Re: passports
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In reply to:
passports
Kim Sylvester 4/23/10
Kim,
Prior to around 1923 or so, no papers such as visas or passports were required from immigrants to the U.S.Some emigrants from the new Republic of Lithuania (1918 - 1939) sought and obtained passports and sometimes visas as well.My father's family obtained a form from the U.S. Consulate in Kaunas that was called a "Declaration of intent to depart for the U.S."Their passport also shows visas granted by Germany and the Netherlands.But none of these were needed to enter the U.S. that year.Afterwards, in a surge of anti-immigration sentiment in the U.S. severe restrictions or quotas were placed on the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S. as a tiny percentage of the previous year's actual admissions.
John Peters