New TWIC compliance date for A. Samoa
HONOLULU—The Coast Guard announced Tuesday that April 14, 2009, is the new Transportation Worker Identification Credential compliance date for owners and operators of facilities located within American Samoa in the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port Zone of Honolulu.
This compliance date has been extended from Feb. 12, 2009, due to a large percentage of foreign maritime workers in American Samoa who are not required to comply with United States immigration laws. This population is not issued a visa by the U.S. Department of State and therefore does not meet the immigration standards required for a TWIC.
The extension provides sufficient time for the U.S. Coast Guard, in consultation with the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State, to determine if an equivalent visa category will be mandated or whether TWIC requirements for facilities in American Samoa will be reconsidered, as it was in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.
This compliance adjustment applies only to facilities located on the island of American Samoa. The compliance date for facilities in the Captain of the Port Zone of Honolulu remains Feb. 12, 2009.
The Federal Register notice for this action may be found at www.regulations.gov and a listing of all TWIC compliance dates may be found at http://homeport.uscg.mil.[B][I] (USCG)[/I][/B]