Pauline Palmer v. John J. Reddy, District Director at Helena, Montana, Immigration& Naturalization Service, United States Department of Justice

Pauline Palmer, an American citizen, married John Palmer, who had an illegitimate daughter, one Ina May Palmer. Pauline applied for a visa preference for her stepdaughter Ina May, in reliance upon 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (b)(1)(B). The statute provides:

Notwithstanding the unqualified language of the statute, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has applied an interpretative gloss to the statute and attaches conditions to the grants of visa preference to stepchildren. When it acted upon the visa in this case, the INS denied it and was sustained by the district court on the ground that Ina May “was not part of a close family unit with Pauline and John Palmer [and] she had never resided with them.” Pending this appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals decided Matter of Moreira, Interim Decision No. 2720 (Bd. Imm.App. July 16, 1979). There the test is set forth as follows:

Id., slip op. at 7.

We conclude that neither of the formulations which attached conditions to the issuance of visas to stepchildren is authorized by the statute. Previous decisions have exhaustively studied the legislative history of the statute and concluded that visa preference is available to stepchildren…