WASHINGTON — Some Hong Kong residents already in the United States will be able to extend their stays, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday.

Citing human rights concerns in the People’s Republic of China, the Department of Homeland Security will extend and expand the eligibility requirements for them to remain in the U.S. without being deported.

What You Need To Know

  • Some Hong Kong residents already in the United States will be able to extend their stays, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday

  • Citing human rights concerns in the People’s Republic of China, the Department of Homeland Security will extend and expand the eligibility requirements for them to remain in the U.S. without being deported

  • Hong Kong residents currently living in the United States were supposed to leave the country by Feb. 5, 2025

  • Mayorkas’s memorandum extends their mandatory departure date for 24 months through Feb. 5, 2027

In a memorandum, the secretary said China had unilaterally imposed its laws on Hong Kong in June 2020, undermining rights and freedoms that had been protected since 1997, when the United Kingdom handed over the territory to China and ended 156 years of British rule. Under the terms of that deal, Hong Kong was to be granted a high level of autonomy.

Mayorkas contends that China has been eroding democratic processes and institutions by limiting academic freedom and cracking down on the free press. He cited a decision from China last November that sentenced 45 pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong to prison following peaceful protests. 

Hong Kong residents currently living in the United States were supposed to leave the country by Feb. 5, 2025. Mayorkas’s memorandum extends their mandatory departure date for 24 months through Feb. 5, 2027.

It is the second time the Biden administration has extended so-called deferred enforced departures for Hong Kong residents. President Biden extended them for two years in January 2023.

“The United States is committed to a foreign policy that unites our democratic values with our foreign policy goals, which is centered on the defense of democracy and promotion of human rights around the world,” Mayorkas said in his memo. “Offering safe haven for Hong Kong residents who have been deprived of their guaranteed freedoms in Hong Kong furthers United States interests in the region.”

It is unclear how many Hong Kong residents will benefit from the extension. About 2.4 million Chinese immigrants, including from Hong Kong, live in the United States, according to the Census Bureau.

The memorandum said the extension does not apply to Hong Kong residents who have not continuously resided in the U.S. since the date the memorandum was issued, or to those who have been convicted of crimes in the United States, who are subject to extradition or who may pose a threat to the U.S.