Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume X, Eastern Europe

161. Telegram From the Embassy in Romania to the Department of State¹

5401.

Bucharest, July 2, 1987, 1219Z

SUBJECT

• Possible MFN Suspension—Plans for Expedited Refugee Processing.

REF

• Bucharest 3434 (Notal).²

1. (C—Entire text).

2. Begin summary and action request. It is quite possible that GOR will prevent the departure of would-be emigrants to the U.S. if MFN is denied. We usually have 180–200 persons with Romanian emigration approval who are awaiting TCP or Visas 93³ processing or approvals from the United States. Now that both the House and Senate have passed amendments to suspend MFN, Foreign Minister Totu’s threat to “suspend all departures to the United States, and cancel all approvals previously given” could prevent these qualified refugees from travelling. Yet with special effort, this group could be prepared to leave Romania within one to two weeks, to complete their processing elsewhere (e.g., Rome or perhaps Vienna). We request (a) special priority, now, to expedite VOLAG and Visa 93 requests, to reduce the size of the backlog, and (b) authority for blanket VOLAG approval, either in the U.S., Rome or elsewhere, which we would use only if denial of MFN and a departure cutoff were imminent. Please advise. End summary and action request.

3. The Embassy always has about 200 qualified TCP and Visas 93 applicants with Romanian emigration approval who are awaiting processing or approvals from the United States. We do not have a similar pool of qualified immigrants in other categories, as approved Visas 91 and 92 cases, and qualified immigrants with current priority dates, generally apply to immigrate as soon as they receive emigration approval from the GOR. There will, of course, also be a large number of unqualified (or not yet qualified) Romanians who have received GOR approval to emigrate flooding the Consular Section in a last effort to leave Romania. We cannot help them, but we think it important to move those people we can help.

4. The approximately 180 TCP and Visas 93 applicants with emigration approval who are currently waiting for additional documentation fall into the following groups:

5. Awaiting Voluntary Agency Assurances
138 TCP applicants and 6 persons with Visas 93 documentation currently are awaiting voluntary agency assurances. Almost all could leave Romania within 1–2 weeks, the time needed for their final GOR customs clearances. To process a group of approximately this size for immediate departure we would need:

A. Expeditious approval of all pending VOLAG requests; or

B. A blanket voluntary agency assurance for the whole group; and

C. Immediate entry visas from the Italian Government, and VOLAG assistance and support for the group in Rome. They could then wait for their voluntary agency assurances in Rome.

D. Italian visas: In order to expedite entry into Italy of such a large group, assistance of Italian Government would be necessary. We suggest Department authorize Embassy Rome to contact Italian Foreign Ministry and ask for agreement in principle to issue a large number of visas on short notice (about one week). Then, if expedited processing were necessary, we would transmit list of visa applicants to Embassy Rome for presentation to GOI. We would also inform Italian Embassy here of this proposal.

6. Awaiting Visas 93 Documentation
We know of 30 persons currently holding emigration approval who have refugee relatives in the U.S., and appear qualified for Visas 93 documentation. To process them for immediate departure, we would need:

A. Expeditious approval by INS and transmission of all pending Romanian Visas 93 requests; and

B. Voluntary agency assurances, as in para 5.

7. Awaiting Travel Loans

We currently have 8 travel ready Visas 93 beneficiaries who are awaiting loans for plane tickets from ICEM Geneva. If all Romanian loan requests could be processed expeditiously, we could avoid having to make special provisions for the group if the GOR appears likely to revoke emigration approvals.

Kirk

1. Source: Reagan Library, Rudolf Perina Files, Subject File, Romania–Substance 1987 (2). Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Sent Immediate for information to Rome and Vienna for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the mission in Geneva.
2. Telegram 3434 from Bucharest, May 1, outlined the Romanian government’s reaction to the passage of the Wolf Amendment in the House (see footnote 8, Document 151), which suspended Romania’s MFN status for 6 months. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D870618–0046)
3. Visa 93 is a particular type of refugee visa, also known as “following-to-join.” A principal refugee residing in the United States has the right to petition for spouses and unmarried, minor children to join him/her in the United States also with refugee status.