Greenberg Traurig, LLP (LexBlog China)

On March 22, 2024, the centralized regulator of cyber and data security, the Cybersecurity Administration of China (CAC), published the Provisions on Promoting and Regulating the Cross-border Flow of Data (New Provisions), relaxing the existing requirements relating to cross-border data transfers. The New Provisions took immediate effect on March 22, 2024. Continue reading the full GT Alert.

On March 8, 2024, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) published the April 2024 Visa Bulletin. This is the first bulletin in the second quarter, and it reflects advances in most employment-based categories, as follows: The DOS Visa Bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers and releases Dates for Filing Applications and Final Action Dates charts...

The U.S. State Department has published the March 2024 Visa Bulletin. For EB-5 cases, the Chart A priority dates for the new “set aside” visa categories of rural areas, high unemployment areas, and infrastructure projects available under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) remain current for all countries. For pre-RIA I-526 Petition cases in...

To foster greater global connections and enhance bilateral relationships, China has announced an expansion of its visa-free policy for travelers from certain countries. Starting in early December 2023 and lasting until November 2024, passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia will have the opportunity to enter China without first applying for...

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently published the October 2023 visa bulletin for the start of the government’s new fiscal year (FY 2024). The October 2023 visa bulletin presents advancements in both the Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing charts for China in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program preference’s unreserved subcategory. Specifically, the...

On Aug. 9, 2023, the Biden administration issued a long-anticipated Executive Order restricting equity, venture capital, and joint venture investments in China. The Executive Order on Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern for the first time will prohibit certain U.S. outbound foreign investment transactions, and in...

On July 25, 2023, the Senate voted 91 to 6 to approve the Outbound Investment Transparency Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation was proposed by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bob Casey (D-PA). It would require companies to disclose investments or acquisitions involving entities in China, Russia, Iran, and...

On May 8, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 264 relating to interests of foreign countries. The new law, effective July 1, 2023, generally restricts the issuance of state-level government contracts or economic development incentives to, or real property ownership by certain individuals and entities associated with foreign “countries of concern.” According...

On May 8, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 264 relating to interests of foreign countries. The new law, effective July 1, 2023, generally restricts the issuance of state-level government contracts or economic development incentives to, or real property ownership by certain individuals and entities associated with foreign “countries of concern.” According...

GT’s Immigration & Compliance litigation team secured a mandamus victory in federal court for a long-pending Petition by an Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status (Form I-829) case. In the recent win, a Mainland-China-born EB-5 investor filed the I-829 with USCIS in April 2020, and as of February 2023, USCIS had failed to...

GT’s Immigration & Compliance litigation team secured a mandamus victory in federal court for a long-pending Petition by an Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status (Form I-829) case. In the recent win, a Mainland-China-born EB-5 investor filed the I-829 with USCIS in April 2020, and as of February 2023, USCIS had failed to...

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the updated Visa Bulletin for June 2023, resulting in retrogression for some and advancement for others. The EB-1 category remains current for all countries expect China and India. China and India retrogressed 4 months in this category, moving backward to Feb. 1, 2022. The EB-2, EB-3, and EB-4...

Immigration & Compliance Practice Shareholder Nataliya Rymer is quoted in an EB-5 Investors article titled “China’s accession to Hague’s Apostille Convention expected to streamline EB-5 processing.” Click here to read the full article, published by EB-5 Investors Magazine April 13, 2023.

On Wednesday Dec. 28, 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new COVID-19 testing requirement for air passengers traveling from China to the United States. Specifically, the CDC will require all air passengers aged two and older traveling on flights from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, or Macau...

On Wednesday Dec. 28, 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new COVID-19 testing requirement for air passengers traveling from China to the United States. Specifically, the CDC will require all air passengers aged two and older traveling on flights from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, or Macau...

The U.S. Mission in China is temporarily suspending all visa services due to China’s recent spike in COVID-19 cases. Only emergency consular services are available at the U.S. Consulates in Wuhan, Shenyang, and Guangzhou. Passport and emergency citizen services will continue at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. While...

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the monthly Visa Bulletin for October 2022 — the first month of Fiscal Year 2023. A review of the Visa Bulletin shows that the Employment Based 5th (EB-5) visa category for nationals of Mainland China has retrogressed, with cutoff date moving from Dec. 22, 2015 to March...

On June 24, 2022, China’s National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (commonly referred to as “TC260”) finalized the Technical Guideline on Personal Information Cross-Border Transfer Certification (Final Cert Guideline). Although the Final Cert Guideline largely remains the same as the draft version released this past April, which is described in our prior blog post, China..

On April 29, 2022, China’s National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (commonly referred to as “TC260”) released a draft Technical Guideline on Personal Information Cross-Border Transfer Certifications (Cert Guideline). While the Cert Guideline is still in draft form and thus subject to change, it provides some clarification regarding the certification process for cross-bord

Congress has been working for several months on “China competitiveness” legislation, which may turn out to be the most far-reaching legislation of 2022. On February 17th, the House-passed “America COMPETES Act” (“COMPETES”) was officially received in the Senate, which may clear the way to begin a formal “conference committee” to resolve differences between that bill...

On Aug. 20, 2021, after two rounds of public comments on China’s draft Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), China promulgated the final version of the PIPL, which takes effect Nov. 1, 2021. Together, the PIPL, Cybersecurity Law (which came into force June 1, 2017) and Data Security Law (which came into force Sept. 1, 2021) now...

On June 10, 2021, the final version of Data Security Law (DSL) of the People’s Republic of China was published, and the DSL will take effect Sept. 1, 2021. Prior to the issuance of the final version, two drafts of the DSL were released to the public seeking comments, in July 2020 and April 2021, respectively. While the DSL provides for a three-level...

On June 8th, the U.S. Senate passed S.1260, the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA). The legislation strengthens manufacturing and basic research in key industry sectors and is intended to provide a policy framework for competing with China. The legislation combines several bills from different Senate committee jurisdictions, including the Endless Frontier Act (Commerce...

On July 14, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order regarding Hong Kong’s preferential immigrant visa chargeability. EB-5 investors who were born in Hong Kong will see their visa availability retrogress from current (C) to a backlog priority date of July 2015. Previously, investors born in Hong Kong were not subject to the mainland China...

On April 29, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEE) promulgated the Measures on Environmental Management Registration of New Chemical Substances (MEE Order 12) (link in Chinese), which will come into effect Jan. 1, 2021, and replace the Measures for the Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances (promulgated by the Ministry of...

On April 29, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEE) promulgated the Measures on Environmental Management Registration of New Chemical Substances (MEE Order 12) (link in Chinese), which will come into effect Jan. 1, 2021, and replace the Measures for the Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances (promulgated by the Ministry of...

On May 29, 2020, President Trump issued a proclamation (the “Proclamation”) suspending entry of citizens of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) who meet both of the following criteria: (A) the individual is seeking to enter the U.S. on F or J nonimmigrant status; and (B) the individual has an association with an entity in...

The Department of State (DOS) has released its March 2020 Visa Bulletin, which shows significant advancement in most employment-based (EB) categories, particularly the EB-5 category. 根据国务院（DOS）最新发布的2020年3月签证排期表（Visa Bulletin），大多数职业类别的移民排期有大幅进展，尤其是EB-5投资移民类别。 Specifically for EB-5, the priority dates per Chart A Final Action Dates will remain current for investors born in all countries except...

On Feb. 7, 2020, the official visa information website of the U.S. mission in China (http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/cn/index.html?firstTime=No) announced that as of Feb. 3, 2020, regular visa services at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang are all suspended. The notice further states that the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in...

On Feb. 7, 2020, the official visa information website of the U.S. mission in China (http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/cn/index.html?firstTime=No) announced that as of Feb. 3, 2020, regular visa services at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang are all suspended. The notice further states that the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in...