Two lawmakers from the US state of Nevada have introduced a bill in Congress to allow more visitors from Hong Kong to enter the United States without needing a visa.
Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican whose district includes Reno, and Rep. Steven Horsford, a Democrat whose district includes several counties bordering Las Vegas on the north, want to address the fact that by law Hong Kong cannot be added to the US visa waiver program because it is not a sovereign nation. Their bill would create an exception for the territory, which is governed as an autonomous special administrative region of China. The goal, Mr Amodei told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is “fixing a technicality that places an unnecessary impediment between two of the world’s greatest economies—Hong Kong and the United States.”
Hong Kong is home to the fourth-highest percentage of millionaire households in the world and an important source not only of moneyed tourists but of potential high rollers for Nevada casinos, Las Vegas’ especially, which have become increasingly dependent post-recession on high-stakes baccarat play, most of it by Chinese gamblers.
Visas were granted for 129,000 visits to the United States from Hong Kong in 2011, a number that could double in the first year after visa requirements are relaxed, said a spokeswoman for the US Travel Association cited by the Review-Journal.
The US grants visa waivers to citizens of 37 countries, mostly from Western Europe and other friendly nations such as Japan and Australia. The waiver allows visitors to travel in the United States for up to 90 days.
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