‘Green card’ interviews now on Saipan

CNMI residents applying for green cards need no longer go to Guam for their interview as the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Division will now be conducting the interviews at its Garapan office.

In a statement issued Friday by the department, it said the “green card” interviews will begin today, March 23, at its new Application Support Center in the TSL Plaza in Garapan. The move is expected to help CNMI customers save time and money.

“We are very pleased that legal counsel gave us the go-ahead to provide this essential service to our CNMI customers,” said USCIS District Director David Gulick, who is based in Honolulu. “It makes sense for us to do as much as we can to serve the community through this local office. Now customers will save the time, effort and expense of traveling to Guam for their interviews.”

USCIS said that applicants from Tinian, Rota and Saipan seeking U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence or “green cards” will be now be scheduled for interviews at the new office.

In addition to the traditional ASC biometric services such as fingerprinting, the Saipan office already offers expanded services including general immigration information and naturalization interviews. Now “green card” interviews will be added to those services.

Customers interested in speaking to an immigration services officer should make an “InfoPass” appointment online at www.uscis.gov. Customers with appointments will receive priority.

People can call the toll-free USCIS customer service line at (800) 375-5283. In addition, the most current information about federal immigration in relation to the CNMI can be accessed via the USCIS Press Room at www.uscis.gov.

USCIS is the agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that provides immigration benefits.

Currently U.S. immigration law only applies to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens as defined within the Immigration and Nationality Act. U.S. immigration law in general will be applied to the CNMI, with the transition period currently scheduled to begin on June 1, 2009.

In a recent visit by DHS officials on island, they disclosed that after the transition period, only two status will be honored: immigrant and non-immigrant status. At present, there are hundreds of individuals who are in the immediate relative status as provided by the local CNMI law.

The officials also confirmed that there is no direct path to obtaining green cards for long-time non-immigrant workers on island.

They also discounted the myths about an “organic” type of federalization, citing it has already happened before and has been ongoing in the Commonwealth since 1986.