I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4276 
To provide for temporary protected status for residents of Hong Kong, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2021 
Mr. MALINOWSKI
(for himself, Mr. KINZINGER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. 
FITZPATRICK, Mr. BERA, Mr. STEWART, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. RODNEY 
DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. KIM 
of California, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Ms. PORTER, 
Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. RASKIN, Mrs. STEEL, 
Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CHENEY, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mr. 
KIM of New Jersey, Mr. MOORE of Utah, and Mr. ALLRED) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To provide for temporary protected status for residents of 
Hong Kong, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hong Kong People’s 
Freedom and Choice Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act: 
(1) JOINT
DECLARATION.—The term ‘‘Joint 
Declaration’’ means the Joint Declaration of the 
Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Northern Ireland and the Government of the 
People’s Republic of China on the Question of Hong 
Kong, signed on December 19, 1984, and entered 
into force on May 27, 1985. 
(2) PRIORITY
HONG
KONG
RESIDENT.—The 
term ‘‘Priority Hong Kong resident’’ means— 
(A) a permanent resident of Hong Kong 
who— 
(i) holds no right to citizenship in any 
country or jurisdiction other than the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China (referred to in this 
Act as ‘‘PRC’’), Hong Kong, or Macau as 
of the date of enactment of this Act; 
(ii) has resided in Hong Kong for not 
less than the last 10 years as of the date 
of enactment of this Act; and 
(iii) has been designated by the Sec-
retary of State or Secretary of Homeland 
Security as having met the requirements of 
this subparagraph, in accordance with the 
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procedures described in section 7 of this 
Act; or 
(B) the spouse of a person described in 
subparagraph (A), or the child of such person 
as such term is defined in section 101(b)(1) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(b)(1)), except that a child shall be an un-
married person under twenty-seven years of 
age. 
(3) HONG KONG NATIONAL SECURITY LAW.— 
The term ‘‘Hong Kong National Security Law’’ 
means the Law of the People’s Republic of China on 
Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong 
Special Administrative Region that was passed 
unanimously by the National People’s Congress and 
signed by President Xi Jinping on June 30, 2020, 
and promulgated in the Hong Kong Special Admin-
istrative Region (referred to in this Act as ‘‘Hong 
Kong SAR’’) on July 1, 2020. 
(4) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives; and 
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(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen-
ate. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Hong Kong National Security Law pro-
mulgated on July 1, 2020— 
(A) contravenes the Basic Law of the 
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (re-
ferred to in this Act as ‘‘the Basic Law’’) that 
provides in Article 23 that the Legislative 
Council of Hong Kong shall enact legislation re-
lated to national security; 
(B) violates the PRC’s commitments under 
international law, as defined by the Joint Dec-
laration; and 
(C) causes severe and irreparable damage 
to the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ principle and 
further erodes global confidence in the PRC’s 
commitment to international law. 
(2) On July 14, 2020, in response to the pro-
mulgation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, 
President Trump signed an Executive order on 
Hong Kong normalization that, among other policy 
actions, suspended the special treatment of Hong 
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Kong persons under U.S. law with respect to the 
issuance of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. 
(3) The United States has a long and proud 
history as a destination for refugees and asylees flee-
ing persecution based on race, religion, nationality, 
political opinion, or membership in a particular so-
cial group. 
(4) The United States also shares deep social, 
cultural, and economic ties with the people of Hong 
Kong, including a shared commitment to democracy, 
to the rule of law, and to the protection of human 
rights. 
(5) The United States has sheltered, protected, 
and welcomed individuals who have fled authori-
tarian regimes, including citizens from the PRC fol-
lowing the violent June 4, 1989, crackdown in 
Tiananmen Square, deepening ties between the peo-
ple of the United States and those individuals seek-
ing to contribute to a free, open society founded on 
democracy, human rights, and the respect for the 
rule of law. 
(6) The United States has reaped enormous 
economic, cultural, and strategic benefits from wel-
coming successive generations of scientists, doctors, 
entrepreneurs, artists, intellectuals, and other free-
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dom-loving people fleeing fascism, communism, vio-
lent Islamist extremism, and other repressive 
ideologies, including in the cases of Nazi Germany, 
the Soviet Union, and Soviet-controlled Central Eu-
rope, Cuba, Vietnam, and Iran. 
(7) A major asymmetric advantage of the 
United States in its long-term strategic competition 
with the Communist Party of China is the ability of 
people from every country in the world, irrespective 
of their race, ethnicity, or religion, to immigrate to 
the United States and become American citizens. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to reaffirm the principles and objectives set 
forth in the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 
1992 (Public Law 102–383), namely that— 
(A) the United States has ‘‘a strong inter-
est in the continued vitality, prosperity, and 
stability of Hong Kong’’; 
(B) ‘‘support for democratization is a fun-
damental principle of United States foreign pol-
icy’’ and therefore ‘‘naturally applies to United 
States policy toward Hong Kong’’; 
(C) ‘‘the human rights of the people of 
Hong Kong are of great importance to the 
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United States and are directly relevant to 
United States interests in Hong Kong and 
serve as a basis for Hong Kong’s continued eco-
nomic prosperity’’; and 
(D) Hong Kong must remain sufficiently 
autonomous from the PRC to ‘‘justify treat-
ment under a particular law of the United 
States, or any provision thereof, different from 
that accorded the People’s Republic of China’’; 
(2) to continue to support the high degree of 
autonomy and fundamental rights and freedoms of 
the people of Hong Kong, as enumerated by— 
(A) the Joint Declaration; 
(B) the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights, done at New York Decem-
ber 19, 1966; and 
(C) the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, done at Paris December 10, 1948; 
(3) to continue to support the democratic aspi-
rations of the people of Hong Kong, including the 
‘‘ultimate aim’’ of the selection of the Chief Execu-
tive and all members of the Legislative Council by 
universal suffrage, as articulated in the Basic Law; 
(4) to urge the Government of the PRC, despite 
its recent actions, to uphold its commitments to 
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