CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Hong Kong
Mr. Steven Kuo Ket-Chen Immigration Department 61 Mody Road, Kowloon
Dear Steven:
June 27, 1985
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RECEIVE"
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26 JUL 1985
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REGISTRY
Action Taken
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Thank you for your letter of June 19, 1985 concerning changes in our nonimmigrant visa validities. Basically, we have increased the maximum validity of our nonimmigrant tourist and business visas from five years to "indefinitely. I am enclosing a copy of our press release on the change, and it should answer most of your questions regarding the change.
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As stated in the press release, the United States government took this action as a matter of reciprocity. Section 221(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended reads, in part:
A nonimmigrant visa shall be valid for such periods as shall be by regulations prescribed. In prescribing the period of validity of a nonimmigrant visa in the case of nationals of any foreign country who are eligible for such visas, the Secretary of State shall, insofar as practible, accord to such nationals the same treatment upon a reciprocal basis as such foreign country accords to nationals of the United States who are in a similar class.
A recent review of Hong Kong entry practices showed that nationals of the United States may enter the territory for up to 29 days without a visa.
As such, the most nearly reciprocal validity of U.S. visas to Hong Kong nationals would be a "indefinite."
Of course, we do not issue "indefinite" validity visas to all applicants. In fact, only 35% to 40% of our issuances are of full-validity visas. Such visas are available only to those applicants who show a legitimate long-term requirement for temporary travel to the United States and who are firmly established in Hong Kong.
Because "indefinite" validity visas have only been available in Hong Kong for three months, there has not been enough time to notice any adverse effects it may have on our immigration control. On the other hand, we have been issuing nonimmigrant visas of 60-month validity for nearly five years, and we find out "abscondee rates" relatively low roughly 5% to 7.5% on a yearly basis. In terms of U.S. immigrant control, this is lower than the average world-wide abscondee rate of 8.6% on a yearly basis.
In our view, the dynamism and prosperity of Hong Kong makes it a very desirable place to live, and lessens the "emigration pressures" of less
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