PERMITTING EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF IMMIGRANT VISAS FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF HONG KONG.

SEC. 154. PERMITTING EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF IMMIGRANT VISAS FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF HONG KONG. (a) Extending Period of Validity.— (1) In general.—Subject to paragraph (2), the limitation on the period of validity of an immigrant visa under section 221(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act shall not apply in the case of an immigrant visa issued, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act and before September 1, 2001, to an alien described in subsection (b), but only if— (A) the alien elects, within the period of validity of the immigrant visa under such section, to have this section apply, and (B) before the date the alien seeks to be admitted to the United States for lawful permanent residence, the alien notifies the appropriate consular officer of the alien's intention to seek such admission and provides 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. (2) Limitation on extension.—In no case shall the period of validity of a visa be extended under paragraph (1) beyond January 1, 2002. (3) Treatment under numerical limitations.—In applying the numerical limitations of sections 201 and 202 of the Immigration and Nationality Act in the case of aliens for whose visas the period of validity is extended under this section, such limitations shall only apply at the time of original issuance of the visas and not at the time of admission of such aliens. (b) Aliens Covered.—An alien is described in this subsection if the alien— (1)(A) is chargeable under section 202 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to Hong Kong or China, and (B)(i) is residing in Hong Kong as of the date of the enactment of this Act and is issued an immigrant visa under paragraph (1), (2), (4), or (5) of section 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act) or under section 203(a) or 203(b)(1) of such Act (as in effect on and after October 1, 1991), or (ii) is the spouse or child (as defined in subsection (d)) of an alien described in clause (i), if accompanying or following to join the alien in coming to the United States; or (2) is issued a visa under section 124 of this Act. (c) Treatment of Certain Employees in Hong Kong.— (1) In general.—In applying the proviso of section 7 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, in the case of an alien described in paragraph (2), the Director may charge the entry of the alien against the numerical limitation for any fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 1991 and ending with fiscal year 1996) notwithstanding that the alien's entry is not made to the United States in that fiscal year so long as such entry is made before the end of fiscal year 1997. (2) Aliens covered.—An alien is described in this paragraph if the alien— (A) is an employee of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service in Hong Kong, or (B) is the spouse or child (as defined in subsection (d)) of an alien described in subparagraph (A), if accompanying or following to join the alien in coming to the United States. (d) 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) or, in the case described in subsection (c), as of the date of charging of the entry of the alien under the proviso under section 7 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949.