TNAG-0906-FCO40-1116-Immigration-from-China-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 54

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CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Hong Kong

October 17, 1979

Mr. D. T. Owen

Immigration Department International Building

141 Des Voeux Road C.

Hong Kong

Dear Mr. Owen:

I am replying to your letter dated October 9.

IN LETTER

2 2 OCT 1979

10.049

In response to your questions, I wish that I could give a short answer. Rather than doing that, it might be better to give a brief explanation of how the U.S. immigrant visa system works.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the law which controls immigrant visa processing and issuance, limits the number of immigrant visas per country of birth to not more than 20,000 annually. In effect, this means that up to 20,000 persons born in China can be issued immigrant visas on a world-wide basis. This figure includes Taiwan, which we have always considered part of China, and adjust- ments of status in the U.S. from non-immigrant to immigrant. In addition, the law specifies seven different preferences, each of which receive a certain percentage of the 20,000 limit. The enclosed copy of the current Visa Bulletin describes those preferences and the percentages. Basically, first, second, fourth and fifth preferences depend on close relatives in the U.S. All the persons coming here from China fall into one of these preferences, normally second, fourth and fifth. The third and sixth preferences concern arranged employment in the U.S. Seventh preference is for refugees, which is use of our Immigration Service (Don Young) for "refugees" from Feople's China at the rate of about 100 monthly. Some seventh preference have been used for Indochina boat refugees, but the vast majority enter the U.S. under parole, which is outside of the immigrant visa system and the annual limitations.

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