House Votes to Make It Easier for 32,000 Chinese Students to Stay in U.S.

The House on Monday approved legislation making it easier for an estimated 32,000 Chinese students residing in the United States to remain here and avoid persecution in their homeland.

On a voice vote, the House backed a measure by California Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) deleting a visa requirement that such students return to China for two years before becoming eligible to apply for permanent residency in the United States.

“It’s clear that many of the Chinese students in this country have some fear about returning to the People’s Republic at this time,” Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.) said. “They shouldn’t be forced to go back to certain persecution, and this is the least we can do.”

The Senate passed similar legislation last month as an amendment to a sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration laws. For final passage, the Senate must either act on the House-passed bill or the House must agree to the Senate amendment when it considers the immigration legislation.

The Bush Administration has opposed the measure as overly broad.

Last month, Bush ordered Immigration and Naturalization Service officials to delay by 12 months the required departure of Chinese students whose visas had expired and to give “sympathetic review” on a case-by-case basis to those individuals who want to stay even longer.

Pelosi’s measure is one of several that have surfaced in Congress in the aftermath of the June crackdown by Chinese officials on pro-democracy students in Beijing. Like the Senate amendment, her proposal would offer long-term aid to those who supported the democracy movement and now fear persecution if they are forced to return to China.

Currently, there are about 40,000 Chinese students in the United States, and 32,000 of them have “J” category visas, which require them to return to their homeland for two years before becoming eligible to apply for permanent residency in this country, according to the INS.

The requirement is intended to avert a “brain drain” of students from foreign countries, most of whom receive some financial assistance from their governments to study here. Pelosi’s bill would lift that requirement for Chinese students living in the United States on the date of enactment, but would keep it in place for other foreign students.