1943
Chinese exclusion repealed with a restrictive quota
United States; Chinese immigrants
On December 17, 1943, Congress repealed listed Chinese exclusion laws and made Chinese persons and persons of Chinese descent eligible for naturalization. The new immigration system retained a Chinese racial quota, formally proclaimed at 105 annually in February 1944, with specified nonquota exceptions. Repeal did not establish equal immigration treatment.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The 105 figure was a quota, not a count or absolute ceiling on all Chinese arrivals. The law excepted specified nonquota categories and reserved a preference of up to 75 percent for Chinese born and resident in China. Eligibility for naturalization was not automatic citizenship, and the quota applied by Chinese ancestry rather than simply birthplace.
Sources
- Primary law: Act of December 17, 1943, ch. 344, Public Law 199, 57 Stat. 600–601, sections 1–3 ↗
- Primary proclamation: Roosevelt, Proclamation 2603, February 8, 1944, operative quota paragraph (105 annually) ↗
- Contemporary administrative interpretation: Hull to Gauss, December 18, 1943, FRUS 1943 China, document 700, pp. 786–787 ↗
- National Archives: Chinese Exclusion Act, history and text ↗