Hey France. If you're interested in hearing about the immigration changes or reforms in the America
competes act, watch this video stick around all the way until the end to learn the details about
what's in it for immigration and who it helps. I'm Latoya McBean POY and immigration lawyer in
New York, helping clients all over the world on complex family and business,
immigration or employment based immigration. Reach out to us at McBean law at 5 16, 8 6, 6 3900,
or visit us@mcbeanlaw.com where you could also book your appointment before you go today,
don't forget to subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell. So that you'll be the first
to get notice of my videos. Each week. This new legislation passed on February 4th on the house
side, a similar version had already passed on the Senate side. However, the Senate version does
not include the immigration provisions that I'm gonna share with you in this video.
Now let's talk about what's in the, the America competes act for immigration.
Firstly, I do have a disclaimer language here that says that this legislation includes
language such as if otherwise eligible for non-immigrant visa or adjustment of status.
And what this means is that although you may meet the, the requirement under this legislation for
this non-immigrant visa, or even to adjust your status, you must also meet all the other
requirements that's in our laws, um, in order to obtain that visa or to adjust your status. Okay,
so you have to take into consideration any, uh, violations that may very well be on your
record that will impact you from obtaining a lawful status through this legislation.
Second thing to note is that this legislation is narrowly focused on high skilled individuals,
certain entrepreneurs, and certain Hong Kong residents. It does not broadly apply
to a millions of undocumented immigrants. No, this is only for those who meet these
very specific, um, uh, skill sets and requirements. It did pass on February 4th. Um,
the Senate passed the, a similar version and the chambers will need to reconcile the differences
and vote on a, on a final version. There are three main immigration provisions. The first
is a new startup visa program. The second provides green card cap exemptions for doctoral
stem graduates, including physicians. And then the third big part of it includes, um, a new Hong Kong
refugee program, as well as TPS, temporary protected status designation to Hong Kong
and a special immigrant status visa that, um, targets certain high skilled individuals in
Hong Kong. And I'm gonna get into those details shortly. Let's talk about the new startup visa
program under this legislation. It creates what's called the w visa for non-immigrant entrepreneurs,
essential workers or employees of the startup and their family, this new visa category.
So there are three new visa categories, right? So there's w one, which is, um, the visa category for
entrepreneurs with ownership interest in the startup. It is a three year visa with up to
five years extensions. That's available. If the company continues to meet certain requirements,
um, the individual can obtain an extension. What's really cool about this is that this
actually leads to a green card. It leads to permanent residency status or LPR status
as an immigrant entrepreneur. The second category is the w two visa for the essential employees of
the startup. These are individuals who are in high, a very high position, right? We're talking
about executives or managers of the startup. It's a three year visa and it also comes with a three
year extension. Um, it is very limited though, uh, based on the size of the startup. And I'm gonna
talk about those invitations shortly then. There's the w three visa for the spouse and
children of the w one and w two visa holders. Let's talk about eligibility
for the w one visa. You must have ownership at least 10% ownership interest in a startup entity
that was formed within the last five years. You must have the knowledge, skills, or experience
to substantially assist the startup with growth and success. And the startup entity during the
18 months before filing must have received at least 250,000 in qualified ivestment from one or
more investors, qualified investors, or at least a hundred thousand in qualifying government awards
or grants. And you might be saying, well, whoa, this sounds very similar to another program, the
international, um, entrepreneur parole program, which I did a video about, um, several months ago,
it is very similar to that, but that under that parole program, which is still very new and
very kind of difficult to figure out and apply for, uh, that program comes with a shorter, you
know, parole period or lawful status period. It's, it's structured a slightly differently than
this eligibility for the w two S right. Remember w two S are the essential employee, ease of the
startup employee must have an offer from the company, um, to work in an executive capacity
or a managerial capacity. And they must likewise possess the knowledge, skills, and experiences,
um, that are essential to growing the business and helping it become successful. Now,
here are the numerical limitations. The number of visas that a company can apply for is based
on the number of full-time employees here in the us, that the company has. So you, uh, a
company with 10 or fewer employees may apply for two visas, uh, company, um, with 11 to 30
employees, full-time employees here in the us may apply for, uh, up to three other things to
consider. This is an application process to U S C I S uh, if you're here in the us in a lawful
status, um, at the time that this is passed, you could to apply to change your status.
And then there's also a supplemental fee that goes along with this application process of a thousand
dollars, which is gonna go into low income scholarship. And, uh, the national science
foundation. Let's talk about what's in it for doctoral stem graduates. And really what
we're talking about here is a green card cap exemption. They're exempt from the numerical
limits that are currently on immigrant visas. Under this legislation. It creates a new category
of individuals who are not subject to the green card quotas specifically, we're talking about
the E B one and the EB two, uh, employment based categories, the person or the individuals must
have earned a doctoral degree in a program of study involving science, technology engineering,
or mathematics from a qualified us research institution, or from a, for foreign institution.
If the degree is equivalent to a degree here in the United States, um, and they must also
be seeking admission to engage in work here in the United States, in that field, right?
The field of their degree, spouses and children are also, um, included in this, which means that
they're, they're included in the cap exemption. Now let's talk about the Hong Kong provisions
in this legislation. Firstly, what it does is, uh, it creates a new designation called priority
Hong Kong residents, or P H K R uh, to become a P KR one must not hold the right to citizenship in
another country. Other than the people's Republic, look of China, Hong Kong or Macau, they must also
have resided in Hong Kong for at least, uh, uh, 10 years before the enactment of this legislation.
And this also, or this designation also includes their spouse and children. And this is slightly
different from other immigration provisions where children are part of the mix. In this instance,
it's children who are unmarried and under the age of 27, ordinarily it's under 21. Second
thing that this provision does is it creates a TPS designation to Hong Kong, temporary protected
status, an 18 month designation period, and to be eligible for TPS, the alien must
have been a permanent resident of Hong Kong at the time that the person arrived in the United States
and they are a national of the PRC, the people's Republic look of China or in the case of an
individual having no nationality is a person who had last habitually resided in Hong Kong.
They must have, um, been continuously, physically present in the United States
since the date of this, the enactment of this bill. Um, they must also be admissible as an
immigrant and not otherwise ineligible for TPS and they must register for TPS. Now, the
next thing that it does is it makes Hong Kong a separate foreign state, which is important because
it is, uh, those who are applying for the benefits under these. And it's important because they're
not gonna be subjected to the China per country limits. The next thing that this legislation does
is it creates a refugee programs for pH KRS, right? Those are the priority Hong
Kong residents in order to get this refugee protection and individual must prove of that.
They had a significant role in a civil society organization supporting the 2019 and 2020 protests
related to the Hong Kong national security law and encroachment of Hong Kong's autonomy by the PRC,
or they were arrested, detained or convicted of an offense arising from the, their participation
in those protests or their citizenship, nationality or residency was revoked
for having submitted to the us, a non frivolous application for refugee status
asylum or any other immigration benefit. And just as a note here, what is a significant
role? Uh, the legislation defines it as you know, individuals who our organizers journalists,
first aid responders, providers of legal services, others who were arrested, detained and convicted,
who participated in, um, the protests. The last part of the Hong Kong provisions
is, uh, the special immigration status for high skilled workers. Up to 5,000
special immigrant visas may be granted annually under this legislation for up to five years.
Um, the individual must be a pH KR. They must have earned a bachelor's or a higher degree.
Their relocation to the United States would provide a significant
benefit to the us. The spouse and child may also benefit from this. You must be eligible to receive
an immigrant visa also, otherwise be admissible to the United States for permanent residency. And you
must pass a background check. And then lastly Stem and healthcare workers will be prioritized
under this legislation. That was a lot I know, but for those of you who this will help,
if it all goes through, um, I hope you made it all the way till the end of this video work with
a licensed immigration attorney to figure out whether you're eligible for any of these programs
or benefits that I've discussed in this video. And guys, thank you so much for being with me,
comment below. Let me know, uh, what you thought about this video and the information
that I shared with you today. Thanks very much. And I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye.