Crucial Hong Kong Provisions in the America COMPETES Act of 2022
- Provide Safe Haven Policies for Hongkongers
- Provides Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and refugee status for qualifying Hong Kong residents for 18 months.
- Provides special immigrant status admission for certain priority highly-skilled Hong Kong residents, up to 5,000 per year for five fiscal years.
- Stipulates that Hong Kong will continue to be considered a foreign state separate and apart from the PRC for purposes of the numerical limitations on immigrant visas. - Provide Funding and Programs to support HK's Democracy
- Authorizes $10 million for the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor to promote democracy in Hong Kong.
- Authorizes the Secretary of State to establish a Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program to develop a strategy to bolster internet resiliency and online access in Hong Kong.
- Authorizes the President of the Open Technology Fund to establish a Hong Kong Internet Freedom Program.
- Authorizes $10 million to the Open Technology Fund and $20 million to the DRL’s Office of Internet Freedom Programs. - Reporting Requirements on Hong Kong
- Directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with other federal agencies, to submit a report detailing the number of Hong Kong residents who have applied for U.S. visas or immigration benefits; the number of approvals, denials, or rejections of applicants for visas or immigration benefits; the number of pending refugee and asylum applications for Hong Kong residents, and the length of time and reason for which such applications have been pending.
- Directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to report on refugee and asylum related matters related to Hong Kong applications, average wait-times, approvals, referrals, denials, and refugee circuit rides to interview populations that would include those from Hong Kong.