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$500 exemption fee now permanent
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Posted on Dec 07 2006
The $500 fee that is assessed employers who are requesting an exemption from the nonresident hiring moratorium becomes permanent this month.
The Department of Labor, by adopting emergency regulations, had increased the fee from $200 to $500 effective Aug. 4, 2006. The regulations have now been adopted as a permanent part of labor regulations.
Previous administrations did not collect fees for waiver requests with regard to the alien worker hiring moratorium. With Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s consent, the Labor Department began charging $200 per request beginning June 9, 2006. By August, this was increased to $500.
In addition to the fee increase, the new regulations also require that the “critical services” exemption be good for only a year unless renewed pursuant to the same procedures required to obtain the initial exemption.
“Imposition of these amendments are necessary to promote the aims of the moratorium by discouraging applications that do not meet the strict exemption requirements set forth in [the law],” Labor Secretary Gil San Nicolas said in a public notice.
According to San Nicolas, the previous no-charge policy for moratorium waiver requests “has encouraged the filing of inappropriate applications, taxing already strained government personnel and resources.”
He added that the imposition of the fee will provide some relief to the cash-strapped government.
Public Law 11-6 imposes a freeze on hiring of nonresident workers in the CNMI, except for certain tourism industry positions and critical positions in health care and education. The statute gives the governor the authority to grant exemptions from this moratorium.
