The Luce–Celler Act of 1946, Pub. L. No. 79-483, 60 Stat. 416, is an Act of the
United States Congress which provided a quota of 100
Filipinos[2] and 100
Indians from Asia to immigrate to the United States per year,[3] which for the first time allowed these people to
naturalize as
American citizens.[4][5] Upon becoming citizens, these new Americans could own property under their names and even petition for their immediate family members from abroad.[6]
The Act was proposed by Republican
Clare Boothe Luce and Democrat
Emanuel Celler in 1943 and signed into law by U.S. President
Harry S. Truman on July 2, 1946, two days before the
Philippines became independent with the signing of the
Treaty of Manila on July 4, 1946. Because of the imminent independence of the Philippines, Filipinos would have been
barred from immigrating without the Act.[7]
Prior to 1946,
Indian nationals were not eligible to naturalize in the United States.[8][9] They were also not allowed to obtain any form of permanent residency, a legal status introduced later under the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
^Trinh Võ, Linda (2004).
Mobilizing an Asian American community. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press. pp. 20–21.
ISBN978-1-59213-262-1. Retrieved 7 February 2012. The Philippines was granted independence in 1946, and Filipinos, then barred from immigration along with individuals from other countries in the "Eastern Hemisphere," were allotted 100 immigration slots (Yu 1980).