In response to certain recent actions taken by China to reduce Hong Kong’s autonomy, President Trump issued an Executive Order last week, stating that Hong Kong would no longer be treated as separate from the People’s Republic of China (“China”) for purposes of certain US laws.

U.S. agencies have been given until July 29, 2020, to begin implementing the order. 

On the immigration front, this means foreign nationals born in Hong Kong will lose their preferential treatment for permanent residence processing because they now will be counted with those born in China toward the per-country limits for immigrant visa allocations.  This means longer waiting periods because there is a backlog for immigrant visa applicants born in China as detailed in the monthly State Department Visa Bulletin. Our blogpost on the August 2020 Visa Bulletin can be found here. 

It also means individuals born in Hong Kong will be subject to the same validity periods for visa stickers as nationals of China, which can be shorter than many other countries, as specified here.

Finally, individuals born in Hong Kong will no longer be permitted to participate in the annual green card lottery program (“Diversity Visa Program”), which grants up to 50,000 immigrant visas each year to nationals of countries that do not have a significant immigrant population in the United States.

This alert is for informational purposes only.  If you would like to discuss this development further, please do not hesitate to contact us.