US Consul General vows assistance for IRs in NMI

The Consul General for the United States in Guam has promised to help resolve issues relating to the people in the CNMI with Immediate Relative status, according to United Workers Movement president Irene N. Tantiado.

Tantiado said she was able to talk with U.S. Consul General Gerson Jackson on Wednesday via telephone, and that the lengthy discussion was “promising.”

The United Workers Movement is initiating actions in anticipation of the U.S. federal government’s takeover of the immigration system in the CNMI in June 1, 2009. There have been much concern and worry about the status of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens after the takeover.

The IRs in the CNMI are mostly alien spouses of citizens from the Freely Associated States, including from the Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau and the CNMI. The United Workers Movement estimates the number to be about 250-300.

Tantiado said that Jackson asked the United Workers Movement to provide him with more information and promised to talk with consular officials from Palau and Marshall Islands about the situation.

Tantiado said she called the Foreign Affairs Office in FSM but they referred her to Consul General Jackson because FSM and the CNMI are both under the Guam consulate office.

In a follow-up letter to Jackson after their initial telephone discussions, Tantiado explained that the federalization law (US Public Law 110-229) provides that the IR status will be honored until it expires from June 1, 2009 or two years after, whichever is shorter.

“After that, the IR needs to join the CNMI workforce under a different category called CNMI-only guest workers program to be able to stay here and be with their FAS spouses and children,” Tantiado wrote.

Most of the FAS citizens and their alien spouses, she said, have been married for five to 15 years.

UWM is pushing for a one-time waiver to maintain the worker status of the so-called IRs for a period of five years. This would eventually make them FAS citizens as well because the minimum residency status requirement to become such is five years.

“There are two critical issues that need attention,” Tantiado told Jackson.

First is the need to include these IRs in the proposed amendments to the CNMI Immigration System, which will allow a two-year permit instead of one year to stretch their IR status “as far as we can.”

She said the amendments would take effect on Jan. 1, 2009.

UWM just launched a signature campaign among FAS citizens to ask the CNMI Immigration Division to include their IRs in the proposed amendments. The deadline to submit the petition is on Monday, Nov. 24. As of now, only a few have signed.

Perhaps, she said, these people do not realize the issue’s importance and she feared that their names would not be included on the list of those who would be granted a waiver.

But Tantiado explained that they are also very careful in accepting signatures because the petition might fall into the hands of individuals who have engaged in fraudulent means such as illegal marriages.

“We have to carefully screen them. We don’t want to be involved in those illegal activities. We will make sure that those who will sign are really those who are qualified,” she said.

Another critical issue the group is hoping to achieve is to obtain a political status for the IRs.

“The only long-term solution for the IRs is to have a stable status in the CNMI, which means that they have to convert to FAS citizenship,” she said.

Thus, UWM is soliciting the help of the consular offices of Palau, RMI, and Guam for a one-time residency waiver because “after the permit of the IRs expires and they cannot find a job, they will be forced to leave the CNMI.”