Hong Kong People's Freedom and Choice Act
Latest action · Jul 20, 2020 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 20, 2020
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Hong Kong People's Freedom and Choice Act
This bill provides for immigration benefits related to Hong Kong in the event that China puts into effect national security legislation in Hong Kong that would curtail political freedoms. (Hong Kong is part of China but has a separate legal system. U.S. law provides Hong Kong with special treatment due to this autonomy.)
If China promulgates the Hong Kong national security law, Hong Kong shall receive temporary protected status for 18 months. During this period, qualifying Hong Kong residents who have been continuously present in the United States since this bill's enactment and apply for such status shall have work authorization and may not be removed from the United States.
If the President suspends Hong Kong's special treatment under U.S. law, Hong Kong shall continue for five years to be treated as a separate foreign state when calculating annual per-country caps under immigration law.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may provide special immigrant status to a qualifying Hong Kong resident who meets certain educational requirements or owns a company of a certain size. DHS may admit up to 50,000 principal aliens under this provision for each of the five fiscal years after this bill's enactment, and such aliens shall not be subject to other numerical limits.
Qualifying Hong Kong residents who fear political persecution from China and apply for permanent resident status shall be deemed to have an approved petition. Certain provisions, such as requiring applicants to have a valid entry document, shall not apply to such individuals.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 20, 2020Introduced in Senate
- Jul 20, 2020Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Immigration.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Alliances
- Asia
- China
- Citizenship and naturalization
- Congressional oversight
- Cultural exchanges and relations
- Department of State
- Detention of persons
- Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
- Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
- Foreign labor
- Government information and archives
- Hong Kong
- Human rights
- Immigration
- Immigration status and procedures
- News media and reporting
- Protest and dissent
- Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
- Science and engineering education
- Sovereignty, recognition, national governance and status
- Travel and tourism
- Visas and passports
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 20, 2020Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.