PRESIDENT ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER ELIMINATING HONG KONG'S PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT

The White House issued an executive order on Hong Kong normalization on July 14. The order deprives Hong Kong of a number of privileges that set it apart from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

As of now, persons born in Hong Kong will be chargeable to the “China-Mainland Born” chargeability area, rather than to the “Rest of the World” area, as before. They will now face much longer waiting periods before they can become permanent residents, since the cutoff dates applicable to the Mainland China area of chargeability are much earlier than those applied to the Rest of the World area. The order would also prevent persons born in Hong Kong from participating in the Diversity Visa program, which grants immigrant visas annually through a random selection process.