A-3372659
Decided by Regional Commissioner September 19, 1956
Waiver of ground of inadmissibility — Nunc pro tunc exercise of the discretion contained in section 212 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act may be accorded alien by Regional Commissioner in separate proceedings prior to the issuance of an order to show cause — Fee.
(1) Pursuant to the authority contained in section 212 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and 8 CFR 9.5a (f), the Regional Commissioner may waive a ground of inadmissibility, nunc pro tunc, in the case of an alien admitted to the United States for permanent residence in 1923 whose application for naturalization brought to light the fact that she had suffered an attack of insanity prior to her last admission to the United States in 1948, after a visit of a few hours in Canada.
(2) While no application form is prescribed for use in requesting such relief, the grant of a nunc pro tunc waiver pursuant to section 212 (c) of the act requires payment of the $25 fee specified in 8 CFR 2.5.
BEFORE THE REGIONAL COMMISSIONER
Discussion: This case was forwarded by the District Director, Detroit, Michigan, for consideration of a nunc pro tunc waiver of a ground of inadmissibility under section 212 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The subject is a 53-year-old married woman, native of Russia, stateless, who was admitted to the United States for permanent residence at New York, N.Y., on September 6, 1923. She has resided in this country continuously since that time. On February 8, 1939, the Probate Court of Wayne County, Michigan, declared her insane and committed her to the Ypsilanti State Hospital. She was released from that institution on May 20, 1939, and there being no recurrences she was declared mentally sound on October 6, 1945, by the same court which committed her to the hospital. Commitment was under the name of I---- D----, the subject having married on October 25, 1929. Her first husband died in 1943, and she subsequently remarried on June 1, 1945, to one A---- A----, a citizen of the United States.
The subject, as I---- A---- A----, obtained a resident alien's border-crossing identification card on September 20, 1948, and on September 26, 1948, during an automobile ride visited Canada for a few hours. She was readmitted to the United States at Detroit, Michigan, by use of the border-crossing card. On June 28, 1955, she submitted an application for citizenship on Form N-400; a check with the security agency at that time revealed her commitment as an insane person to the state hospital. The case was thoroughly investigated by the Detroit Office, at which time a neighborhood check was made; nothing adverse to the subject was developed, other than her commitment above mentioned, the expense of which was borne by the state. No arrest record was found. She had made no departures from the country other than as mentioned above. Her husband is a citizen and she has a 21-year-old daughter.
The question as to whether this Service has authority to waive a ground of inadmissibility, nunc pro tunc, under section 212 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was affirmatively decided by the Board of Immigration Appeals in Matter of S----, E-094710, 6 IN Dec. 392, which decision was approved by the Attorney General on March 15, 1955. Matter of S----, supra, which arose in deportation proceedings, is based upon facts which are parallel to the instant case, except for the cause of inadmissibility. That decision compared section 212 (c) of the present act with the 7th Proviso to section 3 of the 1917 act, and reviewed reports of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which preceded the present act, on the section in question. It concluded that a nunc pro tunc waiver of a ground of inadmissibility could be granted under section 212 (c) of the act at the discretion of the Attorney General in the case of aliens lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who had proceeded abroad temporarily not under an order of deportation.
There is no application form prescribed whereby an alien may submit a request for a waiver of a ground of inadmissibility, nunc pro tunc, under section 212 (c) of the act, and the alien has made no formal application, the case having been forwarded by the district director for consideration. A fee of $25.00 for filing application for discretionary relief under section 212 (c) of the act is required by 8 CFR 2.5. A review of the entire record reveals that the present case merits the relief requested. Accordingly, the following order is entered.
Order: It is ordered that, pursuant to the authority contained in section 212 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and 8 CFR 9.5a (f), the subject, I---- A---- A----, be considered as having been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence at Detroit, Michigan, on September 28, 1948, notwithstanding her inadmissibility on that occasion as one who had suffered a prior attack of insanity, provided that the fee of $25.00, as required by 8 CFR 2.5, is paid.