The Immigration Act of 1924 took effect on July 1, 1924. That law required all arriving non-citizens to present a visa when applying for admission to the United States. Immigrants requested visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad before their departure. The State Department only issued visa documents to approved immigrants and the Immigration Service only admitted immigrants arriving with a visa. In this way, visas allowed the Federal government to both select and limit the number of immigrants legally admitted for permanent residence.

Upon arrival, Immigrant Inspectors at the ports of entry collected “visa packets” from non-citizens and handled them in one of two ways:

1. Non-Immigrant (visitor) visas remained at the ports of entry; these temporary records were later destroyed. (Passenger lists and border port manifests remained the official record of non-immigrant admissions).
2. Immigrant (i.e., permanent admission) visas went to the Central Office in Washington D.C. for filing. The Central Office stamped each with a unique Visa File number, and arranged the visas by date and port of arrival. Visas were indexed by name, date of birth, and place of birth. 

Between July 1, 1924 and March 31, 1944, Visa Files served as immigrants’ official arrival records. The Immigration Service used its Visa Files on a daily basis for verification of lawful admission for naturalization and other purposes. Beginning April 1, 1944, all new visas were filed in Alien Files(“A-Files”) and the Visa Files series closed. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) retired the Visa Files series to storage in 1952.

The following paragraphs from the webpage describe the contents and value of the Visa file:

Visa Files are among the most valuable immigration records for genealogical research. The application form itself contains the immigrant’s complete name, date of birth, and place of birth, as well as the names of his/her parents. The form will also contain the immigrant’s address(es) for the five-year period prior to emigration. Of most value to many researchers is the photograph on the front of the visa packet.

Vital records required by the Immigration Act of 1924 are also attached to the visa application. In most cases, these include a certified copy of a birth certificate, health certificate, and police or “moral” certificate (the results of a record check done by the authorities in the immigrant’s country of origin). Some Visa Files also contain marriage certificates, military service records, affidavits of support, and/or correspondence. When the birth record is absent, there is usually an affidavit explaining the lack of official or church records and offering the testimony of an individual in a position to know the circumstances of the immigrant’s birth.

I find the information about previous addresses most interesting.  From other documents and from my travels to Rohatyn, I have a fairly good idea on the recent addresses of Markus Faust in Rohatyn.  However, it would be nice to see these addresses documented by my grandfather in this visa application.  I suspect the addresses would be: