The necessity of relying solely upon Oswald’s own affidavit, however, was eliminated somewhat later when the Department received an affidavit of support from the employer of Oswald’s mother in Vernon, Tex.[A15-163]
By law the Attorney General must also pass upon an applicant’s eligibility, and this responsibility has been delegated to the District Directors of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.[A15-164] The machinery to get approval of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for Marina Oswald’s admission to the United States was set in motion on October 6, 1961. On that date the Visa Office of the Department of State sent a letter to the District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Dallas, Tex., requesting the Service to take action on her immigrant visa.[A15-165] The letter transmitted her marriage certificate, a check for $10 from Lee Harvey Oswald, and a “Petition to Classify Status of Alien For Issuance of Immigrant Visa.” The petition was signed by Oswald and was on behalf of Marina, asking that she be classified in “the status of the alien beneficiary for issuance of an immigrant visa as * * * the spouse of a United States citizen.”[A15-166] The letter from the Visa Office stated:
Mrs. Oswald has been the object of an investigation by the Department and has been found, in the Department’s opinion, not ineligible to secure a visa.[A15-167]
On the basis of this communication, the Immigration and Naturalization Service at its Dallas, Tex., office instituted a field investigation on Lee Harvey Oswald.[A15-168] Routine checks with the Federal Security agencies and with local law enforcement authorities turned up no new derogatory information, and no evidence was uncovered that Oswald was ever a member of the Communist Party or other subversive groups.[A15-169] A record check was made in New Orleans, La., and a birth certificate was found for Lee Harvey Oswald, proving that he was an American citizen by birth.[A15-170] On October 17, 1961, an investigator from the Dallas office interviewed Oswald’s brother, Robert, who expressed the view that Lee was just a “mixed up kid” who had emigrated to Russia because he had become embittered, possibly over something that had happened while he was in the Marine Corps.[A15-171]
On January 25, 1962, the results of the field investigation in Dallas were consolidated in a report[A15-172] which, with a covering memorandum,[A15-173] was sent to the District Director of the Service in San Antonio the next day. The accompanying memorandum noted that the immigrant inspector who processed the case had endorsed it “approved,” but the author of the memorandum overruled the decision of the inspector on the grounds that the sanctions under section 243(g) should not be waived.[A15-174] The reasons for denying the waiver were stated as follows:
OI [Operations Instructions] 205.3, as you know, provides that the District Director may waive sanctions in an individual meritorious case for a beneficiary of a petition filed by a reputable relative where no substantial derogatory security information is developed. I am of the opinion that both of these restrictions are present in this case.[A15-175]
On January 30, 1962, the District Director at San Antonio affirmed the decision of the Dallas office, including the decision that the sanctions imposed under section 243(g) not be waived.[A15-176] He concluded that Oswald’s recent statements to the American Embassy in Moscow to the effect that he had learned from his experiences in Russia were not sufficient to relieve the doubts which were raised regarding his loyalty to the United States by the arrogant, anti-American statements he made when he entered Russia in 1959.[A15-177]
San Antonio forwarded its decision to Washington in a letter dated January 31, 1962, in which Marina Oswald’s petition and all the aforementioned memoranda and reports were included.[A15-178] However, because Washington had previously indicated its impatience at not yet having received anything on the Oswald case, the San Antonio office also telegraphed its decision to Washington about a week later,[A15-179] the telegram, presumably being received by Washington before the letter of January 31. The Washington copy of this telegram has a handwritten note on the lower portion which indicates that on February 12 an officer in the Visa Office of the State Department informed the Immigration and Naturalization Service by telephone: “Political desk of opinion, we’re better off with subject in U.S. than in Russia.”[A15-180]
Nonetheless, the Washington office of the Service concurred in the field decision that the provisions of section 243(g) should not be waived.[A15-181] However, the Washington office pointed out that the correct disposition should be not to deny the visa petition as the field offices had proposed, but to grant the petition and indorse it to read, “Waiver of sanctions imposed under section 243(g) of the Act is not authorized.”[A15-182]
On February 28, 1962, the Dallas office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service notified the Department of State in Washington and the American Embassy in Moscow of this disposition. The communication from the Dallas office noted that Oswald “has been notified at his Minsk, Russia, address of the approval of the petition in his wife’s behalf.”[A15-183] Oswald later told the Embassy that he had received the notice on March 15.[A15-184] On March 9, 1962, the Department of State also notified the Embassy in Moscow that Oswald’s wife was entitled to nonquota status but that the Immigration and Naturalization Service would not waive section 243(g) of the Act. The Embassy was told to inform Oswald of this fact if he asked about it. The memorandum indicated that the Embassy might suggest that Marina could proceed to some other country to file her visa application and thus avoid the sanction.[A15-185]