‘No need for residency for foreign investors’

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Charles V. Cepeda is not sold to the government’s plan to offer permanent residency to foreign investors, saying that the market is already open to qualified and serious business people.

“Yes, we are opposing it [permanent residency]. The government has passed a law allowing the silver market, the retirees, to invest and stay here for five years. Why would you have a different program? What we are saying is, it should be similar,” said Cepeda in an interview.

Following a recent think-tank meeting, of which Cepeda is a member, the Fitial administration announced that it is eyeing the possibility of “selling” residency to investors as a way of attracting foreign investment into the island.

The proposal is similar to the U.S. immigrant investor visa program.

Preliminary discussion showed that the administration would be offering it for a minimum of $200,000 to $250,000 as initial investment.

The U.S. alien entrepreneur program requires a minimum of $500,000 for targeted employment areas, or $1 million elsewhere, in exchange for permanent resident alien status, more commonly known as “green card.”

Guam also requires at least $500,000 investment, among other requirements.

If implemented, the permanent residency in the CNMI only applies within the Commonwealth.

The administration said earlier that the program would be established through legislation. No federal approval is needed as the CNMI controls its own immigration.

Meanwhile, Cepeda asked the government to watch out for fraudulent investors. He said there should be prior investigations because some investors “are just pretending.”

“There should be a check and balance. If they are investors, how much are they really going to put in the CNMI? We must be extremely careful. We should do research and not just open up for everybody,” he said.

He said he has personally encountered a foreign investor with “fraudulent dealings.”

“We should investigate all investors coming in because I know there are fraudulent dealings that are ongoing right now. There are investors that are coming in, pretending they have money. They want to use certain laws. I think we as a community are too accommodating for them. There are some who are not true to their words,” said Cepeda.

He declined to disclose the identities of these investors.