I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 890

To provide for special immigrant status for certain aliens working as

journalists in Hong Kong.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 27, 1997

Mr. PORTER (for himself, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. PALLONE, Mr.

ENGEL, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms. PELOSI,

Mr. DICKEY, Mr. HORN, Mr. WOLF, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. EVANS, Mr. DREIER, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Ms. NORTON, Mr.

GILMAN, Mrs. MORELLA, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for special immigrant status for certain aliens

working as journalists in Hong Kong.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT STATUS FOR CERTAIN

4 ALIENS WORKING AS JOURNALISTS IN HONG

5 KONG.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), an alien

7 described in subsection (b) shall be treated as a special
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1 immigrant described in section 101(a)(27) of the Immi2 gration and Nationality Act.

3 (b) ALIENS COVERED.—An alien is described in this

4 subsection if the alien is—

5 (1) a journalist residing in Hong Kong—

6 (A) who is a national of Hong Kong or

7 China;

8 (B) whose principal employment or source

9 of income has been the news media (including

10 print, radio, and television) in Hong Kong for

11 at least 3 years prior to an application for spe12 cial immigrant status under this section; and

13 (C) whose welfare or safety is likely to be

14 subject to threats or harassment due directly to

15 the journalist’s work in the news media in

16 Hong Kong; or

17 (2) the spouse or child (as defined in subsection

18 (e)) of an alien described in paragraph (1), if accom19 panying or following to join the alien in coming to

20 the United States.

21 (c) PERIOD OF VALIDITY.—

22 (1) The period of validity of a special immi23 grant visa issued under this section shall be on and

24 after January 1, 1997, and before January 1, 2002.
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1 (2) Before the date an alien seeks to be admit2 ted to the United States as a special immigrant

3 under this section, the alien shall notify the appro4 priate consular officer of the alien’s intention to seek

5 such admission and provide such officer with such

6 information as the officer determines to be necessary

7 to verify that the alien remains eligible for admission

8 to the United States as an immigrant.

9 (d) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—Not more than

10 2,000 visas shall be made available to aliens as special

11 immigrants under this section. Aliens admitted under this

12 section shall not be counted against any numerical limita13 tion established under section 201 or 202 of the Immigra14 tion and Nationality Act.

15 (e) TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.—In this section, the

16 term ‘‘child’’ has the meaning given such term in section

17 101(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and

18 also includes (for purposes of this section and the Immi19 gration and Nationality Act as it applies to this section)

20 an alien who was the child (as so defined) of the alien

21 as of the date of the issuance of an immigrant visa to

22 the alien described in subsection (b)(1).

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