In United States immigration law, what are "chargeability areas"?
Are "chargeability areas" actual geographic areas? How do those differ from countries? I have heard that there are 193 countries in the world today. So is that the number of "chargeability areas," or would "chargeability areas" be more numerous?
Is there a full listing of "chargeability areas" on the internet somewhere? What is the URL?
I have been searching for a full listing of "chargeability areas" in Google and Yahoo, but have been unable to find it.
Answer:
Basically, all countries that have diplomatic relations with the USA are automatically considered "chargeable areas". The dependent territories like British Virgin Islands would be part of the United Kingdom for purposes of chargeability. But the Dominion of Canada is the "self-governing dominion" under INA 202(b) that is legally treated like a country after the 1931 Statute of Westminister. Then it became a real country with legal personality after WWII. The confusions for US outlying possession comes into play here as there are exceptions of law for "exclusion" of US outlying possessions. While it is so clearly stated in INA 202(b) that US outlying possessions are not chargeable, there are exceptions in US law. The US Trust Territory was treated as a "separate country" and these non-citizens were excluded as aliens from the US mainland.
The other INA 202(b) exception of the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act excluded Filipinos, who were US nationals non-citizens, and treated them as separate under the Rules of Chargeability. The US Commonwealth of the Philippines was a US outlying possession until 1945.
This leads us to the Taiwan Relations Act which treats the "country" of Taiwan as separate from China for the purposes of chargeability. The problem of Taiwan is a 1952 peace treaty with Japan left the territorial sovereigty in limbo like the US Trust Territory in the same treaty. Is Taiwan a US Commonwealth of the Philippines for purposes of INA 202(b)?
Just recall that the system of chargeability was created for the Chinese Head Tax. It is a tariff system for imposing a tax on immigrants into the US mainland. Under the Chinese Exclusion Case, this is legal. But can these "Chinese aliens" of Taiwan origins be "excluded" from the Bill of Rights under the Taiwan Relations Act?
9 FAM 42.12 NOTES has some relevant information, but no full lising.
See
http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0...
Here are the relevant rules from the INA, however I don't have a listing of the "chargeability areas."
(b) Rules for chargeability
Each independent country, self-governing dominion, mandated territory, and territory under the international trusteeship system of the United Nations, other than the United States and its outlying possessions, shall be treated as a separate foreign state for the purposes of a numerical level established under subsection (a)(2) of this section when approved by the Secretary of State. All other inhabited lands shall be attributed to a foreign state specified by the Secretary of State. For the purposes of this chapter the foreign state to which an immigrant is chargeable shall be determined by birth within such foreign state except that (1) an alien child, when accompanied by or following to join his alien parent or parents, may be charged to the foreign state of either parent if such parent has received or would be qualified for an immigrant visa, if necessary to prevent the separation of the child from the parent or parents, and if immigration charged to the foreign state to which such parent has been or would be chargeable has not reached a numerical level established under subsection (a)(2) of this section for that fiscal year; (2) if an alien is chargeable to a different foreign state from that of his spouse, the foreign state to which such alien is chargeable may, if necessary to prevent the separation of husband and wife, be determined by the foreign state of the spouse he is accompanying or following to join, if such spouse has received or would be qualified for an immigrant visa and if immigration charged to the foreign state to which such spouse has been or would be chargeable has not reached a numerical level established under subsection (a)(2) of this section for that fiscal year; (3) an alien born in the United States shall be considered as having been born in the country of which he is a citizen or subject, or, if he is not a citizen or subject of any country, in the last foreign country in which he had his residence as determined by the consular officer; and (4) an alien born within any foreign state in which neither of his parents was born and in which neither of his parents had a residence at the time of such alien's birth may be charged to the foreign state of either parent.
(c) Chargeability for dependent areas
Any immigrant born in a colony or other component or dependent area of a foreign state overseas from the foreign state, other than an alien described in section 1151(b) of this title, shall be chargeable for the purpose of the limitation set forth in
subsection (a) of this section, to the foreign state.
(d) Changes in territory
In the case of any change in the territorial limits of foreign states, the Secretary of State shall, upon recognition of such change issue appropriate instructions to all diplomatic and consular offices.
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