[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 890 Introduced in House (IH)]







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.

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

SECTION 1. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT STATUS FOR CERTAIN ALIENS WORKING AS 
              JOURNALISTS IN HONG KONG.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (c), an alien described in 
subsection (b) shall be treated as a special immigrant described in 
section 101(a)(27) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
    (b) Aliens Covered.--An alien is described in this subsection if 
the alien is--
            (1) a journalist residing in Hong Kong--
                    (A) who is a national of Hong Kong or China;
                    (B) whose principal employment or source of income 
                has been the news media (including print, radio, and 
                television) in Hong Kong for at least 3 years prior to 
                an application for special immigrant status under this 
                section; and
                    (C) whose welfare or safety is likely to be subject 
                to threats or harassment due directly to the 
                journalist's work in the news media in Hong Kong; or
            (2) the spouse or child (as defined in subsection (e)) of 
        an alien described in paragraph (1), if accompanying or 
        following to join the alien in coming to the United States.
    (c) Period of Validity.--
            (1) The period of validity of a special immigrant visa 
        issued under this section shall be on and after January 1, 
        1997, and before January 1, 2002.
            (2) Before the date an alien seeks to be admitted to the 
        United States as a special immigrant under this section, the 
        alien shall notify the appropriate consular officer of the 
        alien's intention to seek such admission and provide such 
        officer with such information as the officer determines to be 
        necessary to verify that the alien remains eligible for 
        admission to the United States as an immigrant.
    (d) Numerical Limitations.--Not more than 2,000 visas shall be made 
available to aliens as special immigrants under this section. Aliens 
admitted under this section shall not be counted against any numerical 
limitation established under section 201 or 202 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act.
    (e) Treatment of Children.--In this section, the term ``child'' has 
the meaning given such term in section 101(b)(1) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act and also includes (for purposes of this section and the 
Immigration and Nationality Act as it applies to this section) an alien 
who was the child (as so defined) of the alien as of the date of the 
issuance of an immigrant visa to the alien described in subsection 
(b)(1).
                                 <all>