Jones Act Guam claims that the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, inhibits its ability to establish a tuna transshipment industry because foreign flag vessels may not be used in the transportation of merchandise, in this case tuna, between two points in the United States. Some Guam officials believe the Jones Act should not apply to Guam because of its geographic distance from the U.S. mainland and because both American Samoa and the neighboring NMI are exempt. Puerto Rico officials said the Jones Act hurt tourism because cruise ships, mostly foreign owned, were not allowed to off-load passengers for more than 24 hours. The officials said this restriction drove away tourist dollars and gave an unfair advantage to locations. neighboring Virgin Islands and other Caribbean We noted that this prohibition should now be eliminated with the enactment on October 30, 1984, of Public Law 98-583, which allows foreign passenger ships to travel one way between Puerto Rico and U.S. ports. Officials from American Samoa, the NMI, and Islands cite the exemption from the Jones Act as benefit. Immigration and Nationality Act the Virgin a economic (INA) Control over immigration is another area where some territories believe federal law caused economic and social disloca-. tion. Virgin Island and Guam officials said the INA has hurt development because the local governments could not control the influx of alien workers who competed with local residents for jobs. other Although this problem was eventually remedied, aspects example, until of the Guam INA was continue provided to an hamper they claim development. exemption under the For 1984 Omnibus Territories Act, Public Law 98-454, October 1984, the Guam Chamber of Commerce and other Guam officials said immigration laws hindered tourism because of temporary visa requirements placed on tourists and business visitors to Guam. According to the Chamber, foreign visitors, mainly from Japan, had to obtain visas from a U.S. consulate before they could enter Guam. The visa requirement was a hindrance which hurt the territory's largest private sector industry--tourism. This put Guam at a competitive disadvantage with its Pacific neighbors, including the NMI, which controls its own immigration and therefore did not face similar constraints. The Chamber estimated that elimi-. nating visa requirements for Japanese tourists would have gen- erated 1981. an additional $2.5 million 31 9000238 in tourist expenditures in