become an American citizen in two hears.