From: sethr@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (seth.r.rosenthal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Israel and the diaspora
Date: 10 Nov 92 17:27:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsl.1992Nov10.172741.20297
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <BxIDIM.JF1@encore.com>, amarkel@encore.com (Arieh Markel) writes:
> nobby@milton.u.washington.edu (Vitaly Shmatikov) writes:
> 
> >In article <BxHqCx.KF5@cs.columbia.edu> ratner@cs.columbia.edu (Michael Ratner) writes:
> >>In article <1992Nov7.234200.8473@ennews.eas.asu.edu> makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (David Makowsky) writes:
> >>>In article <92312.0400382893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> andy <2893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
> >>>
> >>># In article <4428@bimacs.BITNET>, rothberg@bimacs.BITNET (Danny Rothenberg) says:
> >>>
> >>
> >>[ ..stuff deleted..]
> >>
> >>>	The US was (and still is) imposing quotas on ALL immigrants into
> >>>the US, and one of the criterion is whether or not the individual is
> >>>considered an economic or political refugee.  If Israel is offering
> >>>them a refuge, the US is not going to let them in as a political
> >>>refugee when they can let in someone else who is.
> >>>
> [ some more stuff deleted ... ]
> 
> A question regarding the so called refugee status awarded to soviet
> jews who were allowed to leave.
> 
> I had understood, that they had to renounce the soviet citizenship and
> accept Israli citizenship before they left, thus making them immediately
> citizens of a country of which they cannot claim to be refugees from.
> 
> Am I correct ?
> 

I am not sure about Soviet citizenship, but in order to apply
to leave they needed a letter of invitation from somewhere.  Israeli
letters were sent routinely whether there was a family or not there.
Once they got to Rome or Vienna they would revoke their status with
Israel and re-apply to the U.S.   When the procedures changed,
and application made directly in Moscow with direct flights,
this could no longer be done.  The choice was, file for status in the
US, if rejected one could either go to Israel, or try somewhere in
Western Europe.  Germany was a pretty inviting place because of its
booming economy.  Today, perhaps France or Italy, but given what's
going on in France, thats no bargain either.  This was the net effect
of the immigration policy.

Russian emigre's here do tend to collect their families.  Russian
Jews can come here with immigrant status, but then they don't have
refugee status, and it is harder for them to survive since there
are a few months of benefits for refugees that don't come to immigrants.

The US quota applies to all citizens of the Russian republic by the way.
Russian Evangelical Christians still emigrate as
do Armenians.  The 50,000 spots therefore have quite a bit of
competition for them.  I don't know the exact numbers, but I would
guess that only 35,000 spots wind up being used by Jews.


> >Just a small correction. It's not true that only those with direct relatives 
> >in the U.S. can obtain refugee status. My family has no direct relatives here 
> >but we still got admitted. Sometimes I'm wondering what drives American 
> >immigration officials when they're considering applications of Soviet Jews.
> >The process is apparently informal but I have hard time trying to figure
> >out which factors count.
> 
> As far as I know, my mother's family was not admitted to the US in 1938,
> when trying to flee Austria because not all members could claim direct
> relatives. Luckily, those who managed to escape were able to reach
> Argentina.
> 

Almost all Jews in Europe had cousins or aunts and uncles in the States
in 1938.  Our cousins applied to emigrate from Poland in 1936, and were
given approval, for 1943.  That is how far backed up the visa requests
were.  Of course by 1943 10 out of 13 of the children in that family
were gone.


		Seth Rosenthal

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own not my employers'.