DOL: We didn’t get good responses from touchback survey
The Department of Labor says that its attempt to gauge the impact of the CW-1 touchback provision through a survey launched last year was unsuccessful as the department didn’t get very good feedback from the business community.
During a hearing before the House Standing Committee on Ways and Means, Labor Secretary Leila Staffler updated lawmaker on the survey it lunched last year geared toward getting a clear picture of the impact of the touchback provision which was implemented last year.
According to Staffler, DOL didn’t get enough feedback to get a clear picture of the impact.
“[The survey] was focused on touchback. We didn’t get very good responses from the entire business community. But we have since moved forward with looking at our website to collect that data,” she said.
Staffler said the survey was the first test in getting this data but has moved forward with other strategies and says it will be providing an update soon.
Back in June 2023, to gain a clear perspective on what the actual impact of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ “touchback” provision would be for the CNMI as a whole, the CNMI Department of Labor launched a CW-1 survey.
The survey was essentially meant to measure the impact of the implementation of the “touchback” provision by having local businesses provide the number of CW-1 employees they had that would be required to leave the CNMI this year in compliance with said provision.
According to a previous article on the Saipan Tribune, touchback refers to the requirement for foreign workers to leave the CNMI before their work visas could be renewed for a third consecutive time. That departure requirement also means they will have to stay away until a new permit is approved, which could take months.
“The survey is intended for any business owner who employs CWs or other visa type workers, because we’re interested in understanding how many visa type workers are out there. That’s information we don’t actually collect. So, this is our effort to communicate with businesses directly so that we can understand how this new touchback policy affects them. It will also help us see how we can improve or increase our services as a Department of Labor to help the gaps with U.S. workers, if at all possible,” Staffler said in a previous interview.
Staffler said DOL wants to help fill these gaps with U.S. workers.
Fortunately, Staffler said, the CNMI has good training programs and facilities on island that are able to train locals to perform specific trade skills that have needed to be outsourced through foreign workers who may now have to leave due to the new touchback provision.
Overall, the survey was meant to balance DOL’s responsibility of enforcing laws regarding workforce preference for U.S. workers, while also collecting data that would paint a clearer picture of how much the CNMI still needs foreign workers, like those under the CW-1 visa program, to bridge the gap in its workforce.
Leila Staffler
