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More workers leaving the CNMI than arriving
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Posted on Aug 14 2008
There are more foreign workers leaving the CNMI than those who are arriving, according to statistics from the CNMI Division of Labor.
Based on the lists in its website (www.marianaslabor.net), the number of those who were scheduled for departure in July 2008 alone reached 380 while those listed in the arrival column numbered 50.
There are no available records yet for the month of August.
Nonresident workers in CNMI are mostly from China, Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The Government Accountability Office issued early this month a report on the prospective impact of the pending federal takeover of local immigration and foreign labor rules, a move that drew strong criticisms from no less than the administration of Gov. Benigno Fitial.
Congress has capped the number of foreign workers in the CNMI at 22,000.
Meanwhile, the Immigration Office has been implementing new procedures on accepting newly hired nonresident workers.
Immigration officials will take the passport and entry document right there at the airport, a new policy which they said is part of the ongoing federalization scheme.
The passport and entry document will be given back to the worker after undergoing a 30-minute or so orientation about labor and immigration rules as well as their rights and privileges as nonresident workers in the CNMI. [B][I](Nazario Rodriguez Jr.)[/I][/B]
