 | |
| Long title | An Act to prevent in time of war departure from or entry into the United States contrary to the public safety. |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Foreign Travel Restrictions Act of 1918 |
| Enacted by | the 65th United States Congress |
| Effective | May 22, 1918 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 65–154 |
| Statutes at Large | 40 Stat. 559 |
| Legislative history | |
| |
Wartime Measure Act of 1918 was United States federal legislation deeming wartime travel as an unlawful act when touring without a United States passport.
The passport has long been used as an instrument of international travel, not only in the United States, but also all throughout the world. On August 18, 1856, Congress resolved that passports were reserved for citizens of the United States alone. Congress also gave the Secretary of State "sole authority to issue passports and made it illegal for any other authority to issue a passport or a document in the nature of a passport." [1] The first instance of strict regulations on passport travel in the United States was during the Civil War, attributable to Secretary of State William Seward. [1] These regulations required that anyone entering or exiting the United States have a passport, including immigrants, who had to have their documentation signed by a U.S. minister or consul. [1] There was contention centered upon the 1856 Act that drew from three main components: passports were only issued to citizens of the United States, the authority to issue passports was vested in the Secretary of State, and that very authority came with incredible discretion. Further, problems arose in the verification of one's citizenship, as "government officials and applicants often sought to turn the vagaries of citizenship to their advantage." [1]
On July 26, 1917, the State and Labor Departments issued a joint order that attempted to "legally control the entry of aliens to the United States," by requiring them to have visas issued by a United States consul. [1] However, the Attorney General later determined that the executive branch, namely the President, did not have the authority to implement such regulations. This led to the second instance in which strict regulations were placed on passport travel for citizens of the United States. On May 22, 1918 the Wartime Measure Act, also known as the Travel Control Act and the Flood Passport Act, [2] was signed by Woodrow Wilson just one year following the United States' entrance into World War I. [3] Following the Act, the continued discretion of passport officials made it nearly "impossible to travel in the 1920s and 1930s without securing the necessary documents." [3] The necessity of this Act stemmed primarily from the "unregulated flow of people across borders" during the war, which was seen as a potential national security threat for countries around the world, including the United States. [3]
What is most commonly referenced[ by whom? ] from the Act is Section II containing the passport restriction condition. However, the Act itself has many other provisions as well.
The 65th United States Congress approved the Act on May 22, 1918 in Session 2, as Chapter 81. The primary objective was to "prevent in time of war departure from or entry into the United States contrary to the public safety." [4] It vested power in the President to impose restrictions on the entry and departure of persons within the jurisdiction of the United States when at war. Essentially, the Act was open-ended: "If the President shall find that the public safety requires that restrictions and prohibitions in addition to those provided otherwise than by this Act…it shall, until otherwise ordered by the President or Congress, be unlawful": [4]
Most commonly known and referenced, this section required that any citizen of the United States obtain a passport for travel to and from the United States. [4]
This section outlined the punishments faced should anyone violate any of the components of the Act. If convicted, one could face a fine not exceeding $10,000, or if a natural citizen, they could face no more than 20 years imprisonment, or both. Additionally, any "officer, director or agent of any corporation" convicted of a violation could be punished by such fine or imprisonment, or both. Any "vehicle or vessel, together with its or her appurtenances, equipment, tackle, apparel, and furniture, concerned in any such violation, shall be forfeited to the United States." [4]
The United States is defined as including the Canal Zone, and all territories and their respective waters, "continental or insular." [4] A person is defined as any "individual, partnership, association, company, or other unincorporated body of individuals, or corporation, or body politic." [4]
An article from the New York Times, published August 26, 1919, quoted President Woodrow Wilson's request to Congress to extend the passport provision for one more year. His rationale was that a lift on travel restrictions to and from the United States would welcome an increase in immigrants, including those "undesirable, from the point of view of becoming future citizens," and those whose "origin and affiliations make it inadvisable that they should be permitted to enter" [5] the country. The extension, necessitating a $750,000 appropriation, would, according to President Wilson, maintain a necessary system of passport control.
Another New York Times article headlined "Enemy Aliens Need No Permit Now to Quit the United States," [6] also discussed the issue of travel control during this time. The President amended a previous Executive Order, so that "hostile or enemy aliens" [6] that wished to leave the United States no longer needed permission for departure, unless stated by the Secretary of State. A passport from their country of origin was sufficient, so long as it was dated within one year prior to the desired date of departure. [6]
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act of 1798 increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act of 1798 allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 gave the president additional powers to detain non-citizens during times of war, and the Sedition Act of 1798 criminalized false and malicious statements about the federal government. The Alien Friends Act and the Sedition Act expired after a set number of years, and the Naturalization Act was repealed in 1802. The Alien Enemies Act, as amended, is still in effect as 50 U.S.C. ch. 3.
Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it also encompasses controls imposed on internal borders within a single state.
A visa is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on the duration of the foreigner's stay, areas within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, the number of permitted visits, or if the individual can work in the country in question. Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a territory and thus are, in most countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country. In each instance, a visa is subject to entry permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry and can be revoked at any time. Visa evidence most commonly takes the form of a sticker endorsed in the applicant's passport or other travel document but may also exist electronically. Some countries no longer issue physical visa evidence, instead recording details only in immigration databases.
The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program of the United States federal government that allows nationals of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. It applies to all fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which also have an additional program with waivers for more nationalities; American Samoa has a similar but separate program.
Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country, and to leave the country and return to it. The right includes not only visiting places, but changing the place where the individual resides or works.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, codified under Title 8 of the United States Code, governs immigration to and citizenship in the United States. It came into effect on June 27, 1952. The legislation consolidated various immigration laws into a single text. Officially titled the Immigration and Nationality Act, it is often referred to as the 1952 law to distinguish it from the 1965 legislation. This law increased the quota for Europeans outside Northern and Western Europe, gave the Department of State authority to reject entries affecting native wages, eliminated 1880s bans on contract labor, set a minimum quota of one hundred visas per country, and promoted family reunification by exempting citizens' children and spouses from numerical caps.
The Common Travel Area is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Governed by non-binding agreements, the CTA maintains minimal border controls, allowing easy passage for British and Irish citizens with limited identity documentation, albeit with some exceptions. Sustaining the CTA requires cooperation between British and Irish immigration authorities.
The War Precautions Act 1914 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which gave the Government of Australia special powers for the duration of World War I and for six months afterwards.
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides passports, limited-use passport cards are issued subject to the same requirements. It is unlawful for US citizens and nationals to enter or exit the country without a valid US passport or passport-replacement document compliant with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, though there are many exceptions; waivers are generally granted for U.S. citizens returning without a passport, and the exit requirement is not enforced. As of June 2024, a United States passport allows visa-free travel to 186 countries and territories, being ranked as the eighth most powerful in the world in terms of travel freedom per the Henley Passport Index.
The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by the United States Congress in 2001 as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It has ten titles, each containing numerous sections. Title IV: Protecting the Border aims to prevent terrorism in the USA through immigration regulations. The provisions of the title generally increase the difficulty of entering the country for those known to have, or suspected of having, terrorist intent.
Visitors to the United States must obtain a visa from one of the U.S. diplomatic missions unless they are citizens of one of the visa-exempt or Visa Waiver Program countries.
Polish nationality law is based primarily on the principle of jus sanguinis. Children born to at least one Polish parent acquire Polish citizenship irrespective of place of birth. Besides other things, Polish citizenship entitles the person to a Polish passport.
A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international entity pursuant to international agreements to enable individuals to clear border control measures. Travel documents usually assure other governments that the bearer may return to the issuing country, and are often issued in booklet form to allow other governments to place visas as well as entry and exit stamps into them.
The internment of Italian Americans refers to the US government's internment of Italian nationals during World War II. As was customary after Italy and the US were at war, they were classified as "enemy aliens" and some were detained by the Department of Justice under the Alien and Sedition Act. But in practice, the US applied detention only to Italian nationals, not to US citizens, or long-term US residents. Italian immigrants had been allowed to gain citizenship through the naturalization process during the years before the war, and by 1940 there were millions of US citizens who had been born in Italy.
An Estonian temporary travel document is a travel document issued to an alien staying in Estonia for departure from and return to Estonia. A temporary travel document may be issued, without a standard application, to an alien who departs or is obliged to depart from Estonia without the right of return if he or she does not hold a valid travel document or a certificate of return issued by a foreign state. A temporary travel document for a single departure from and return to Estonia may be issued to an alien legally residing in Estonia if he or she does not hold a valid travel document and does not have the right to receive an alien’s passport. A temporary travel document does not grant the holder thereof the right to protection by a foreign mission of Estonia unless otherwise provided by law or a treaty. A temporary travel document shall be issued with a period of validity of up to two years.
Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116 (1958), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on the right to travel and passport restrictions as they relate to First Amendment free speech rights. It was the first case in which the U.S. Supreme Court made a distinction between the constitutionally protected substantive due process freedom of movement and the right to travel abroad.
Zemel v. Rusk, 381 U.S. 1 (1965), was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the right to travel and area restrictions on passports, holding that the Secretary of State is statutorily authorized to refuse to validate the passports of United States citizens for travel to Cuba and that the exercise of that authority is constitutionally permissible.
Freedom of movement under United States law is governed primarily by the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution which states, "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States." Since the circuit court ruling in Corfield v. Coryell, 6 Fed. Cas. 546 (1823), freedom of movement has been judicially recognized as a fundamental Constitutional right. In Paul v. Virginia, 75 U.S. 168 (1869), the court defined freedom of movement as "right of free ingress into other States, and egress from them." However, the Supreme Court did not invest the federal government with the authority to protect freedom of movement. Under the "privileges and immunities" clause, this authority was given to the states, a position the court held consistently through the years in cases such as Ward v. Maryland, 79 U.S. 418 (1871), the Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1873) and United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883).
Non–New Zealand citizens wishing to enter the Realm of New Zealand must obtain a visa unless they are
Passport Act of 1920 or Passport Control Act, 1920 was a federal statute authored by the United States 66th Congress. The legislation was an appropriations bill authorizing a fiscal policy for the United States Diplomatic and Consular Service.
